Intel has unveiled their new range of performance solid state drives, the SSD 530 series, with capacities starting at 80 GB across 80mm M.2, mSATA and standard 2.5", 7mm thick form factors. The drive utilizes the latest SandForce SF-2281 controller and Intel's 20nm MLC NAND flash memory through a SATA 6 Gb/s interface.
The major advantage to the SSD 530 series is the same performance across all models: up to 540 MB/s and 490 MB/s sequential read and write respectively; up to 41K IOPS and 80K IOPS in 4KB random read and write respectively. This gives a significant performance boost to the lower capacity models compared to the Intel SSD 525 and SSD 520 units, although the larger capacity models (above 180 GB) of the previous series appear to have marginally better performance than the new 530 series, going by Intel's data.
The SSD 530 series also brings a larger range of storage capacities to choose from: 80, 120, 180 and 360 GB for all drive form factors, while there's also a 240 GB and 480 GB 2.5-inch model available. Intel is also touting new low power modes in the 530 series, extending battery life by reducing idle power consumption by more than 90% compared to a hard drive, down to as low as 55 mW for the mSATA and M.2 models.
No pricing information was revealed for the new solid state drives, although they'll likely push down the prices of the current SSD 520 and SSD 525 series models. Expect the new line-up to be available shortly at retailers, although Intel didn't specify availability.