Rumor time. Word on the street is that Apple will begin shipping a laptop later this year with a Nand FLASH memory only hard drive. As Computerworld points out, this is the same type of memory found in Apple’s iPods. Earlier this month, reports floated in (not on Gadgetreview) that Samsung has begun shipping a laptop this month with a hybrid drive: a combination of a spinning ‘classic’ hard drive and flash memory. One analyst, name Wu, says that these new Apple notebooks will be known (not called) as subnotebooks and according to him will have a chopped (smaller) down version of Apple’s current operating system (probably to facilitate the smaller storage space as a result of switching to Flash memory only). The flash memory based laptops should allow for a faster start up time, better battery life (less moving parts=less energy consumed) and reduce the risk of lost or damaged information since there no moving parts to break. Prices are still higher for Flash based memory so expect to a pay a premium for these computers, but as we all know, and have seen, Nand Flash memory prices continue to reduce, especially when you have a company like Apple selling millions of iPods that use this type of storage.

The hybrid race is on: Apple and LG plan flash laptops [ComputerWorld]