Lots of hard drive news this week: Bare Feats compares performance
of high capacity 5400 rpm notebook drives against lower capacity 7200
rpm one, Hitachi delivers 320 MB of storage with a 7200 rpm mechanism,
Samsung's 500 MB SpinPoint drive is finally shipping, and Western
Digital and Verbatim have small external drives perfect for backup in
the field - or taking along files you don't have room for on the
MacBook Air's small internal drive.
All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.
General Apple and Mac desktops is covered in The Mac News Review. iPod, iPhone, and Apple
TV news is covered in The iNews
Review.
News & Opinion
Reviews
Tech Trends
Products
News & Opinion
MacBook Sales Explode, Driving Quanta Higher
9to5Mac's Andy
Space reports:
"Apple's laptop sales are booming, up 61 per cent in the second
quarter, and the good news is impacting the company's notebook OEM,
Quanta, which announced an 18 per cent increase in profit this morning,
on strength of Mac sales.
"Apple last week confirmed 2.29 million Mac sales in its second
quarter. Mac sales overall climbed 51 per cent, year-on-year, a rate of
growth an astonishing 3.5 times that of the overall PC market. Desktop
sales climbed 37 per cent, also faster than PC market averages,
"The company's portable sales were driven by continued strong demand
for MacBook, MacBook Pros and the MacBook Air. This steady demand meant
Quanta Computer saw profits climb 18 per cent to book NT$4 billion for
the quarter. The OEM observed strong demand for notebooks, predicting
demand would climb 25 per cent in the current quarter....
"Apple accounts for 25 per cent of Quanta revenue."
Link: Apple Laptop
Sales Explode, Drive Quanta Higher
Canada's Bell Aliant First to Launch
MacBook/Internet Package in North America
PR:
Aliant, Atlantic Canada's leading information and communications
technology provider (and Charles W. Moore's ISP), has signed an
agreement with Apple Inc. to add the MacBook to the Aliant Computer
Purchase Program line-up. Aliant is the first North American service
provider to launch an Internet package with an Apple notebook.
"Today, we are proud and excited to be the first service
provider to sell an Apple notebook with Internet service," said Heather
Tulk, senior vice president of marketing for Aliant. "We've been
helping Atlantic Canadians get online with the latest computers for
over three years now. It's because of our customers' feedback that
we're now offering this popular MacBook exclusively to Aliant Internet
subscribers."
With an expansive broadband network that covers nearly 90% of
Atlantic Canada and online expertise that has been recognized
worldwide, Aliant offers customers in Atlantic Canada a number of
industry-leading products and services. The Aliant Computer Purchase
Program, introduced in 2005 and a first for the telecommunications
industry, was designed to connect more Atlantic Canadians with online
technology by combining Internet services and computers together for
one monthly price on the same bill. The Aliant Computer Purchase
Program gives customers a convenient and cost-effective way to purchase
a laptop or desktop and also connect with Internet access.
The MacBook, the base model with a 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor, 1 GB Memory and 120 GB hard drive is available now for
Aliant Internet customers for as low as $47/month over 36 months.
Aliant's package includes a MacBook computer and your choice of
Internet service, or add the computer to an existing Internet Value
Package, with monthly payments on your Aliant bill.
Pricing Options (in Canadian dollars) include:
- $79.95/mth for 36 mths with new High-Speed
- $84.95/mth for 36 mths with new High-Speed Ultra
- $94.95/mth for 36 mths with new High-Speed Max
- $69.95/mth for 36 mths with new Unlimited Dialup
- $47.00/mth for 36 mths added to an existing (or new) Internet Value
Package
To place an order, call 1-866-425-4268.
