---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:37:36 -0800 From: Greg Newby <gbnewby@pglaf.org> To: Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>, Michael S. Hart <hart@pglaf.org> Subject: phase-change memory I have it on good authority that this will be replacing many instances of flash memory. Samsung is already manufacturing it for cell phones. http://www.eetimessupplynetwork.com/220100470?cid=RSSfeed_eetsn_eetsnRSS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase-change_memory /// From Michael Samsung's first announcement of a 512-Mbit phase-change RAM prototype came in September 2006, and only now is the rumor coming out that they are actually in production. This is a great test of comments made earlier this week for the periods between such announcements and actual fact, but you can't actually go out and buy this stuff right now, and if you did, you'd probably be disappointed, as it is only a 512 M. . .BIT. . .not 512 MByte so these won't compete with the flash RAM you've been buying off the shelve for years-- available nearly up to the 512 GIGAbyte level today. In addition, the advantage of the new PRAM chips is mainly, perhaps solely, about a 20% reduction in battery drain. So, if you are comforatable using your computer for 2.5 hrs now, you should be comfortable using it for 3 hrs on PRAM. The question of calendaring such progress remains, as these chips have to work their way through the entire production, testing, integration and finally work their way through the various countries' distribution pipelines to consumers of a Samsung cellphone and then perhaps other brands or purposes such as competing with current flash RAM in the gigabytes. Even if this all happens to the point where the average one of us can walk into a store and buy a USB version of some a year from now, that would be over four years from vaporware to an actual wide scale product, probably closer to five.