Welcome to the first part in our series examining the cutting-edge technologies that will be integrated into future MacBook models over the next few years.

It’s worth pointing out, however obvious, that Apple has long been a trailblazer in portable design, incorporating new technologies long before they gain widespread adoption in the rest of the industry. Everything from hugely transformational features like integrated 802.11 wireless internet to the more minor, but thoughtful, items like the MagSafe power connector were seen first on Apple’s gear. Slot-load drives, backlit keyboards,

We chose to examine the advent of large-capacity solid state storage technology as the first installment of this series as it’s definitely the direction storage is headed for portables, with some high-end models from smaller manufacturers already on the market with this option.

First, what is a solid-state drive? Just imagine it as the little card in your digital camera–just on steroids. It’s powered chips that store huge amounts of 1s and 0s, just as conventional disk drives do oday, just without the spinning platters. The advantages of no moving parts are manifold: less power consumption, faster seek and read times, better shock resistance, and silent operation. The drawbacks are price, slower write times, and a comparably shorter lifetime, though each of these will improve as innovation continues by solid state manufacturers. (For a more comprehensive list of pros and cons, visit the Wikipedia article.

This technology is pretty much ready to go–for a price. There are laptops available today with SSD technology at 32 gigs, such as the Sony VAIO UX. And there will soon be solid state storage options large enough to replace all but the largest current 2.5″ laptop drives. Taiwanese firm A-Data showed an 128 GB prototype at CES in January that’ll be available in mid-2007 in a 2.5″ form factor, with 32 and 64 GB sizes available in even smaller sizes. Keep in mind that conventional 2.5″ drives will hit 300 GB later this month and 200 GB was only reached in May of 2006.

So the question as to when a solid state disk will replace the mechanical disks that have lived inside every one of Apple’s PowerBooks and MacBooks since their inception is just one of when the economies of scale involved in the production bring the price down to that upper edge of the high end down from the “arm and a leg” range, allowing Apple to include the technology. We’re going to predict that we’ll see widespread adoption of solid state drives in most of Apple’s portables in under two years from now.

What do you think? Fire back with your opinion in the comments below!

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