Editor's note: I applaud Aliant for being the first Internet Service
provider to offer Macs as well as Windows machines with a computer
purchase package plan, but note that the $47 monthly fee calculates out
to Can$1,692, while the same model MacBook purchased direct from Apple
sells for Can$1,149, so essentially you will be paying finance charges
of $543 over the 36 months. cm
Link:
MacBook Computer Purchase Plan
Reviews
1.8 GHz SSD MacBook Air: Quick, but Limited Storage
Space
Macworld UK's
Mark Hattersley and Jason Snell say that the optional solid state drive
makes little difference to the Air's desirability:
"Macworld's initial review of the MacBook Air was based on its stock
£1,199 configuration, which features a 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
processor and 80 GB of storage provided by a 1.8in traditional hard
drive. Since then, we've obtained two 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook
Airs: one with the same 1.8in 80 GB hard drive, and one with 64 GB of
flash memory as its primary internal storage device (what Apple calls a
solid-state drive, or SSD.)...
"Both upgrades did improve things. The processor upgrade improved
calculation-based tasks such as 3D rendering and video encoding and the
SSD upgrade enhanced disk-intensive tasks such as duplicating a file or
launching Photoshop....
"We spent two weeks using a 1.8 GHz MacBook Air equipped with the 64
GB SSD as the primary system. It turns out that trimming down a system
in order to fit on the 64 GB SSD was - for us - almost impossible."
Link:
MacBook Air 1.8 GHz - 64 GB SSD Review
Apple's Hot Air Exquisite but Marred
Personal
Computer World's Clive Akass says:
"A stroke of luck last week made me the owner of one of the latest
MacBook Air notebooks. We are broad minded here at PCW and have always
covered Mac news; some of our friends even use Macs. Time was when I
used a Mac (for Quark Xpress) side by side with a PC and was well
acquainted with the pros and cons of both designs, but it has been some
time since I used one in earnest.
"I'll report more about my impressions in the printed PCW but
broadly they are in line with what I wrote when the Air as first
announced. This is an exquisite design, aesthetically and (up to a
point) ergonomically, marred by two or three screaming snags caused by
form being given priority over function.
"Apple boasts that it is ahead of the curve in dropping the wired
Ethernet port and relying on wireless, but that cuts both ways. It may
be that the port will be unnecessary once wireless infrastructure has
matured; but this is not yet the case and the boast sounds more like an
excuse for a poor design decision...."
Link: Apple's Hot Air
and the Advantages of a Copyright Dongle
MacBook Air 'Suffers from Cruel Limitations'
Best Laptops
Reviews' Christophe Catesson reports:
"One year after announcing the iPhone, Apple presents its latest
laptop: the MacBook Air, which they claim is the thinnest laptop in the
world. Is the MacBook Air really the dream laptop for all travelers or
does it conceal irreparable gaps?"
"This beautiful machine suffers from cruel limitations that other
computers, sometimes lighter or less costly, do not have. In spite of
the beautiful lines and user friendliness of the MacBook Air, it does
not deliver the ultra portable promise as expected. The previous
MacBook performs better, is more functional, and cheaper!"
Link:
MacBook Air Detailed Review
The MacBook Pro: Two Years On
Gene
Steinberg, The Mac Night Owl, says:
"Two years ago, I bought my first Intel-based Mac, a 17-inch MacBook
Pro, to replace a similarly-outfitted PowerBook G4. Yes, I have an
affinity for larger screens. In fact, I'd spring for a 20-inch model if
I could afford it and it wasn't too heavy - and that may be why Apple
isn't producing any."
Link: The
MacBook Pro: Two Years On
200 GB to 500 GB Notebook Drives Tested on FireWire
800
Bare Feats'
rob-ART Morgan reports:
"Some exciting options for notebook drives are appearing this
spring. In this first installment, we tested samples in FireWire 800
bus powered enclosures.
- LaCie Little Big Disk Quadra RAID 0 enclosure with dual 7200 rpm
200 GB notebook drives
- Hitachi Travelstar 5K500 5400 rpm 500 GB notebook drive
- WD Scorpio WD3200BEVT 5400 rpm 320 GB notebook drive
- Hitachi Travelstar 7K200 7200 rpm 200 GB notebook drive
"The single Travelstar and Scorpio drives were tested inside the
WiebeTech Quad Interface ToughTech XE mini enclosure."
