Latest PCIe-interface products launched

Moreover, several high-end notebooks are expected to replace SATA III SSD with PCIe SSD since Apple and Microsoft are boosting the market demand. With the price gap between them shrinking, PCIe G2 will potentially become the mainstream specification in the PC SSD marketin 2015.

As a quick response to market demand, Apacer launches two PCIe-interface products, including an mPDM+ and an M.2 PCIeSSD. The mPDM+ is a mini PCIe SSD with the dimensions in line with that of mSATA products. The 50.8x29.8mm size can be a suitable substitute for the storage device of mSATA attached to the motherboard. M.2 PCIe SSD, on the other hand, is about 40% smaller than the mSATA SSD module in dimensions of only 22x42mm.

As M.2 SSD module has been included in standard interface and supports both the transmission signals from SATA and PCIe. PCIe boasts transmission bandwidth and speed far beyond that of SATA, achieving higher transmission efficiency than that of SATA 6Gb/s. With high compatibility, both these two PCIe SSDs match AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) and have up to 128GB capacity, which ensure their competitive edge.

Jeff Lin, Embedded Application Business Unit Director, Apacer, indicated: “Our mPDM+ SSD adopts Mini PCIe module, boasting a read speed of 385MB/s through the transmission of Gen2x1. As its dimension goes in line with that of mSATA products, it is currently a pain-free upgrade solution directly replacing the storage device of the original mSATA SSD on the motherboard.”

However, the M.2 PCIe SSD is undoubtedly the first choice in terms of both high-speed transmission and compactness. “The newly launched M.2, i.e. the NGFF, adopts PCIe 2.0 interface which has a broadband speed up to 10Gb/s compared to PCIe 1.0. High-end applications such as network storage or enterprise servers are thus capable of faster transmission,” Lin further explained.

The firmware and major components can be fixed right after customer’s recognition and validation. This reduces the risks of out-of-stock and compatibility issues by providing customers with stable supply and high reliability. For that reason, Mini PCIe SSD and M.2 PCIe SSD have successively passed international OEM vendors’ strict tests and have 100% gone through rigorous environment tests (extended temperature and high/low pressure testing for longer periods of time) and motherboard tests.