Windows 7’s support for SSDs will not do much to boost sales because the price gap with HDDs is still too high.
That’s according to a report in Digitimes, which spoke to sources at notebook vendors.
Since current SSDs are priced around USD $4-5 per GB, while HDDs cost less than USD $0.50 per GB, the sources don’t expect SSDs to become the mainstream specification for at least three years.
This is despite Windows 7 including several optimizations specifically targeted at SSD-equipped systems.
The sources estimated the penetration rate of SSDs in notebooks in 2009 will only be around 1 per cent, equivalent to a volume of 1.5 million units.