[Macworld]

Post your comments for Samsung starts mass production of 256GB SSDs here

[AaronAdams]

How come when we buy new Samsung products, we pay a "premium", but when we buy new Apple products, we pay a "tax"?
"Premium" is the correct word. Time to let go of the stupid "tax" phraseology.

[NaOH]

One thing I'm curious about, is whether Samsung, or any other manufacturer of flash memory has solved the problem of the circuits wearing out after a certain number of read/write/erase cycles.
The main problem, as I understand it with using flash memory as a disk drive, is that most modern file systems are journaling file systems.
This means that they repeatedly write to the same area of the disk when updating the journaling information. That would result in one particular section of the flash memory being worn out very quickly in comparison to the rest.
Does anyone here have information about this?

[Felix001]

Supposed to be designed for two million write cycles (and unlimited read). Considering that the typical read-write ratio exceeds 5:1, that SSD is going to last a lot longer than you'll be wanting to keep the computer.

STORAGEsearch.com effectively debunked the SSD longevity criticisms some time ago.

[neilr_]

@NaOH
The problem of NAND cells wearing out is a real one, but perhaps not a significant one for end users. The concept of wear leveling addresses this specific problem. The short version is this: the drive is smart enough to move data around so that no particular cells are "used up" before the others. This takes place at the firmware level, so the OS does not have to know about it. This is a product that I have personally worked on (SSDs in general, not for Samsung).

[Felix001]

And I neglected to mention, NaOH, there are integral wear-leveling algorithms which preclude writing to the same areas time after time.

Edit: Looks like neilr_ already posted about wear leveling while I was writing.
Message was edited by: Felix001: Acknowledge the earlier post by neilr_.

[Jarmo]

{quote:title=AaronAdams wrote:}How come when we buy new Samsung products, we pay a "premium", but when we buy new Apple products, we pay a "tax"?{quote}

Wow is this off topic, but...

When you're charging extra for something brand new, not availlable elsewhere, it's charging a premium.
When you're charging extra just for the heck of it, it's just charging extra, or familiarly Apple tax.

Example:
Apple is charging premium for the LED backlighted 24" display with unique properties.
Every other display Apple is offering is just way overpriced, the customers fooled in are "paying the Apple tax".

[moose_n_squirrel]

Jarmo said:

Apple is charging premium for the LED backlighted 24" display with unique properties.

They're not charging a premium. One of the most highly recommended monitors (for pros, not consumers) at the same resolution is the NEC LCD2690WUXI-BKSV. This monitor retails for $1400 and it has fewer "features" than the Apple. The Apple 24" is decidedly midrange priced next to that.

[AaronAdams]

It may seem off topic, but words mean things, and it's both amusing and annoying to see one company painted with the brush of "premium" and another pained with "tax".

A tax is something you pay involuntarily because you're compelled to by threat of force. When Apple charged an extra $150 for the black MacBook, there was nothing involuntary or forced about anyone's purchase of that item, as Apple has no power to force a purchase, so it was not a "black tax". Likewise, any new Apple product that may cost more than the competition or more than a previously comparable model is likewise not "taxed". "Premium", a sum above the nominal or par value of a thing (according to dictionary.com), is a much more fair characterization and doesn't carry the pejorative context of "tax".

Someone is going to accuse me of being the language police, but ideas are expressed in the form of words, and we have a perfectly accurate word to describe this situation when it occurs, and it's not "tax". Why water down the true meaning of "tax" and pass over the existing word that fits much better?

Yeah, I know, this is a hang-up of mine. I see stupid terminology in the Apple community so often and it really irks me. Who's compelling you to pay the "Apple tax" at the point of a gun? Does a perfectly working iPhone, doing exactly what it was designed to do, need "jailbroken", as if it's confined from the world as a consequence for past transgressions? Such drama and stupidity.