The hybrid race is on: Apple and LG plan flash laptops

Report states LG's hybrid laptop could go for as little as $1,015

March 08, 2007 (Reuters) -- Apple Inc. may sell zippy notebook computers later this year that use the same type of fast memory as music players and digital cameras, driving down prices of hard disk drives, an analyst said today. In a separate report, LG Electronics Inc. is also said to be planning the release of a laptop this month that uses a hybrid (flash/spinning disk) drive.

The laptop news comes in the same week that Samsung Electronics Co. announced it was shipping its first so-called hybrid drive, which uses a combination of nonvolatile NAND flash memory and magnetic spinning disk to save on power consumption and boot-up time (see " Samsung ships its first hybrid disk drive "). Samsung is the world's largest maker of NAND flash memory for gadgets such as USB flash drives.

Apple hopes to introduce so-called flash memory in small computers known as subnotebooks in the second half of 2007, Shaw Wu, an analyst at American Technology Research Inc., said in investor notes yesterday and today.

A shift to flash memory for storage in place of much slower hard disk drives would eliminate one headache for consumers: lengthy start-up times when turning on computers.

Apple already uses flash memory in its iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle music players. Flash memory is lighter, uses less power and takes up less space than hard disk drives.

Wu, who was among the first analysts to forecast the unveiling of Apple's iPhone music player/phone earlier this year, cited unnamed industry sources as the basis for his report.

"The time is right for the flash makers to make a move" as flash memory prices decline, Wu said by telephone. "Apple, from what we understand, is pretty much ready. The ball is in the flash vendors' court."

Apple spokeswoman Lynn Fox said the company does not comment "on rumor and speculation." Apple shares were up 60 cents, or 0.7%, at $88.32 in early afternoon trading on Nasdaq.

Online reports today stated that LG is ready to ship its R400 laptop over the next couple of weeks using a hybrid drive. The R400 laptop comes with a 14-inch LCD screen and Bluetooth capability.

LG did not respond to requests to confirm the reports by press time.

A transition to flash memory for computers could put pressure on makers of traditional hard disk drives, including Seagate Technology, the largest U.S. hard disk drive maker, Wu said.

Apple, known as a technology innovator, would be among the first PC makers to use flash memory for storing data in computers, a step that some chip memory makers, including Micron Technology Inc., have said is inevitable as prices for flash decline and storage capacity increases.

Flash memory chips have solid-state circuitry that uses no moving parts, making them less vulnerable to damage than hard disk drives. Wu said prices of flash memory have been declining rapidly but are still higher than those for hard disk drives, meaning early flash-based computers would be more expensive.

Apple would use a miniature version of its Mac OS X operating system in the flash-based subnotebook computers, Wu said, again citing unnamed sources. The computers could be introduced in the second half of this year, he said.