OCZ adopts aggressive pricing strategy for its new series of SSDs

The 'Onyx' series' 2.5” 32GB SSD has an MSRP of less than $100

OCZ has just announced a new series of SSDs called 'Onyx'. The first model in the series is a 2.5” 32GB drive, which has an MSRP of less than $100. OCZ claims that this price is particularly aggressive by comparison to similar models in the SSD market. OCZ hopes that the Onyx series will help expand its market share and entice mainstream consumers.

The 32GB model has data transfer rates of up to 125MB/s (read) and 70MB/s (write). It has 64MB of on-board cache, and like many flash drives it has a MLC architecture and uses wear-levelling to ensure it can endure years of heavy use. The Onyx series' drives will each come with a 3 year manufacturer's warranty.

A 2.5” 32GB SSD is certainly an anomaly when it is priced at less than $100. However, OCZ's competitors, of which there are many, have already released several SSDs that hover a slight distance above $100. OCZ hasn't mentioned the exact prices of its Onyx SSDs yet, and delaying such an announcement may be a wise decision - it may keep competitors from attempting pre-emptive price undercuts. Consumers are now set to benefit from the impending competitive undercutting by SSD manufacturers, irrespective of the success of OCZ's Onyx series; so we can all look forward to some low SSD prices this year.

Specifications