Crucial were once again at the Computex Technology Expo this year, eager to show off some brand new client and consumer DRAM and NAND memory products alongside their frankly daunting existing range. A highlight was the announcement of Ballistix Tactical Tracer DDR4 RGB Gaming Memory that we reported on earlier this week, but we were also tipped off to an upcoming product that is sure to tempt new system builders for the 'Back to School' period (especially those on tighter budgets).
Making its debut this summer will be the BX300, the latest generation of Crucial's BX-series of 'Basic' or value-oriented 2.5" SATA SSDs. It follows the launch of the MX300-series last June, and will be the first time Micron's 3D NAND appears in the BX series.
Unlike the mainstream MX-series models, Crucial's target market for the BX-series is a little narrow and much more well defined. Primarily they're seeking to encourage those still on mechanical HDD to transition to an SSD, emphasising the benefits such a transition brings in term of power efficiency (~40% less than an equivalent HDD) and transfer speeds ('saturating the SATA connection' with the 480GB model), but also positioning it as a compelling design for system integrators assembling budget builds.
Of course, the biggest hurdle Crucial have when it comes to encouraging transition (and indeed the same hurdle you might have had in advising your own peers and family members) is the apparently daunting nature of the process. It may be relatively trivial but that's not how it sounds to the inexperienced; overcoming that is, if you'll pardon the pun, crucial. Rather than spell the steps out on their website and on the 'quick-start guide', Crucial have seized the initiative by creating a simple tutorial smartphone app which will take the user through installation, step-by-step with images and video.
Humanising the process, and making it visual, will hopefully break down some barriers. HDD replacement is a prime candidate for the treatment due to the simplicity of the process, and so a good starting place if they want to take this initiative further. Maybe similar videos to explain the process of replacing DRAM, perhaps?
Price and exact specifications for the BX300-series haven't been revealed as yet, but you can expect them to arrive in at least 480GB models. 960GB designs also seem likely, but a 2TB version similar to the 2TB MX300 might be stretching things for the budget market.
More information on Crucial Memory products can be found at http://uk.crucial.com/
