Like any SATA flash drive, the new Samsung Mini-Card SSD, which has roughly the same dimensions as a PCIe card, can also be incorporated into desk top computers that have dual-SATA drive enclosures, allowing the higher-performing SSD to run applications while a standard hard disk drive (HDD) acts as a mass, internal storage device.

Samsung's new Mini-Card SSD is 1.8 x 2.01-inch in size, and only .15-inch, or 3.75-millimeters, thick. The new drives come in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities.

The SATA mini-card SSD has an average sequential read rate of 200MB/sec. and an average sequential write rate of 100MB/sec., according to Brian Beard, flash marketing manager for Samsung Semiconductor. That compares with a Samsung 2.5-inch Spinpoint HDD that has an maximum sequential data read rate of 138MB/sec.

"The speeds are impressive for a 'netbook SSD' although they are measured in sequential speeds," said Joseph Unsworth, research director for NAND flash semiconductors at Gartner Inc. He added that random read/write rates are more representative of typical computer performance use.

Samsung's new SSD has the same form factor as a mini-PCI Express (PCIe) card, but uses the a SATA 3.0Gb/sec. interface. The size of the drive affords netbook manufacturers with the potential to architect thinner, lighter machines and to use what is sometimes less expensive flash memory as a primary internal storage device.