New Laptop Hard Drives Announced Today

[whateverandever]

Seagate just announced their 7200.2 line-up of 2.5" hard drives, now in SATA 3 Gbps.

While this is I guess, notable, the big thing here is that this new line-up is all 7200rpm and tops out at 160GB and is all perpendicular. Finally, we can get some 7200rpm action in at the 160GB drive range.

SanDisk also announced that they're shipping the 2.5" drop-in replacement Solid State Disk drives coming in at 32GB and consuming 1/2 the power of standard conservative drives. The good news? They're not going to cost as much as the 1.8" drive (which would increase consumer prices by "around $600" on laptops). SanDisk is shipping them now to computer manufacturers for around $350 each. So... possibly only ~$300 or so mark-up over traditional drives in laptops -- if your desired manufacturer decides to offer them. I'm guessing they'll be around $450 on the OEM market.

 

[mkrishnan]

Mmm, thanks for the updates... 32GB flash drives...welcome to the cusp, ladies and gentlemen.

 

[Diatribe]

Thanks for the info. I am still waiting for the 300GB HD Fujitsu announced to be available in the first quarter 2007.

 

[andiwm2003]

how about the samsung flashon disks with 256MB flash cache? how good are they?

i asked this in another thread already: do this drives make Robson Caching obsolete?

 

[WildCowboy]

Thanks for the info. I am still waiting for the 300GB HD Fujitsu announced to be available in the first quarter 2007.

Those drives are 12.5 mm high, so they won't fit in Apple laptops. The next improvement looks to be Hitachi's 250 GB drive in the 9.5 mm form factor coming in the second half of this year.

 

[Shaker]

http://www.themoneytimes.com/articl...amsung_over_solid_state_drives-id-103084.html

Looks like Intel is also entering the game. I wonder if this will mean some sort of special pricing structure for its "preferred" computer manufacturers (i.e. Apple).

 

[whateverandever]

http://www.themoneytimes.com/articl...amsung_over_solid_state_drives-id-103084.html

Looks like Intel is also entering the game. I wonder if this will mean some sort of special pricing structure for its "preferred" computer manufacturers (i.e. Apple).

Nope, if you read the article thoroughly you'll note that Intel isn't using ATA or SATA for the interface on their drives, so they're not going to be hard-drive replacements. I think their aim is more at the portable market (mp3 players, cell phones, etc) but I could be wrong.

 

[Diatribe]

Those drives are 12.5 mm high, so they won't fit in Apple laptops. The next improvement looks to be Hitachi's 250 GB drive in the 9.5 mm form factor coming in the second half of this year.

I thought 2.5" is 2.5"

 

[whateverandever]

how about the samsung flashon disks with 256MB flash cache? how good are they?

i asked this in another thread already: do this drives make Robson Caching obsolete?

Robson caching is still nice because it works alongside normal hard drives. Obviously the complete SSD drive is going to outperform Robson, but Robson will be a much cheaper solution.

The Samsung and other hybrid drives are kind of like Robson. They'll be cheaper but only give part of the benefits. While Vista does support both Robson and hybrid drives, at the moment OS X doesn't. Hopefully 10.5 will :]

 

[whateverandever]

I thought 2.5" is 2.5"

2.5" doesn't refer to the height of the drive, it refers to the width (which strangely is 2.75"). There are different "profile" hard-drives based on the height. The 300GB drives will be taller and may have problems fitting in the MBP (and most definitely won't fit in the MacBook, as it has that slot-loading contraption).

 

[WildCowboy]

I thought 2.5" is 2.5"

Nope...laptop drives typically come in 12.5 mm high Slim and 9.5 mm SuperSlim form factors. The vast majority of them are SuperSlim these days, but Fujitsu went with the Slim form factor so that they could get to 300 GB just by adding another platter instead of increasing the density. Unfortunately, the latest Apple laptops only accept SuperSlim drives. Older laptops like iBooks could take Slim drives, but the increased emphasis on sleekness means that you need SuperSlim now.

2.5" doesn't refer to the height of the drive, it refers to the width (which strangely is 2.75").

For clarification, the disc itself is 2.5" in diameter, while the drive is 2.75" wide...there has to be a little bit of space around the disk to enclose it.

 

[Diatribe]

2.5" doesn't refer to the height of the drive, it refers to the width (which strangely is 2.75"). There are different "profile" hard-drives based on the height. The 300GB drives will be taller and may have problems fitting in the MBP (and most definitely won't fit in the MacBook, as it has that slot-loading contraption).