"The new large capacity 5K notebook drives are just as fast as the
'limited' capacity 7K notebook drives. There's something to be said for
'density.'"
Link: Highest
Capacity Notebook Drives on Bus Power FireWire 800
Tech Trends
Laptops May Get More Battery Life from
Silver-Zinc
Macworld UK's
Agam Shah reports:
"Laptop users may soon get longer battery life from their machines,
with ZPower set to plug in its new silver-zinc batteries, which it
claims last significantly longer than traditional lithium-ion
batteries.
"The batteries will be available in consumer and business laptops
from major PC makers starting in August....
"Silver-zinc batteries pack more energy than lithium-ion batteries,
giving laptops 40 per cent more run time...."
"It also remains to be seen if silver-zinc batteries can compete on
price, since lithium-ion is relatively cheap...."
Link:
Laptops May Get More Battery Life From Silver-Zinc
Nanowires for Displays
Technology
Review's Prachi Patel-Predd reports:
"Copper nanowires could be used in ultra-thin field-emission
displays that are brighter and sharper than flat-panel displays...
"Researchers at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign have
developed a simple process to grow upright copper nanowires on
different surfaces. The nanowire arrays could find use in
field-emission displays, a new type of display technology that promises
to provide brighter, more vivid pictures than existing flat-panel
displays. In such an application, the nanowires would be used to fire
electrons at phosphor particles on a screen, lighting them up."
Link: Nanowires for
Displays
Products
Western Digital's 'Essential' Hard Drive for
MacBook Air Owners
Macsimum
News's Dennis Sellers reports:
"If you have a MacBook
Air and are going on a trip (or - wonder of wonders - using the
laptop as your only Mac), an essential item (pun intended) is a
My Passport Essential Portable USB Drive from Western Digital. The
5400 RPM drives are light (less than five ounces), reasonably priced
and easy to stow and to use.
"Since the 'world's thinnest laptop' comes with, at best, a miserly
80 GB hard drive, you'll probably only keep your essential files on the
Air's hard drive or solid state drive. If you want to carry along
non-essential items (videos, music, lots of photos, etc.) you'll need
extra storage. That's where the My Passport Essential Drive is handy.
It requires no power adapter, as it's powered directly through the USB
cable."
Link:
Western Digital Hard Drive Essential for MacBook Air Owners
Performance Without Sacrifice: 320 GB 7200
RPM Hitachi Travelstar Hard Drive
PR: Continuing its
long-standing tradition of delivering superior performance with no
sacrifices required, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST)
today began shipment of its fourth-generation 7200 RPM mobile hard
drive, the Travelstar 7K320. The new drive delivers 60% higher capacity
than its predecessor, while improving application performance by 12%
and power consumption by 22%. The drive's quiet acoustics improve the
experience of watching movies or listening to music on a notebook PC.
The 2.5" drive is offered with optional Bulk Data Encryption for users
wanting increased data security. Hitachi also plans to ship
enhanced-availability (EA) models, designed to provide high-capacity
storage for low-duty-cycle, 24x7 applications.
The performance attributes of the Travelstar 7K320 allow consumers
to opt for a full-featured notebook or compact desktop model, while
still achieving all the capacity and performance typically associated
with a more traditional desktop PC. The new drives bring forth a number
of essential features that are in strong demand from manufacturers of
notebooks, compact desktops, gaming systems, blade servers and video
surveillance systems. Some of these attributes include best-in-class
operating shock protection of 400 Gs, 5400 RPM-equivalent power
consumption and quiet acoustics.
"As operating systems have grown more complex, users have struggled
with an overall decrease in system performance," said Larry Swezey,
director, Consumer and Commercial HDD, Hitachi Global Storage
Technologies. "Solid state drives (SSD) have yet to deliver an overall
increase in speed, and certainly not at an affordable price. The 7200
RPM speed of the Travelstar 7K320 provides an improved overall
experience, at the capacities users want and at a far lower cost than
SSD."
Gartner is predicting worldwide mobile PC shipments will surpass
global desk-based PC shipments in the second half of 20091. This evolution has been driven by the ever
improving performance-for-price of mobile PCs, relative to desktop PCs.
