Mushkin has started shipping a new high-capacity mSATA SSD aimed at ultrabook and thin notebooks. The single-module Atlas 480GB drive manages to fit eight NAND flash chips and a Sandforce controller onto a single mSATA PCB, letting it catch up with the 2.5-inch form factor SSD drives in offering capacities over 256GB.
The 480GB version joins others in the existing Atlas line, including the already on-sale 60GB, 120GB, and 240GB capacity versions. With support for ATA APM, TRIM, NCQ, Security Set, and SMART, the SATA III 6Gbps device also has user-upgradable firmware, unthrottled IOPS, and built-in BCH ECC that is up to 55 bits correctable per 512 byte sector.
The Atlast 480GB will reach the US in early January at a cost of $500, though users elsewhere in the world will have to wait until mid-January to receive theirs.
