As I mentioned once before, I installed a Seagate hybrid drive in my new
laptop. This is the Momentus XT, a 500 GB, 7200 rpm drive with an integrated 4
GB SSD module. Its firmware moves frequently-accessed files into the SSD unit
for faster retrieval.
Besides being much faster than the 5400 rpm drive that came with the machine,
the hybrid drive appears to take no more energy to operate--battery life seems
unaffected. This is probably because the head seek activity is so far reduced
on the hybrid drive.
While obviously not as fast as a full SSD, it seems much faster than any other
rotating disk I have seen. So far, I am very happy with it.
The downside, of course, is price. I bought the Momentus for $139 at CompUSA in
Dallas (now owned by Tiger Direct, by the way).
As it happens, that is almost exactly the difference between the machine I
bought, an ASUS UL30A-X5K, and the next model up which has switchable graphics
because of an nVidia discrete graphics chip onboard. Mine only has the
integrated Intel graphics, but since I am not a gamer I really don't miss the
nVidia GPU. In my case, therefore, the faster disk is a bigger benefit to me
while keeping the cost in line.
I also bought an inexpensive external USB drive case for the original drive, so
I have it both for backups and as a spare in case the Momentus should fail at
some point. The HP this machine has replaced was on its fourth hard disk in
four years--so I long since learned the wisdom of having a spare at hand.
David
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