OCZ Goes Small with 1.8-inch Onyx and Vertex 2 SSDs

If you’re in the market to upgrade your desktop PC or notebook with a solid-state disk, the options are near-limitless, with new models being released all the time. For those which ultra-mobiles though, nettops or some other variant that utilize 1.8-inch drives, options have been much more limited. In fact, the lone SSD at that form-factor I can think of has been Intel’s X18. That’s a decent drive, but it’s clear that competition has been lacking.

That is until late last week, at least, when OCZ Technology announced not one, but two new 1.8-inch models. These include the high-end Vertex 2 and mainstream Onyx. Don’t think that their small frame equals degraded performance, either, because believe it or not, the performance is right on par with their desktop counterparts.

The Vertex 2, pictured below, comes in both 60GB and 240GB densities, and features all of the good stuff we’ve come to expect. That means that TRIM, ultra-high IOPS and huge performance is all here. Like the desktop variant, this drive features a read speed of 285 MB/s and write speed of 275 MB/s, with a sustained write speed of 250 MB/s… which would be almost three times the performance of typical 1.8-inch” mechanical drives.

The Onyx, being a more value-driven model, delivers both 32GB and 64GB densities. This series also features TRIM support, 64MB on-board cache, 15,000 IOPS performance, along with 135 MB/s read and 70 MB/s write speeds.

Unfortunately, we don’t have information on the pricing of all the densities, or the Onyx as a whole, but for comparison’s sake, the 60GB Vertex 2 1.8-inch retails for $244 at Amazon, compared to the same drive on the desktop being priced at $195 over at Newegg. Such a premium is to be expected, though, given the much smaller form-factor, and I’m sure for those looking at upgrading their 1.8-inch drive, the premium will almost be a non-issue given the limited selection.

SAN JOSE, CA—June 17, 2010—OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) and memory modules for computing devices and systems, launches 1.8 inch Solid State Drives (SSD) to offer a storage upgrade for the thin and light market. With a smaller footprint, OCZ 1.8 inch drives still deliver the reliability and performance demanded by high-end enthusiasts.