HDD notebook market unscathed by SDD

SDD and high-end HDD notebooks accounted for just three per cent of market in Q1, according to IHS iSuppli

Solid disk drive (SDD) storage has as yet failed to make much headway against hard disk drives (HDD) in the notebook space, according to new figures from IHS iSuppli.

The market watcher said that in 2012's Q1, notebooks with SDD storage and high-end HDD devices accounted for only three per cent of the market combined.

Notebooks containing 500GB of HDD storage fared the best, achieving a 32 per cent share of the market. Notebooks worth between $350 (£225) and $450 (£290) with HDD storage larger than 320GB enjoyed 26 per cent market share.

Recent figures from Context showed the SDD market increased by 56 per cent last year following floods in Thailand knocking out production of HDDs, whose prices have now near stabilised following the issue.

However, Fang Zhang, an IHS iSuppli analyst, said that – despite their appeal – SDDs are still too pricey to tempt over large swathes of the market.

"SDD-equipped notebooks are faster, more lightweight and sport a thinner profile," said Zhang.

"[But] the price of a MacBook Air with just a 64GB SSD can reach $999, while an HDD-based notebook PC at that price can boast significantly larger storage space."