Can Fujitsu And Toshiba Withstand Seagate's 7,200 RPM Notebook Drive?

[Wizno]

Although desktop components typically are one generation ahead of notebook hardware from a performance standpoint, it is reasonable to say that notebooks offer more than enough power for everyday tasks. There are dual core processors by AMD and Intel, there is plenty of RAM, and ATI and Nvidia offer powerful mobile graphics solutions. However, one component has always been a performance bottleneck in notebooks: 2.5" hard drives cannot provide the same data transfer rates of their 3.5" desktop brothers, which is why maximizing notebook hard drive performance is critical for a smooth performance experience.

We compared three new 2.5" 160 GB notebook hard drives by Fujitsu, Seagate and Toshiba. Seagate's new hard drive is especially interesting, as it is the second generation Momentus running at a fast 7,200 RPM. Most notebook hard drives still operate at relatively slow, but energy-saving 4,200 RPM. More notebooks for the upper mainstream are being equipped with 5,400 RPM drives, which provide more performance while maintaining acceptable energy consumption levels (please check the benchmark section for details). The rotation speed is the most important factor for high hard drive performance, so 7,200 RPM notebook drives can be considered top products. Although you cannot use the highest data densities at maximum rotation speeds, both the data transfer rate and average access times benefit a lot from faster rotation.

Can Fujitsu And Toshiba Withstand Seagate's 7,200 RPM Notebook Drive?