Reports about Intel's new SSDs with 34 nm NAND-flash chips first surfaced in June, when the company was believed to be working on its quick and silent launch. As it turns out, we still have no signs of these 34 nm SSDs, which Intel reportedly codenamed "Postville". We do have more details about these, however, and how Intel plans to hand over the benefit of lower manufacturing costs to the consumers right away.

Intel's Postville familiy of SSDs use NAND-flash chips made by IM Flash, a joint venture between Intel and Micron Technology. Products based on this series will be part of Intel's X25-M series, which Intel and its partners (such as Kingston, A-Data, PQI, etc.) will market in capacities of 80 GB, 160 GB, and 320 GB. The 320 GB model is a first for Intel in its segment. While the tentative pricing of the 320 GB model isn't known, the 160 GB model is expected to cost at least a 100 Euros less than its 50 nm predecessor, the current X25-M 160 GB, sending its price below 400 Euros. The X25-M 80 GB which currently costs around 270 Euros, will be down to around 200 Euros.

Being part of the X25-M series, these SSDs will use multi-level cell flash chips. There is no information available on 34 nm flash-based SLC drives from Intel, which it markets in the X18-E and X25-E series. While a new controller to drive these isn't on the cards, Intel could use the current 10-channel controller that provides read speeds in excess of 200 MB/s to speed up its launch.