Dell counters reports of problems with new flash-based laptop drives

Dell counters reports of problems with new flash-based laptop drives

NEW YORK — Dell Inc. denies an analyst report claiming 20 percent to 30 percent of laptops with so-called solid-state drives are being returned.

Solid-state drives, though expensive, are seen as the next big advance in laptop computers because they’re durable and light. In a solid state drive, the spinning platter of a conventional hard drive has been replaced by memory chips.

Dell offers Samsung SSDs as an option on its laptops for $600 to $899 extra. The latest Apple Inc. laptop, the MacBook Air, can also be bought with an SSD, for about $1,000 extra.

Avian Securities analyst Avi Cohen said recently in reporting on the return rates that hardware failure rates on SSDs were 10 percent to 12 percent, compared to 1 percent to 2 percent for traditional hard drives. Still other customers are returning SSD-equipped laptops because they don’t provide a speed advantage, Cohen wrote in a research report.

The “rates cited by Avian Securities don’t even vaguely resemble what’s happening in our business,” Lionel Menchaca, Dell’s chief blogger, wrote Wednesday.

“Our global reliability data shows that SSD drives are equal to or better than traditional hard disk drives we’ve shipped,” Menchaca wrote. The return rate is about a tenth of the reported one, he wrote.

Cohen acknowledged the rebuttal and said he was sticking to the main contention of his report — that the market likely won’t see shipments of the next generation of cheaper, and probably less reliable, SSDs this year.

Samsung Semiconductor representatives did not comment on the report, referring questions to Dell.

Wells Fargo to sell online safes for storing records

SAN FRANCISCO — Recognizing not all banking customers want a safe deposit box, Wells Fargo Co. plans to sell online vaults as a secure and convenient alternative for storing vital records.

When the service rolls out this summer, Wells Fargo believes it will be the first major U.S. bank to offer an Internet alternative to the safe deposit boxes that have been an industry staple for decades.

Because it can’t store jewelry, cash and many other precious assets, Wells Fargo’s online version isn’t likely to replace the traditional safe deposit box. It’s more likely to replace shoe boxes and home filing cabinets, said Jim Smith, who oversees the bank’s Internet products.

Called “vSafe,” the service is perfect for storing digital versions of birth certificates, wills, driver’s licenses, passports, family photos and other important documents, Smith said.

Customers will be able to retrieve documents from any computing device with an Internet connection — an advantage for frequent travelers.

Always on the lookout for new sources of service fees, Wells Fargo will charge nearly $180 per year for its biggest online safe. The planned monthly fees will be: $4.95 for 1 gigabyte of storage: $9.95 for three gigabytes; and $14.95 for six gigabytes.

All documents put in vSafe will be encrypted, using the same measures that the bank deploys to protect other Internet accounts.

Associated Press