Intel has just rolled out its latest solid-state drive (SSD), aimed at entry level buyers looking to replace their hard drives for something with additional storage capacity.

The newly-launched, consumer-focused SSD 355 series follows on from the success of Intel’s popular SSD 330 drives, designed and built using the same revolutionary 20-nanometer process. As such, the new SSDs will offer the same enhanced level of durability as their predecessors, together with 240GB of storage capacity.

According to Intel, the SSD 355’s offer an impressive level of performance, with a sequential read speed of 500 MB per second, together with a write speed of 450 MB per second. What’s more, they have been designed with existing products in mind, meaning they can be fitted into a standard 2.5-inch laptop slot, making the new drives a great choice for consumers looking to upgrade their existing machines as opposed to shelling out for a new one.

The drive is also the first on the market to integrate Santa Clara’s 20nm NAND flash technology – it comes equipped with a 20nm 64GB NAND with planar structure, which will facilitate far more aggressive cell scaling than previous architectures.

According to Intel executive Rob Crooke:

“The Intel SSD 335 uses Hi-K/metal gate planar cell technology, which overcomes NAND process scaling constraints to deliver the smallest-area NAND cell and die in the industry. By pushing technology constraints and using process innovation, Intel can continue to progress SSD technology and pass along savings to our customers.”

The SSD 355 series’ performance doesn’t match up to Intel’s enterprise-focused 520 series, but one area where it does win hands down is in power consumption. The new drives use significantly less energy than older devices – 350 mW under load, and 275 mW when in idle mode, compared to a rate of 850mW and 600mW for the 520 series.

Intel assures us that the SSD 355 series will also be quite a bit cheaper than the 520 line, although the company has not yet revealed any specific pricing data.