It was only two days ago that the internet was abuzz with the news that Intel had upgraded the MLC NAND flash modules that were to be used in the X25 SSDs from 50nm to 34nm. Now while that bit of news was sure to bring speculations over performance, heat, power and pretty much everything else. The biggest item that this move would affect is price.

Intel's press release talked about a 50% reduction in pricing, but that was based off of the price at initial launch. Not on current pricing. So the question begs to be asked; will the new 34nm MLC NAND flash modules bring enough performance gains combined with a price drop to finally make the Intel SSDs a consumer viable product?

Well according to a couple of VERY early reviews on this subject they can. The new X25-M-G2 drives are looking to bring some improvements to be sure but the one thing that both of the currently available reviews say is that the drop in price will really make the difference.

It looks like Solid State might be a mainstream product in the very enar future.