Sometimes we come across a product
that absolutely must be recognized in our
GOTY compendium, but doesn’t quite
fit a well-defined category. This year that
product is the Hitachi Travelstar 7K60. Do
your notebook a favor, and replace that old
5400rpm drive with the first ever 7200rpm
drive in 2.5-inch trim for portables. The
secret sauce in the 7K60 is a miniaturized
slider apparatus (i.e., the tiny wing that
supports the read/write heads as they
hover above a hard disk). Hitachi’s “Femto
Slider” is three times smaller than that
of other notebook drives, resulting in
reduced power consumption, improved
shock resistance, and the ability to detect
even smaller magnetic particles on the
drive platter. That’s how Hitachi achieved
an areal density of 50Gbits per square
inch, and a capacity of 60GB in one sweet
baseball card–size unit. The performance
difference? We clocked a 55 percent
improvement over Hitachi’s 5400rpm
2.5-inch drive!
Nothing hobbles a notebook’s
performance like a slow hard drive. Our
kudos go to Hitachi for taking a ho-hum
weak link, and turning it into an object
of high-performance geek desire. $265,
http://www.hgst.comDo a double take: Before you slap
down cash for the 7K60, make sure your
notebook accepts 2.5-inch drives. Some
portables accept only 1.8-inch drives.WILDCARD
Hitachi Travelstar 7K60