Nope...laptop drives typically come in 12.5 mm high Slim and 9.5 mm SuperSlim form factors. The vast majority of them are SuperSlim these days, but Fujitsu went with the Slim form factor so that they could get to 300 GB just by adding another platter instead of increasing the density. Unfortunately, the latest Apple laptops only accept SuperSlim drives. Older laptops like iBooks could take Slim drives, but the increased emphasis on sleekness means that you need SuperSlim now.

For clarification, the disc itself is 2.5" in diameter, while the drive is 2.75" wide...there has to be a little bit of space around the disk to enclose it.

Thanks a lot for the explanations.

Well, I guess I will have to live with the 200GB since I need a new MBP by August. Damn, I had hoped for that 300GB drive, that would have been nice.

 

[whateverandever]

For clarification, the disc itself is 2.5" in diameter, while the drive is 2.75" wide...there has to be a little bit of space around the disk to enclose it.

Ah, that makes perfect sense :]

 

[Helianthus]

I had no idea of the differences either. Most posts around here say "Just get any 2.5" SATA drive". Good thing I didnt go buy a HDD that wouldn't even fit in my computer!

 

[whateverandever]

I had no idea of the differences either. Most posts around here say "Just get any 2.5" SATA drive". Good thing I didnt go buy a HDD that wouldn't even fit in my computer!

Well, at the time that would be true.
Good luck finding that 300GB drive right now :]

 

[mashinhead]

Those drives are 12.5 mm high, so they won't fit in Apple laptops. The next improvement looks to be Hitachi's 250 GB drive in the 9.5 mm form factor coming in the second half of this year.

what is the rpm of that drive?

 

[WildCowboy]

what is the rpm of that drive?

5400 rpm for the 250 GB. There will also be a 200 GB version at 7200 rpm sometime in the next few months.

Linky

 

[Diatribe]

5400 rpm for the 250 GB. There will also be a 200 GB version at 7200 rpm sometime in the next few months.

Linky

Thanks for the link.

The 200GB 7200rpm drive sure sounds yummy. And it'll even be available in time for the new MBPs.

 

[Diatribe]

Another link for the curious. I especially like the hard drive encryption feature without any slowdown. That would be one killer feature for the MBPs

Linky

 

[whateverandever]

Thanks for the link.

The 200GB 7200rpm drive sure sounds yummy. And it'll even be available in time for the new MBPs.

Mmmm, even better than the Seagate

I don't know, though. I think I may buy the Seagate over the Hitachi... Hitachi is good (they're "IBM" drives) but Seagate is generally better.

 

[mick4394]

I'll start listening when the SSDs get up in the 80GB region. Until then, they're just a nice toy.

 

[whateverandever]

I'll start listening when the SSDs get up in the 80GB region. Until then, they're just a nice toy.

32GB flash drive = very nice for iPods and the like

 

[mick4394]

32GB flash drive = very nice for iPods and the like

Agreed, but 32GB is still pushing it for video.

 

[mkrishnan]

Agreed, but 32GB is still pushing it for video.

It's enough for a business ultra-compact, like a 1 lb 12" notebook or something like that... true, one would have to give up having a 15GB iTunes library and so on, but if it was designed so that one could easily sync, say, one's top 4GB of music and perhaps a few gigs of video and photos via iLife, in the way the phone might be, then... it could be a really nice kind of a product, I think.

'Sides... if they're at 32GB now, 80 is not that far away.

 

[mick4394]

It's enough for a business ultra-compact, like a 1 lb 12" notebook or something like that... true, one would have to give up having a 15GB iTunes library and so on, but if it was designed so that one could easily sync, say, one's top 4GB of music and perhaps a few gigs of video and photos via iLife, in the way the phone might be, then... it could be a really nice kind of a product, I think.

'Sides... if they're at 32GB now, 80 is not that far away.

I agreed. It won't be long, but right now it's still a bit early to jump on the SSD train, at least for me. For some people 32GB is fine, even for a notebook. I could easily slot one of those into my wife's iBook, and she'd still have a good 15 gigs to work with.

For me, my notebook has gotten to the point that it's the only machine I use, so I have everything on it. I couldn't even consider SSD in it's current capacities. Once it gets into the 60-80 gig region, I'll be on board, hopefully sooner than later.