Wednesday, March 31, 2004
C|NET: "Hitachi toughens up its laptop drives"
Posted by Suhit Gupta in "HARDWARE" @ 09:00 AM
"Shifting its focus from roominess to ruggedness, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies on Tuesday plans to announce a 40GB drive for notebook computers meant to withstand more wear and tear. The company, which recently introduced massive 400GB and 300GB drives, hopes to build on its leadership in the fast-growing laptop drive market with the new 2.5-inch product, according to sources close to the company."
"The new drive, which spins at 4,200 revolutions per minute, is designed to tolerate a shock while operating of 300 "Gs" for 2 milliseconds. Hitachi's new drive is expected to ship in volume quantities in April, according to the sources. The new 40GB drive is priced at $139, the same as the previous-generation 40GB Hitachi drive, the sources said." I am a bit surprised though that they are going for a 4200 rpm rather than a 5400 or 7200 rpm. Most folks are now realizing that buying a faster processor or increasing the amount of RAM on a laptop only has a marginal improvement in laptop performance if the speed of the drive is still 4200rpm. Although, given that it is priced as low as $139 and it is meant more for ruggedness, it should sell.
"The new drive, which spins at 4,200 revolutions per minute, is designed to tolerate a shock while operating of 300 "Gs" for 2 milliseconds. Hitachi's new drive is expected to ship in volume quantities in April, according to the sources. The new 40GB drive is priced at $139, the same as the previous-generation 40GB Hitachi drive, the sources said." I am a bit surprised though that they are going for a 4200 rpm rather than a 5400 or 7200 rpm. Most folks are now realizing that buying a faster processor or increasing the amount of RAM on a laptop only has a marginal improvement in laptop performance if the speed of the drive is still 4200rpm. Although, given that it is priced as low as $139 and it is meant more for ruggedness, it should sell.
