14 DAY TRIAL // Seagate supplemented its launch of the Pulsar solid state drive aimed for enterprise use with the introduction of its upcoming product intended for use in ultraportable mobile PCs. No details on the product's specifications or pricing have been given, but we do know that it will be officially launched on January 5th at CES 2010. The Momentus Thin Series hard drives will likely (eventually) become the replacement for the standard 9.5mm hard drives, at least in the making of ultra-thin portables.
Currently, hard drive size is arguably the defining factor when designing a thin laptop. The 7mm Momentus will open up new possibilities for laptop makers who will be able to build less costly but good ultraportables. Manufacturers will no longer be restricted to choosing between the thick 9.5 drives (not suited for ultra-thins), costly SSDs (which defeat the whole purpose of building a low-cost laptop) or low-end performance, 1.8-inch drives. The upcoming product from Seagate is expected to perform well, both in regards to speed and storage capacity.
If one were to speculate, the drives will likely have rotary speeds of 5400 RPM, although 7200 RPM are not excluded. Their thinness seems to indicate a single-platter design and the HDDs will probably have storage capabilities on par with their bulkier counterparts (320GB per platter). Of course, the true specifications will be revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show, until which time end-users will have to wait in anticipation.
This announcement came in the wake of Seagate's release of the Pulsar solid state drive for enterprise use, a product that has a DRAM cache memory capable of retaining the stored data even in case of power cuts. While the Pulsar spreads across the enterprise and business markets, the Momentus will cover the consumer laptop and especially ultra-thin portables market. Seagate will most likely see a high number of shipments on the part of both these products.