Hitachi believes the greater availability of 7200 RPM hard drives will
help accelerate this trend, as more users realize the benefits of
combining desktop-class performance with the convenience and
portability of a notebook.
Advanced Features
The Travelstar 7K320 includes many features that translate into very
tangible benefits for users, including:
- 320 GB capacity for storing approximately 80 hours of high
definition video, 320 hours of standard video, 100 movies, 80,000
4-minute MP3s or 160 games2
- The 7200 RPM provides any operating system with a noticeable
advantage in boot times and application performance. A SATA 3 Gb/s
interface and fast media transfer rates provide faster file copying and
document retrieval, better graphics and improved game performance
- Best-in-class operating shock protection of 400 Gs to minimize the
effects of rough handling and vibration
- Power utilization on par with Hitachi's 5400 RPM mobile drives, so
that users can enjoy more "unplugged" notebook computing time
- The drive's quiet acoustics provide a richer audio listening
experience for music, movies and games
Protect Your Data
The Travelstar 7K320 features optional Bulk Data Encryption (BDE), a
capability that Hitachi has offered in its mobile hard drives since the
start of 2007. Previously, data on a hard drive could be protected
either through software-based encryption or a system-level password.
Hard drive level encryption provides improved performance and a higher
level of security than any of the previously available methods.
When employing bulk data encryption, data is scrambled using a key
as it is being written to the disk and then descrambled with the key as
it is retrieved. Thus, data encryption at the hard-drive level
represents a more sophisticated approach of securing users' data and is
generally considered to be virtually impenetrable. Another benefit is
that it speeds and simplifies the drive redeployment process. By
deleting the encryption key, the data on the drive is rendered
unreadable, thereby eliminating the need for time-consuming
data-overwrite.
BDE models ship exclusively with a SATA 1.5 Gb/s interface.
Technical Specifications:
Travelstar 7K320 320/250/160/120/80 GB
- 9.5mm in height
- 7200 RPM
- 252 billion bits per square inch maximum areal density
- 2/2/1/1/1 glass disks
- 4/4/2/2/1 TMR recording head(s)
- 1000G/1ms nonoperating shock
- 400G/2ms operating shock
- 4.2ms average latency
- 12ms average read time
- 1.0W active idle
- 0.8W low-power idle
- Serial ATA 3 Gb/s, 1.5 Gb/s encrypted
- 115/110 grams in weight
- 2.5Bels typical idle acoustics
- 2.8Bels typical operational acoustics
The Travelstar 7K320 is now shipping to customers worldwide. The
enhanced-availability version of the drive is expected to ship in the
third quarter of 2008.
Link: Hitachi Global Storage
Technologies
Verbatim First to Offer 19mm Thin 500 GB
External Hard Drive
PR:
Verbatim Americas, LLC announced the world's first half-Terabyte 2.5"
Portable Hard Disk Drive (HDD) featuring an industry standard 9.5mm
Z-height drive. The PDA-sized drive joins Verbatim's highly rated
SmartDisk line of portable HDDs, which currently offer capacities
ranging from 120 GB to 320 GB. Scheduled to begin shipping in Q2 2008,
the sleek new HDD will enable Windows and Mac users to add up to 500 GB
of removable capacity to their laptop or desktop systems for less than
US$300.
The demand for higher-capacity portable storage devices at both the
consumer and corporate levels is being driven by the growing number of
users who are creating and downloading volumes of digital content.
IDC research shows that the digital universe - information that is
either created, captured, or replicated in digital form - will increase
from 281 Exabytes in 2007 to nearly 1,800 Exabytes in 2011, or 10 times
that produced in 2006. Between 2008 and 2011, the compound annual
growth rate is expected to be almost 60%. In addition to the higher
capacity requirements, today's more mobile consumers and businesses are
becoming more reliant on moving their digital content from one system
to another. As a result, IDC sees greater opportunities for smaller
devices such 2.5" HDDs.
