SSDs are when it comes to performance, power use and ruggedness. Unlike hard disk drives, SSDs have no moving parts, so there's less of a chance that they'll break due to impact, which makes them particularly good for use in mobile devices.

Hard disk drives have read/write heads on actuator arms that, like the arm of a record player, must move across a disk platter to access data. That takes time. SSDs can access data at the same speed no matter where it's stored in the flash memory, which makes them particularly good for retrieving random data.

For example, one of the fastest hard disk drives on the market today is the 10,000 rpm, 300GB, Western Digital VelociRaptor. In a Computerworld test, that drive had a 105MB/sec. average sequential read rate and a 100MB/sec. sequential write rate. The 6.08 watts of power when reading or writing and 4.03 watts when idle.

In comparison, the X25-V uses just 1.5 watts when active and 0.75 watts when idle. However, as Wong points out, a hard drive only accounts for about 10% of a netbook or desktop's power consumption, so it will not greatly affect battery life or the user's electric bill.

A 300GB VelociRaptor drive sells for at least $199 at online retail sites like Pricegrabber.com. So for about half that price, you can get nearly twice the read performance with Intel's X25-V, and that translates into faster boot-up and application response times.