Although solid state drives are still a bit too expensive for the average user, prices have come down a little through the second half of 2010. According to DigiTimes, companies including Intel and AData Technology have lowered asking prices on their SSDs by around 10 to 15% in recent months as they hope to entice more holiday shoppers and boost market penetration.

Adoption rates will also climb as more system builders include flash storage in pre-built machines, such as Apple's MacBook Air. Based on iSuppli's figures, SSD penetration will triple this year for both desktop and enterprise server segments, increasing to 1.2% and 1.7%. That rate is an even higher 2.3% among notebooks, which benefit greatly from the lighter, cooler design.

The firm estimates that SSD sales will total some 7.2 million units by the end of 2010, and while that's an increase from 2009, it's still far behind conventional hard drives, which should reach some 662 million shipments. Earlier this year, we asked how many of you had already purchased an SSD, and plenty of you (justly) complained about prices still being too high. With holiday sales looming, are you ready to take the plunge or are you prepared to wait out the cost premium?