Intel has been in the tech news a lot lately. First for the new Ivy Bridge chip and now for the SSD 300 is available and Intel claims that this solid-state drive can outdo the rest (which is a promise that many are hoping Intel can keep, since this market has gotten competitive lately). What’s so special about Intel’s latest ramped up solid-state drive? Here are some SSD 330 details that you’ll want to know before purchasing a new drive from Intel.

SSD 300 Specs

One of the most impressive things about the SSD 300 is the fact that this drive’s interface comes with read speeds up to 500MS/s. On the writing side of things, the SSD 300 can handle up to 450MB/s. These numbers are a big improvement for Intel, since the company’s last solid state drive was clocking around 220MB/s. Intel has also made some size improvements by offering consumers a minimum of 60GB (the smallest size possible). If you want something a bit bigger, you can opt for the 180GB or 120 GB drives. Either way, Intel has priced all three offerings very reasonably.

The 60GB SSD 330 retails for $89, you can grab the 180GB for $234 and the 120GB for $149. There’s no doubt that Intel has done great things as far as the size, speed, and pricing of these drives go, but what about performance? In this department, Intel seems to have slacked if ever so slightly. When tested, the SSD 330 was capable of 12,000 IOPS/20,500 IOPS on the reading and writing side of things, which is really not that impressive considering that these are comparable to what the SSD 320 was putting out. There’s also one additional word of caution: Intel has lowered the warranty on the SSD 330 from five years (fairly standard) to three years – could this mean that Intel isn’t standing fully behind the SSD 330?

Is the SSD 330 Worth A Buy?

There’s no doubt that Intel has been working very hard to make the SSD 330 one of the best solid-state drives available, but is this enough to blow the competition out of the water (and, more importantly, is Intel’s new drive offering a good buy?). It’s really hard to ignore the pricing that Intel has attached to this drive. The SSD 330 does come with decent performance and it is a solid drive for a very low price (in fact, you might not find a comparable drive for the same price presently). However, buyers should be cautious of that lowered warranty and consider whether or not a shorter warranty is worth the lower price tradeoff.

All around, the SSD 330 does put out some very nice numbers and it is one of Intel’s latest drives. Again, it’s also hard to ignore that price tag – even if you go up to the 180Gb for $234, that’s significantly less than what you’ll pay for most other drives (if you don’t have to replace it after three years, that is). When all is said and done, it’s worth taking a look at the SSD 330 if, for nothing else, you want to see what’s out there.