Hitachi makes new eco-friendly hard drive

Hitachi on Wednesday joined the crowd of green-storage vendors with its fourth generation of the CinemaStar hard-drive family.

The new drive features Hitachi's EcoTrac Classification. This means it's halogen-free and has very low power consumption. The new CinemaStar features a read/write power specification of 1.4W--a reduction of 22 percent compared to previous models.

Other that that, this is a 2.5-inch (laptop) SATA hard drive that has the spinning speed of 5,400 rpm, which is popular though slower than the 7,200 rpm of some higher-end drives.

According to Hitachi, its new CinemaStar hard drive is best suited for digital video applications that require compact design and low power usage, such as slim digital video recorders, set-top boxes, and surveillance systems.
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Logitech's really comfy Comfort Lapdesk

I've been shopping around for a go-between that would prop my toasty laptop off my lap. I thought I found this with the Thermapak, but now here's another tough choice, Logitech's Comfort Lapdesk (US$39.99). Unlike the former, the Lapdesk marries hard plastic with a padded cushion for what seems to be the best of both worlds. Though it won't cool your notebook or roll up into a bundle like the Thermapak, the Lapdesk can double as a useful work surface while you're lounging on the couch. Thermapak or Logitech? Time to dust off that Magic 8 ball.

Update: We've just got word that the Lapdesk is now on Singapore shelves for S$69.
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Transcend makes portable solid state drive

If you like your thumb drive for the durability, you'll like what Transcend has to offer. It's a new breed of compact external storage device that's based on 1.8-inch solid state drives (SSDs), the SSD18M.

Unlike traditional external storage devices that are based on harddisk drives, the SSD18M is made of reliable NAND flash memory that contains no moving parts. This eliminates the possibility of mechanical failure due to shock or vibration and also provides substantial weight savings and reduced power consumption.

The new drive features both both eSATA and USB2.0 interface options. This means when portability is not required, people can use the eSATA interface, which requires a separate power adapter, to take advantage of the high throughput speeds of up to 90Mbps in reading and 50Mbps writing.
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Apple planning dual-core and quad-core iMacs?

Rather than choosing between dual-core or quad-core processors for an expected revision to the iMac, Apple may have decided to use both.

Shaw Wu of Kaufman Brothers, who just last week opined that an iMac refresh was around the corner, thinks Apple has resolved its dilemma over using quad-core or dual-core processors for the new systems by creating two tiers in the iMac line: A high-end version with a quad-core chip, and a low-end version with a dual-core chip. Apple currently offers two different screen sizes (20-inch and 24-inch) for the all-in-one iMac, and offers two different configurations for each size.

If Wu's sources are correct, Apple could further differentiate the 24-inch line with quad-core chips, or offer a choice of dual-core or quad-core processors for each screen size. The new systems are expected relatively soon, coming off news that Apple has informed resellers that shipments of the existing 24-inch iMacs will grow scarce in coming weeks.

Other news that Intel plans to have new quad-core server processors ready by the end of March could mean a refresh for the Mac Pro around that time. Apple needs to hit on some kind of catalyst for its desktop category, which suffered a 25 percent decline in shipments and a 31 percent decline in revenue during its first fiscal quarter.

Via CNET News

Seagate boasts new family of hard drives

Seagate claims that all its new family of hard drives offers the lowest power consumption and record-setting for any tier-two enterprise applications.

The Constellation family, as it's called, includes two models: The 2.5-inch Constellation and the 3.5-inch Constellation ES. Both drives also include PowerChoice from Seagate, which decreases power consumption by up to 54 percent, arguably the highest in the industry.

According to Seagate, the PowerChoice technology is designed to deliver the power-reduction savings without sacrificing performance and data integrity. In addition, the Constellation family features enterprise-grade reliability and is rated at a full 1.2 million hours of mean time between failures.


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