Seagate unveils new SSHD series for laptops and desktops, combines speed with space

Jos

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Seagate is moving ahead with its plan to offer high-speed, high-capacity hybrid drives as an alternative to more expensive pure SSD solutions. Shortly after confirming it’s dropping 7200RPM mobile hard drives by the end of the year, the company is also ditching the Momentus XT moniker with the launch of new models simply called Seagate Laptop SSHD and Seagate Desktop SSHD -- short for solid state hybrid drive.

The initial lineup will comprise a couple of desktop units in 1TB and 2TB capacities as well as mobile variants in 500GB and 1TB sizes. All of them use a standard SATA III (6Gbps) interface and 8GB of MLC NAND to boost performance. That’s the same amount of flash memory found in previous Momentus XT drives, which will come as a disappointment to those expecting a higher performance version, but the upside is that it allows Seagate to keep prices low -- they’ll carry a $15 - $20 price premium over competing 7200RPM alternatives.

seagate

The lower capacity laptop model features a 7mm form factor ideal for ultrabooks and other thin notebooks.

The new drives are equipped with Seagate's SSHD technology, which automatically moves frequently accessed data to the flash-memory portion to optimize performance. The company says that the new laptop SSHDs are up to five times faster than a regular 5,400rpm laptop drive and offers a boot time of just 10 seconds with Windows 8. The desktop SSHDs are said to offer four times the performance of a regular HDD.

The SSHD series is available now priced at $79 and $99 for the 500GB and 1TB laptop models, respectively, while the desktop units will set you back $99 and $149 for 1TB and 2TB. Although it wasn’t ready to share specifics, Seagate said it could launch higher performance models in the future with up to 32GB of NAND.

The new SSHD lineup represents Seagate’s third generation of laptop hybrid drives and its first for desktops.

Seagate SSHD Lineup

  Capacity Form Factor Platters Speed NAND Price
Seagate Laptop SSHD 500GB 2.5" 7mm 1 5400 RPM 8GB MLC $79
Seagate Laptop SSHD 1TB 2.5" 9.5mm 2 5400 RPM 8GB MLC $99
Seagate Desktop SSHD 1TB 3.5" 1 7200 RPM 8GB MLC $99
Seagate Desktop SSHD 2TB 3.5" 2 7200 RPM 8GB MLC $149

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Interesting stuff. Shame the laptop versions are only 5400rpm.

I know that 7200rpm drives are louder, hotter, use more energy and produce more vibrations, but if you're looking for a proper performance drive, I would have thought they'd use a 7200rpm drive with the NAND flash cells.
 
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