Round Rock, Texas-based PC Maker, Dell has begun to offer a 1.8-inch 32GB solid state drive (SSD) from SanDisk on Latitude D420 ultra-mobile and D620 ATG semi-rugged notebooks. The company is one the first to offer a flash-based drive as an alternative to hard disk drives (HDD) on corporate notebooks.

The SSD is a hard drive alternative based on flash memory. Unlike a traditional HDD which uses spinning discs and read/write heads, a SSD is designed with flash memory with no moving parts. The new drive has the same shape and size as a HDD and uses the same connectors for integration into existing systems.

Dell said that it sees potential for flash-based drives and is committing to offer them across next generation Latitude notebooks because they enable better reliability, increased performance and noise reduction.
Dell‘s chief technology officer, Kevin Kettler said “A solid state drive is an excellent storage technology for our mobile users,”.

“We are committed to leading the industry in delivering these new drives and will offer them across Dell’s next generation of Latitude products.” Kettler added.

The SSD drives are available now with a price tag set for $549 in the Americas, with expected later availability for the Europe and Asia markets.