Intel has announced the Intel Solid-State Drive 310 Series, an ultra-small solid-state drive (SSD) that delivers Intel X25-class SSD performance, but in one-eighth the size. It measures 51mm-by-30mm and is 5mm thick.

When paired with a high-capacity hard disk drive (HDD) in a dual-drive system, the Intel SSD 310 can improve overall computer system performance by up to 60 %, according toTom Rampone, Intel vice president and general manager of Intel’s NAND Solutions Group. The Intel SSD 310 Series contains 34 nanometer Intel NAND flash memory and is available in an m-SATA form factor in 40GB and 80GB capacities at US$99 and $179, respectively.

The Intel SSD 310 supports SATA signals over a PCI Express (PCIe) mini-connector for on-board, compact storage in single-drive netbooks, tablets or handheld devices. Weighing just 10 grams, the compact size also enables dual drive all-in-ones, notebooks or small-form-factor (SFF) desktops to help accelerate boot time and access to frequently used applications or files, Rampone says. More info on Intel SSDs can be found at www.intel.com/go/ssd .