The only real downside of SSDs was their rather low write speed which was especially true for last generation’s drives. This is quickly changing with the release of this generation’s SSDs that have a twice as fast write speed as last generation thanks to multiple parallel channels and interleaving single-layer cell NAND flash memory.

Samsung has announced a state of the art SSD that is aiming for a release in the first quarter of 2009. The Samsung SS805 Solid State Drive will offer 100 Gigabytes of storage space with a sustained sequential read rate of up to 250MB/sec. and a sustained sequential write rate of up to 170MB/sec.

To put that in comparison. The OCZ Core Series II SSD drive that I bought last year had a sustained sequential read rate of up to 170 MB/sec. and a sustained sequential write rate of up to 98MB/sec. and won almost every read speed benchmark at that time.

Samsung’s SS805 SSD will increase the read speed by about 50% and the write speed by almost 100% in comparison. The only factor that could play a role in the drive’s success is the retail price of the device.

Intel’s 32 Gigabyte X25 Solid State Drive retails currently for a price of $650-700 at most online shops.

The SS805 SSD is therefor aiming at the enterprise market but hints at what the consumer market will see in the near future.