Verbatim's 500 GB 2.5" SmartDisk HDD meets the capacity, portability
and convenience these users need with a simple, easy solution for
storing, enjoying, sharing and protecting their music, photos, video
and personal files wherever they go. Business people can use the drive
to share files between coworker and partner office systems or to
transfer files between office and home systems.
"Being able to add half a Terabyte of storage to a PC or Mac with
such a small, easy to carry device is a new milestone in the portable
storage industry," said Charles Klinker, Verbatim Director of Marketing
for SmartDisk products. "Imagine the convenience of being able to
store, transport and backup all of your digital content without having
to span disks or carry multiple storage solutions."
Weighing less than 6 ounces and measuring only 3.38" x 5.38" x
0.63", Verbatim's new 500 GB 2.5" SmartDisk HDD is easy to carry when
traveling with a laptop and requires minimal desk space when connected
to a desktop system. Inside its rugged, ultramodern case there are
three 166 GB platters that utilize advanced Perpendicular Magnetic
Recording (PMR) technology to deliver breakthrough storage capacity in
a small form factor. To optimize performance, the drive features a 5400
rpm spindle speed and includes 8 MB of cache memory.
Like Verbatim's complete family of 2.5" SmartDisk HDDs, the 500 GB
drive will be available with a choice of a USB interface or a Combo
FireWire®/USB interface. With the Combo FireWire/USB interface, the
device also becomes interoperable and enables users to transfer files
between a Mac and a PC. The bus-powered drives deliver transfer speeds
of up to 480 MB per second (MB/sec.) when connected with USB 2.0 and up
to 400 MB/sec. for FireWire connections without requiring an AC power
adapter.
When plugged in to the USB or FireWire port of a computer, the drive
can be accessed and used like a computer hard drive. Users can drag
files to the portable HD's icon to copy them, navigate to their HD in
Open or Save dialog boxes and can delete files stored on the HD.
Verbatim 2.5" SmartDisk Portable HDDs support the "Time Machine"
backup feature in Mac OS X Leopard. Included in the USB-only models is
CMS' award-winning BounceBack Express backup software, an easy-to-use
backup utility that incorporates scheduling, backup sets, automatic
launch options and a quick restore feature.
Verbatim 500 GB 2.5" Portable HDDs will be available in Q2 2008
through retailers and leading etailers with suggested retail pricing
beginning at less than US$300 for the USB version.
Link: Verbatim
Samsung SpinPoint 500 GB Laptop Drive
Finally on Sale . . . in France
Engadget's
Nilay Patel, reports:
"We've been wondering where Samsung's 9.5mm 500 GB SpinPoint M6
laptop drive has been hiding, and it turns out that it's just been
vacationing in France."
Link:
Samsung SpinPoint M6 500 GB Laptop Drive Finally on Sale
. . . in France
Bargain 'Books
Bargain 'Books are used unless otherwise indicated. New and
refurbished units have a one-year Apple warranty and are eligible for
AppleCare.
There are two different versions of WallStreet running at 233 MHz,
the cacheless MainStreet version and the
later Series II with
a level 2 cache. It's not always possible to determine from the
vendor's listing which is being offered, so we've included links within
this paragraph to the two models. The same goes for the PowerBook G4/667 (VGA) and
G4/667 (DVI), the
titanium vs. aluminum 15" PowerBook G4 at 1 GHz, and 1.25 GHz to 1.5
GHz 15" PowerBooks.
PowerBook, iBook, and MacBook profiles linked in our Portable Mac Index.
A decent selection of 17" MacBook Pros and recent MacBooks this
week, but just one MacBook Pro 15" model in stock. Each model comes
with an Apple one-year warranty, and ground shipping is free. Changes
this week are the addition of a 2.6 GHz 17" MacBook Pro with high-res
display and a 2.2 GHz Black MacBook.
