On October 10, Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) launched its two new solid state drive (SSD) lines. Called WD Blue and WD Green, they are the company’s first SSD venture since 2010, when it released its disappointing SiliconEdge Blue drive.
Five months after acquiring flash memory manufacturer SanDisk for $16 billion, Western Digital launched its first WD-branded SATA client SSDs. Similar to previous SanDisk models, the SSDs will complement its industry leading family of storage products for PCs and workstations.
Alongside My Passport, My Book, and My Cloud, the new SSDs will provide a complete portfolio of storage devices for nearly every application. Western Digital’s business focuses on hard disk drives.
Fast and reliable SSDs are becoming cheaper, pushing hard drives slowly to oblivion. Western Digital’s return to the SSD scene is only logical for the company to stay relevant and up to date.
Western Digital’s director Eyal Bek explained the company’s SSD solution came in response to significant demands from its core resellers and consumers. They wanted a wider set of flash storage options.
WD Blue SSDs specs and price
The WD Blue SSD line is perfect for multitasking and resource-demanding applications. Designed with power efficiency and longevity in mind, they offer 545MB/s sequential read and 525MB/s write speeds as well as endurance levels up to 400 TBW.
WD Blue SSDs come in 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB capacities. They are available now in both 2.5-inch/7mm case or M.2 2280 form factors. List prices range from $79 to $299.
Customers can get the 250GB model for $79, the 500GB for $139 and the 1TB for $299. All models carry a 3-year warranty.
The WD Green SSD line is perfect for the average user
Designed to cope with daily tasks, WD Green SSDs are smaller and slower. According to Western Digital, they offer essential-class performance. The Green line delivers 540MB/s sequential read, 405MB/s write speeds, and endurance levels up to 80TBW.
WD Green SSDs come in 120GB and 240GB capacities with a 3-year warranty. They will be available in both 2.5-inch/7mm case or M.2 2280 form factors. Western Digital will reveal the price and release date of its Green line in late 2016.
Among other WD announcements are the new My Passport drives and My Book desktop storages. The latest My Passport now comes with 256-bit encryption and 4TB of storage while the newest My Book features 8TB of capacity.
The My Passport drives cost $79 for the 1TB version and $150 for the 4TB flagship. Meanwhile, the My Books start at $129 for the 3TB version, $149 for the 4TB model, $229 for the 6TB variant, and $299 for the 8TB flagship.
Source: Western Digital