Latest 7,200rpm Notebook HDDs Benchmarked

SSDs may be gaining traction and coming down in price, but the cost per GB is still far higher than a traditional platter-based drive.  If you prize capacity and affordability a little above speed and energy efficiency in your notebook, then, you'll be looking for a 7,200rpm 2.5-inch HDD; Tom's Hardware have put four of the latest – Hitachi's Travelstar 7K320, Samsung's Spinpoint MP2 HM251JJ, Seagate's Momentus 7200.3 ST9320421AS and Western Digital's Scorpio WD3200BEKT – on their test bench.

Everything from power consumption, data rate benchmarks and suitability for mobile and – since smaller hard-drives are gaining traction in enterprise settings, being smaller and generally more efficient – workstation use was tested.  As expected, some drives prioritized some categories above others, meaning your own choice should definitely be guided by what you intend to do with your storage.

In the end, though, the Seagate Momentus 7200.3 just edges ahead of its rivals to take the top spot.  From a mobile user perspective, it has the best performance per watt ratings and still manages to hit new transfer rate records.  It's available now, in up to 320GB capacity.