Non-availability of 320 series in 1.8" form factor

[idata]

Its been more than a month since the official release of the 320 series in the 1.8" form factor and yet I have yet to see this on sale at any of the retailers online or otherwise. I have a Gen 2 80 GB drive on my Thinkpad T410s and I'm running out of space rather fast and need to upgrade to either the 160GB or better still the 300Gb Gen3. I have been scouring the web for weeks and have not been able to find this anywhere ! What is the problem ? Is Intel purposely limiting production of these drives to inflate prices artificially ? If I can't find one in a few weeks time, I will consider getting a Corsair or a OCZ.

Help anyone ?

[idata]

I think you are confused between the 7mm vs 9.5 mm drives which are drive thicknessese of the 2.5" form factor drive and the 1.8 " drives - a completely different animal . The 1.8n " form factor drives have a thickness of 5 mmm - neither 7 mm nor 9.5 mm. The earlier discussions relate to the 7mm thickness 2.5" drives that come with the T420 Thinkpads. Mine is a T410s and these come with the 5mm thick 1.8" form factor SSD.

Thanks for replying though.

[UHans]

ssatpathy wrote:

Its been more than a month since the official release of the 320 series in the 1.8" form factor and yet I have yet to see this on sale at any of the retailers online or otherwise. I have a Gen 2 80 GB drive on my Thinkpad T410s.

The 1.8 inch versions of the 320 series has an expected delivery date of august fifth at online retailers in my country (Denmark). You should also be able to buy them very soon.

However, you can also consider dropping your CD/DVD drive and run a standard (and cheaper/more available) 2.5 inch SSD in an Ultrabay hard drive adaptor: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ultrabay_Slim_ThinkPad_Serial_Hard_Drive_Bay_Adapter_III http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ultrabay_Slim_ThinkPad_Serial_Hard_Drive_Bay_Adapter_III

[idata]

Yeah, I know that is a last gap option but I would rather have the Ultrabay available for optical media for now. Thanks for letting me know about the retail release date in Denmark for the 1.8" drives. That's the thing about Intel though - nothing's preditable any more - they seem to have gone the Microsoft way in terms of missed dedalines for mega launches ....perhaps an indication of others bad things to come. Trying to keep the faith ..... still .

[idata]

Hi,

a few retailers in the U.S are begining to show availability like HP and ACME Micro but they are all the OEM version which as I understand doesn't carry the same extended warranty as the retail version of the product.

http://h30094.www3.hp.com/product/sku/10364078/mfg_partno/SSDSA1NW300G301 http://h30094.www3.hp.com/product/sku/10364078/mfg_partno/SSDSA1NW300G301

http://www.acmemicro.com/ShowProduct.aspx?pid=9291 http://www.acmemicro.com/ShowProduct.aspx?pid=9291

Intel ,I have to say is pathetic in that it has not answered questions I posted to their pre-sales department as to when w could expect to see a retil version of these drives to show up at retailers. Truly bizzare situation !!!

Guessing what the product code will be for the retail version - SSDSA1NW300G3K5 ?

Is anyone at Intel listening ?

[idata]

The drives are finally available but only OEM (brown box) and not retail versions. Buyer beware - no 5 year extended warranty on the OEM drives ! I bought the first of 3 drives I need and realized the discrepancy in the warranty levels after my first purchase. Neither Intel nor authorized resellers are opening their mouths as to whether or when a retail version will be available. Pathetic customer service is begining to become a habit with Intel !