It turns out that Intel is indeed going to be manufacturing and selling solid-state hard drives.  The notebook drives (the article says “notebook and laptop drives” but I don’t know the difference) will start at 80GB and go up to 160GB and should be available in Q2 of this year.  No prices or anything on them yet.

March 11, 2008 (Computerworld) Intel Corp.today confirmed that it is close to unveiling a new line of solid-state drives for laptop and notebook PCs that will feature a storage capacity up to 160GB.

An Intel spokesman said that the chip maker will introduce 1.8-in. and 2.5-in. solid-state drives offering between 80GB and 160GB diskless storage during the second quarter of 2008. The spokesman declined to provide further details about the ship date or disclose the storage density of the drives.

Intel had demonstrated the high-performance solid-state drive prototype at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year. At the time, an Intel spokesman said the manufacturer had not decided whether to sell the drives directly to retailers or through laptop and PC makers.

The spokesman said in January that the solid-state technology would be shown again in April at the Intel Developer Forum, where some observers said it may be officially released.