Solid State Hard Drive Technology Review
Solid state technology is composed of non moving semiconductor components, as opposed to electromechanical devices such as magnetic hard drives that rely upon moving read/write heads to store and retrieve data. Solid state hard drives (SSDs) have a low access time and run quieter than existing hard drives due to the lack of moving parts; if a cooling fan is added to the drive then noise will be apparent but at lower decibel levels. The fans are typically included in a RAM and Flash combination SSD. As of 2008, SSDs are capable of far lower seek-times and result in faster boot times and far lower temperature outputs.
For lower capacity SSDs the power consumption is markedly lower than traditional hard drives; but it should be noted that higher capacity and higher end SSDs will have a much higher power consumption and heat generation. A downside of the SSD technology is that they have a limited number of write cycles as opposed to mechanical hard drives. The number of writes is a function of the type of SSD technology used but is limited. Solid state drives also can endure higher impacts and a larger range of operating temperatures making them ideal for laptops and use in extreme environments.
Solid state drives are more expensive per unit of storage than their traditional counterparts but are not affected by fragmented files in read times. Although, with solid state technology, a portion of the storage that is to be altered or written over will write over all of the stored information in that area, or sector, of the drive even if only a portion of it is being replaced. SSDs also have slower write speeds during small writes due to the fact that erase blocks on flash based SSDs are larger than traditional drives. This is not the case with DRAM solid state drives which are much faster than traditional hard drives.
What is LED Printer Technology?
An example of an LED printer array
The LED printer technology developed by Casio has invaded the color printer world for businesses and home users alike. LED printers are as fast if not faster than their competitive laser cousins. First and foremost LED printers use an array of light emitting diodes to repeatedly flash light directed toward an imaging drum. There are no moving parts in the LED’s, aside from the image drum, so it has fewer maintenance issues than other printing technologies and fewer parts to replace. These printers also place all of the color to a page in a single pass, line by line reducing the time needed to produce a full color document.
Depending upon the internal design of the array of LED’s the printers can be faster than laser printers and still deliver high quality prints and documents. One drawback to the LED technology is the fact that only a limited number of light emitting diodes can be placed in a line, or array. This limits the resolution to most of these devices to around 600 by 1200 dpi, at the moment. As the light of the LED hits the imaging drum the electrostatic charge is changed on the drum and the toner, which is the same as in laser printers, will adhere to different parts of the drum and hence different parts of the paper.
LED printers are less expensive to manufacture than laser printers, as they have fewer moving parts, although LED printers are comparable in price to the consumer. This also means there are fewer pieces that need to be disposed of properly. The cost per printed page is in line with in class printers, but for an average user and for typical office applications the LED printers will be slightly less expensive. LED printer technology provides fast print speeds, great color graphics and faster first page out times, yet is currently limited by the physical size of the LED’s thus limiting its resolution.
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