Dell ships Flash-based laptops

The company is shipping two models of laptop in the US with 32GB solid-state disks

Dellhas become the latest vendor to offer laptops with Flash storage instead of a traditional hard drive. The move will improve reliability, increase performance and reduce noise, the company said.

Customers in the US can now buy Dell's Latitude D420 ultra-mobile and D620 ATG semi-rugged laptop with a 32GB solid-state disk (SSD) from Sandisk. The module is designed as a drop-in replacement for a 1.8in hard drive.

The SSD drive costs $549 (£274), and will soon be available to customers in Europe and Asia, Dell said.

Flash SSD modules are more robust than rotating hard drives, and are three-and-a-half times less likely to fail, according to Dell. The company said it will expand its use of the technology in future.

"We are committed to leading the industry in delivering these new drives and will offer them across Dell's next generation of Latitude products," said Kevin Kettler, chief technology officer at Dell.