- refurb 2.1 GHz Penryn MacBook, white, 1 GB/120/Combo, $949
- refurb 2.2 GHz Core 2 MacBook, white, 1 GB/120/SD, $999
- refurb 2.4 GHz Santa Rosa MacBook, white, 2 GB/160/SD, $1,099
- refurb 2.4 GHz Santa Rosa MacBook, black, 2 GB/250/SD, $1,299
- refurb 15" 2.2 GHz Core 2 MacBook Pro, 2 GB/120/SD, $1,449
- refurb 17" 2.4 GHz Santa Rosa MacBook Pro, 2 GB/160/SD, $2,099
- refurb 17" 2.4 GHz hi-res Core 2 MacBook Pro, 2 GB/160/SD,
$2,299
- refurb 17" 2.6 GHz Core 2 MacBook Pro, 2 GB/160/SD, $2,299
- refurb 17" 2.6 GHz hi-res Core 2 MacBook Pro, 2 GB/160/SD,
$2,499
- 12" iBook G3/700, 256/20/Combo, $419.99
- 12" iBook G3/800, 256/20/Combo, $429.99
- 15" PowerBook G4/667 (VGA), 256/30/Combo, $599.99
- 15" PowerBook G4/667 (DVI), 256/30/Combo, $629.99
- 15" PowerBook G4/1.67 GHz, 512/80/SD, APX, $899
- 1.83 GHz 15" MacBook Pro, 512/80/SD, $1099.99
- 2 GHz 15" MacBook Pro, 512/80/SD, $1154.99
- 2.16 GHz 15" MacBook Pro, 1 GB/100/SC, $1399.99
- 2.16 GHz 17" MacBook, 1 GB/120/SD, $1299.99
- 2.16 GHz 17" MacBook 2.16 GHz, 1 GB/160/SD, $1379.99
- 2.16 GHz 17" MacBook 2.16 GHz, 1 GB/200/SD, $1399.99
- 12" iBook G4/800, 640/30/Combo, $379
- 12" iBook G4/800, 640/30/Combo, APX, $410
- open box 2.1 GHz Core 2 MacBook, white, 1 GB/120/Combo, $1,049
- open box 2.16 GHz Core 2 MacBook, white, 1/120/SD, warranty started,
$1,099
- open box 2.2 GHz Core 2 MacBook, black, 2 GB/160/SD, $1,299
- open box 2.4 GHz Core 2 MacBook, black, 2 GB/250/SD, $1,449
- open box 1.6 GHz MacBook Air, 2 GB/80, $1,749
- open box 15" 2.2 GHz Core 2 MacBook Pro, 2/120/SD, $1,599
- open box 17" 2.33 GHz Core 2 MacBook Pro, 2 GB/160/SD, $2,288
- refurb 17" 2.4 GHz Core 2 MacBook Pro, 2 GB/160/SD, warranty
started, $2,088
- open box 17" 2.4 GHz Core 2 MacBook Pro, 2 GB/160/SD, warranty
started, $2,349
- 17" 2.4 GHz Core 2 MacBook Pro, 2 GB/160/SD, $2,449
- open box 17" 2.5 GHz Core 2 MacBook Pro, 2 GB/160/SD, $2,688
- 17" 2.6 GHz Core 2 MacBook Pro, 2 GB/160/SD, $2,699
- clamshell iBook G3/300, Blueberry, 64/3/CD, $149.95
- clamshell iBook G3/300, Tangerine, 64/3/CD, $169.95
- clamshell iBook G3/366 SE, Graphite, 128/10/CD, $199.95
- 12" iBook G3/500, 128/10/CD, $199.95
- 12" iBook G3/500, 256/10/Combo, $279.95
- 12" iBook G4/1 GHz, 768/40/Combo, $529.95
- Pismo PowerBook G3/400, 192/6/Zip, $269.95
For deals on current and discontinued 'Books, see our 13" MacBook and MacBook Pro,
MacBook Air, 13" MacBook Pro, 15" MacBook Pro, 17" MacBook Pro, 12" PowerBook G4, 15" PowerBook G4, 17" PowerBook G4, titanium PowerBook G4,
iBook G4, PowerBook G3, and iBook G3 deals.
We also track iPad,
iPhone, iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle deals.
