Other World Computing announced today its new Mercury Legacy™ Pro Solid State Drive (SSD) line as the first and fastest SandForce® processor based SSD available for pre-Intel® PowerPC® based Mac notebooks, PCs, and other notebook/laptop computers that utilize an internal 2.5″ sized IDE/ATA drive. This announcement establishes OWC as the most comprehensive U.S. manufacturer of industry leading SandForce processor based SSDs available today with OWC Mercury Pro brand SSD models available for nearly every Mac and PC produced over the past decade. OWC will be demonstrating the new Mercury Legacy Pro and other first-to-market OWC Mercury Pro SSDs in booth #3935, LVCC North Hall, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which begins tomorrow in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Fastest 2.5″ IDE/ATA Drive Available For Legacy Notebooks/Laptops
With performance up to 41X faster than today’s traditional hard drives, the OWC Mercury Legacy Pro offers users of Mac and PC notebook, laptop, and computers that utilize an internal 2.5″ sized IDE/ATA drive the fastest internal drive performance available today. It eliminates tedious drive spin up wait time and delayed system responsiveness by providing near instant data access, system boots, and app loads.
Four Models Starting At $199.99 MSRP
The new OWC Mercury Legacy Pro is available immediately in four capacities compatible with pre-Intel PowerPC based Mac PowerBooks and iBooks; as well as PCs and other notebook/laptop computers that utilize an internal 2.5″ sized IDE/ATA drive:
- 40GB Mercury Legacy Pro with 7% over provisioning & three year warranty – $TBA
- 60GB Mercury Legacy Pro with 7% over provisioning & three year warranty – $199.99
- 120GB Mercury Legacy Pro with 7% over provisioning & three year warranty – $299.99
- 240GB Mercury Legacy Pro with 7% over provisioning & three year warranty – $579.99
Doesn’t Slow Down With Use Like Ordinary SSDs
Ordinary SSDs offer fast read/write performance during first initial uses, but then experience significant write speed degradation over repeated usage. Independent simulation tests by leading drive performance experts (http://macperformanceguide.com/SSD-RealWorld.html) confirm OWC Mercury Pro brand SSD’s ultra-efficient Block Management & Wear Leveling technologies are able to eliminate virtually any reduction in data transfer speeds over heavy long term usage of the drive and without dependency on less than effective OS TRIM management.
Up To 100X Greater Data Protection
Utilizing SandForce DuraClass™ technology, the OWC Mercury Legacy Pro is able to provide up to 100X higher data protection than provided by ordinary SSDs as well as leading enterprise class hard disk drives. By combining the highest level of Error Correction Code (ECC) and SandForce RAISE™ (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements) technology along with 7% over provisioning, the Mercury Legacy Pro provides RAID like data protection and reliability without loss of transfer speed due to parity.
“The Mercury Legacy Pro SSD line is like a performance ‘supercharger’ for older notebook and laptop users,” said Larry O’Connor, Founder and CEO, Other World Computing. “It can really wake up that trusty machine and extend its usefulness at a fraction of the cost of a new computer.”
OWC Mercury Pro: Most Comprehensive Industry First SSD Line For Macs And PCs
In addition to the Mercury Legacy Pro line being announced as the first and fastest SandForce processor based IDE/ATA SSD available for pre-Intel PowerPC based Mac notebooks, PCs, and other notebook/laptop computers, OWC is also unveiling four other industry first Mercury Pro SSD model lines at the CES show:
• OWC Mercury Aura™ Pro Express, the first SSD available for ordering for all 2010 Apple MacBook Air models.
• OWC Mercury Aura Pro MBA, the first high performance SandForce processor based SSD available for all 2008-2009 Apple MacBook Air models.
• OWC Mercury Aura Pro 1.8″, the first and fastest SandForce processor based SSD available for netbooks, subnotebook, and other computers that utilize an internal 1.8″ sized SATA drive.
• OWC Mercury Extreme™ Pro Legacy Edition, the first and fastest SandForce® processor based IDE/ATA SSD available for pre-Intel® PowerPC® based Macs, PCs, and other desktop/tower computers.
Other Topics You Might Like:
OWC Announces Mercury Aura Pro MBA As Industry’s First SandForce Processor Based Solid State Drive For 2008-2009 MacBook Air Models
OWC Announces Mercury Aura Pro Express As Industry’s First Available High Performance Solid State Drive For All 2010 MacBook Air Models
OWC Debuts Mercury Extreme Pro Legacy Edition for Mac, PC
OWC Introduces Mercury Aura Pro 1.8″ As First And Fastest SandForce Based SATA Solid State Drive Available For Netbooks And Subnotebooks
I got a 2001 iBook G3 600MHz thats still ticking. Would putting in one of these monsters be a little overkill? BTW, when is the 40GB version coming out?
Hi Warren….no eta on the 40GB…and that or the 60 would be the one you likely would want to use based on $ to use in your machine.
It’s not overkill….but the UltraATA-66 drive interface in that machine limits speed to a max of around 67MB/s.
Comes down to if you want to max that interface performance so everything you do is the fastest it can be….and have the most reliable type of drive on the market in your iBook…then seems like a good decision to make.
I am stoked. Have held off on a PATA SSD solution for quite some time. And you guys have just delivered!
1) 2.5″
2) PATA
3) TRIM support
Into a VAIO PCG-V505DX (Centrino 1.7Ghz w/2GB RAM) Yeah its 7 or 8 years old, but still plays Youtube & HD Video! =)
Thanks again!
Sweet to hear Edgardo…tell us and readers how it goes…do some benchmarks of regular usage with current HD…and then do same after installing the OWC Legacy SSD.
We love to hear how we keep that legacy machine running as fast as possible to where you don’t have to buy a new machine and can save big $$$!
I’m personally excited with this development. Our office has a couple of fully upgraded G4 Mac Minis, eMacs G4 iBooks that could use a SSD speed boost. However, the price is indeed quite a barrier considering the upgrade is as expensive as the current market value of our old computers.
I do hope OWC post a comprehensive review of benchmarks (not just startup time, which is useless to us since we keep our computers on all day anyway) to measure the possible boost these SSDs could give old G4 Macs and whether the increase in performance is significant enough to justify paying the hefty premium.
We are planning on creating a series of performance tests, benchmarks, videos, etc. once we have the production drives available to do so. We’re as excited as you are to get our hands on these to check real-world battery run times, data throughput, and other performance benefits of removing the hard drive bottleneck from legacy machines.
First of all, thank you for your great products!
How does the legacy drive differ from the generation before (the non-“legacy” ones), if at all? Thank you.
~ Andrei.
The Mercury Legacy Pro is a 2.5″ drive with an IDE/ATA connection while the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD is a 2.5″ drive with a SATA connection.
Then there is a Mercury Extreme Pro Legacy Edition SSD for IDE/ATA desktops which is a kit that includes a 2.5″ SATA SSD and the components necessary to install it into a 3.5″ IDE/ATA drive bay as found in many PowerPC G4 Mac models.