Samsung
The V120 is just perfect for living-room PCs, because these drives work exclusively at 5,400 RPM. Their performance is not exactly awesome, but heat dissipation and noise levels are by all accounts very low.
At long last, Samsung has come out with new hard drives. Following in the footsteps of the P80 series, which until now limited capacity to 160 GB, the P120 has 200 and 250 GB versions, putting Samsung right behind Seagate in terms of data density. Only by using three and not two platters can the latter ratchet its drives up to 400 GB. Samsung is more concerned with low noise emissions and keeping drive temperatures constant, which can only be achieved with fewer platters.
There's something new in the mobile segment too: the M60 isn't a submachine gun, but rather a 2.5" hard drive boasting 60 GB per platter and up to 120 GB capacity. We think it's great that Samsung has gone for 5,400 RPM spindles, a speed which greatly benefits this hard drive size. For the first time, SATA interfaces for notebook hard drives are included. Intel began stocking the corresponding controller, its Sonoma mobile platform, in February.
Cell phones, PDAs and other portable devices will continue to demand more and more storage space. At the end of the year Samsung is planning to join the fray with an ultra-compact hard drive in 0.85" format. We have so far only received a prototype, which can hold a gigabyte or two.
P120 is the new performance series from Samsung. 200 and 250 GB are up for grabs at their usual attractive prices.
The M60 takes notebook drives to 120 GB at 5,400 RPM, with 12 ms access time.
The 0.85" ultra-compact drives mean they will soon be suitable for cell phones.
The graphic shows where the road leads with Blueray technology. What is not yet clear is whether the standard will be able to hold its ground. That is no issue really, as Samsung is working closely with Toshiba to ensure a quick switch to HD-DVDs when the time comes.
