Samsung has unveiled a 128GB solid-state drive (SSD) that will ship later this year in 2.5in and 3.5in versions for notebooks and desktop PCs.

The new drive uses multi-level-cell technology, using different voltages to store several bits per cell, and Samsung claims a write speed of 70Mbytes/sec - the fastest yet for storage of this type. The claimed read speed is 100MB/sec.

Samsung pioneered the use of SSDs when it used a 32GB one in a version of its Q1 ultra-mobile. It demonstrated the 128BGB model in a notebook at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

One 1.8in version of SSD will be just 5mm thick, and is designed for emerging portable formats like Origami ultra-portables and the even smaller Mobile Internet Devices (Mids).

Intel has announced at even thinner SSD targeted at the same market. The Z-P140 PATA SSD is the size of a postage stamp and just 1.8mm thick bit it has a maximum capacity of 16GB.