Dell denies report of hard drive returns

By PETER SVENSSON

AP Technology Writer

Solid-state drives, though expensive, are seen as the next big advance in laptop computers because they're durable and light. In a solid state drive, the spinning platter of a conventional hard drive has been replaced by memory chips.

Dell offers Samsung SSDs as an option on its laptops for $600 to $899 extra. The latest Apple Inc. laptop, the MacBook Air, can also be bought with an SSD, for about $1,000 extra.

Avian Securities analyst Avi Cohen said Monday in reporting on the return rates that hardware failure rates on SSDs were 10 percent to 12 percent, compared to 1 percent to 2 percent for traditional hard drives. Still other customers are returning SSD-equipped laptops because they don't provide a speed advantage, Cohen wrote in a research report.

The "rates cited by Avian Securities don't even vaguely resemble what's happening in our business," Lionel Menchaca, Dell's chief blogger, wrote on Wednesday.

"Our global reliability data shows that SSD drives are equal to or better than traditional hard disk drives we've shipped," Menchaca wrote. The return rate is about a tenth of the reported one, he wrote.

Cohen acknowledged the rebuttal and said he was sticking to the main contention of his report - that the market likely won't see shipments of the next generation of cheaper, and probably less reliable, SSDs this year.

Samsung Semiconductor representatives declined to comment on the report, referring questions to Dell.

Bank customers queue round the block as cash machine pays out DOUBLE their money

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Word quickly spread and from late yesterday afternoon to 8pm a large queue lined up to use the machine outside a Sainsbury's Local store in Hull, east Yorks.

The faulty machine finally ran out of notes at about 8pm.

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Two for one: Customers queue outside the cash machine in Hull last night which paid out twice the amount requested before running out of cash

It is also believed that a number of cash machines outside supermarkets in Hull also experienced similar problems.

One man who did not wish to be named said: "I was driving past when I saw a huge queue of about 30 people at the cash machine.

"I parked up and learned that it was paying out double. I joined the queue and when I finally got to the front I drew out £200 but it gave me £400.

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Jackpot: Word of the fault spread quickly and more and more people began to queue outside the Sainsburys Local cashpoint

"The statement said I only drew out £200. I don't know whether I will have to pay it back."

Taxi driver David Mellors, 37, said he arrived at 7pm but by the time he got to the front, the cash machine had ran out of money.

"I was disappointed. It was the ultimate buy one get one free sale and I missed out," said the father of seven.

A spokesman for Sainsbury's said it had been alerted to the problem at about 8pm last night.

"We do not know how much the machine paid out at the moment but the matter is under investigation" she said.

One eye witness said: "It was really funny seeing all those people trying to get one over on the banks.

"They were walking away with huge wads of cash and big smiles on their faces.

"They were ringing their mates and telling them to get down quickly. It makes up for all the banks charges I guess. I hope they don't have to pay it back."

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