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I recently wrote a post about how SSDs are expected to become ubiquitous and cost competitive by 2011. At the end of the post, I mentioned that it is not just a matter of technological development pushing things forward, and that it is also in the interest of laptop manufacturers to sell SSD equipped models as soon as they can. And here is why:

1. Fast read/write speeds: SSDs have started with competitive data rates and as more manufacturers put resources behind them within 2008 we will see them outpacing traditional drives. It is estimated that Intel will offer 200MB/100MB read/write speeds. Numbers will improve with time and competition.
2. Rapidly improving capacities: If you have followed what has happened with camera flash memory, you already know that the price that gets you a certain capacity now, will most likely buy you a lot more -in some cases double the initial capacity- after a few months to a year. With Toshiba to offer 512MB SSDs in 2009, be sure that hard disc capacities will be soon matched, and when the economics allow, exceeded.
3. Shock resistance and reliability: Most laptop failures have to do with shock prone moving components, in other words the spinning hard discs. In both cases that I had my laptop fail, it was the hard disc giving up. And this is the reason that with laptops you need external and frequent backups. As you have definitely noticed with flash memory, solid state storage is damn reliable, a fact that will be deeply appreciated by all laptop users.
4. Prices will become competitive: It is estimated that by 2011 SSDs will be really hot components that everyone will want. Of course this demand already exists but the prices do not yet add up. As time passes, I believe that there will be a point where consumers will be prepared to pay more -even double- for a SSD instead of a hard disc. Alternatively, it will be preferable to buy half the capacity in SSD form, instead of a crash prone hard disc that might be too large for mobile tasks anyway. If Asus Eee users can settle for 4 or 8GB capacities I cannon see what the problem would be with 128 or 256GB of solid state storage.
5. Energy efficiency, longer battery life: Since the inception of laptops, battery life remains a major headache. The more intensive applications suck the hell out of battery juice, mainly because of the hard disc working overtime. SSDs will limit storage energy consumption and give a final solution to the storage device energy consumption issue. Combined with LED screens and more energy efficient CPUs, we might eventually see truly long life battery cycles.
6. SSDs will spark a laptop renewal cycle: I know a lot of people that keep their laptops as long as they last. SSDs will definitely tempt even the most conservative users to upgrade, the advantages are so hard to ignore…

The last point is probably the most important for manufacturers. With the number of laptops used and to be replaced, there will be plenty of business for years to come. Moreover, manufacturers will be credited for all SSD related gains.

Basic laptop design has not changed for years. Screens have become wider, DVD recorders have replaced floppy discs and CD-ROMs, CPUs and memory have become faster, but it is always the same basic design. At the same time, the widespread use of flash memory in mobile telephones, smartphones, cameras and videocameras creates an enormous appetite for similarly practical storage in computers.

The warm consumer welcome of the Asus Eee PC shows that a lot of us are already willing to sacrifice storage size for an overall attractive package. When SSD cost comes down, they will offer the best balance of performance and capacity, and it is expected they will be loved by both manufacturers and customers.