Lenovo's RapidDrive Technology Faster Than a Speeding Hard Drive, Boots in Just Over 10 Seconds

When Intel announced it was shipping its mSATA SSD 310, which is designed to provide a speedy solid state boot drive for notebooks that also have a full size hard drive, we couldn't wait to see the new how quickly notebooks with the device would boot. At CES, Lenovo demonstrated its IdeaPad Y570 booting in just over 10 seconds using the Intel SSD 310 and special settings such as a fast-posting BIOS and fast-loading drivers, a combination the notebook-maker calls RapidDrive. Needless to say, we had to get this on video so you'll find it below.

Amazingly, what you'll see here is not some kind of theoretical prototype like Phoenix showed us a couple of years ago. It is a product that's about to ship in the next couple of months. RapidDrive will be available as an option not only on most IdeaPads, but also on Lenovo's ThinkPad line as well. By our count, it's about 14 seconds from the time the finger leaves the power button until you see the browser (which contains a time benchmark you can't read). Check out the video below to see for yourself.

Avram Piltch
Online Editorial Director
The official Geeks Geek, as his weekly column is titled, Avram Piltch has guided the editorial and production of Laptopmag.com since 2007. With his technical knowledge and passion for testing, Avram programmed several of LAPTOP's real-world benchmarks, including the LAPTOP Battery Test. He holds a master's degree in English from NYU.