60GB hard drive for laptops now available

AlphaTech

AlphaTech

macrumors 601
I just thought that some of you might be interested to hear that IBM has FINALLY released a 60GB Travelstar hard drive (2.5" form factor). It is a 5400 rpm drive, ATA100, using Fluid Dynamic Bearing motor technology (makes for a quiet drive).

I have been waiting to see this in channels since before xmas, when I found it on IBM's web site, and now it is at (so far) one online retailer (OWC). I will be getting it sometime in the next month or so, after I check with a hardware vendor that I have connections with. I always go for the best price possible (doesn't everyone?). Once I do have it, and install it into my TiBook (Rev. A 500MHz), I will let everyone know if it is worth considering or not. My TiBook will soon be replacing my G4 desktop, at least until the G5 towers hit the streets, so I will need the extra internal space. I also want to see how the faster rotational speeds will help out with performance. :D

Here is a link for where OWC lists the spec.'s, be warned, it is not a cheap drive.

http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Item.cfm?ID=4113&Item=IBM07N8328
 
whoa

that is one expensive hard drive. I can pick up 3.5 inch drives at CompUsa that are 100gigs for only 200. That thing is 579:eek:
 
I warned you that it wasn't cheap... but 60GB to fit INSIDE a LAPTOP... NOT a desktop computer... that is the sweet part. In order to get that kind of capacity any other way with a laptop, would require external hard drives. Those can be large, loud, and will put multiple drives onto the desktop. Also, the thin drives are usually only 4200 rpm, not the 5400 that the 60GB provides.

I am checking around to see if anyone can get it to me for less then the $579. I will be converting the 20GB drive that I have inside my TiBook into an external FireWire drive as soon as I get the 60GB drive. With that as an external, I will have a 20GB, 30GB and 40GB external drives for my TiBook. The 30GB is a VST/SmartDisk Titanium drive (small), the 40GB is a Maxtor drive put into a FireWire enclosure (from OWC) and then I will get another enclosure for the 20GB drive (currently inside my TiBook). I have a large scanning project coming up that will use a good amount of all of that space, at least until I can burn cd's of it all. That will give me a good test of my new QPS QueFire cd-rw drive (24x10x40x) to see how fast it can burn a 700MB cd. My previous burner (12x10x32) could do a full cd in about 6-1/2 minutes.
 
beautiful, got to love that pixiedust. i bought the 32gb ibm travel star when it first came out (the first 5400rpm laptop drive created). i love the little thing. it did more to speed up my computer than throwing ram at it. its quiet (expecially compared to that toshiba crap), but there have been a few new innovations since the 32gb drive that should make your 60gb drive even quieter. i would say its definitely worth it if you can find a price that makes you comfortable.
 
AmbitiousLemon, that is exactly what I was hoping to hear... I know that increasing the drive speed will give me a performance boost, since I experienced that before when I went from a 5400 rpm drive to a pair of 10,000 rpm Seagate Cheetah's in my old Mac clone.

The fluid bearings promise to be quiet, hopefully at least as quiet as the current drive inside my TiBook, if not more so.

I hope to get it for a cost closer to $550 or less, but don't think that I will be able to wait for it to have a major price drop. I have noticed that those drives pretty much stay the same cost for a looooong time.

I hope to be able to get my hands on the drive before the end of the month. I have to wait until I pay some of my latest purchases off first. I am also doing a bit of work on my landlord's computer (an aged 7100/66) that will pay down one bill and allow me to get the drive.

Peace
 
because 20 GB can be filled up in no time... I'm constantly having to move stuff onto cd to free up space on my hard drive, and it can be a bit of a pain sometime.
 
That's like asking if people need more then 40GB in a desktop... If you are someone that either works on large files, or keeps a lot of them, then you will use the larger drive. My TiBook will shortly be replacing my G4 tower, so I will need the room that 60GB provides. I also want the faster drive, to give me a performance boost.

In the next few months, some family members want to pull their old records onto cd. With having the retail version of Toast, I am ready to do that for them. The extra space the 60GB drive provides, I will be able to do more then just a few albums at a time. I can then burn the cd's when I get home.

Bigger is better, especially when it comes to hard drive size.
 
Originally posted by DavidCL23
Get the 48gb ibm 48gh HDD, it is 1/2 the price @ cdw.com
Click to expand...

well if you want to talk price ive always found www.transintl.com to have the best prices, but alphatech said he has a connection so i doubt he wants to go to either of these, besides if he wanted the 48gb model he would have bought it already. i like how people here are always telling eachother "oh you dont need that, let me tell you what you actually need" if the guy says he wants/needs 60gb then dont patronize him and tell him you know whats best for him.
 
Thank you AmbitiousLemon...

I have been holding out for the 60GB drive, since I could have bought the 48GB drive months ago. I expect to hear from my hardware vendor this coming week, we shall see what kind of price he can offer me. If it isn't any better then what I have seen online, then I will get it from there.

If I was going to settle for something less, then I wouldn't have bought my TiBook over a year ago (when they first came out) and would have gone for either an iBook or even worse, a peecee slaptop.
 
krossfyter, I could tell you, but then I'd have to... well, you know the rest... :D

I will post the contact, if he can do any better then OWC for the drive. No point in sending tons of people there, if he can't deliver. It is a shop close to me in MA, that deals in hardware both Mac and peecee (they have to pay the bills somehow). One of the things that I do like about them, if they don't have it, chances are they can get it. They also have good prices on memory, of all flavors.
 
you can get it cheaper

The drive has actually been out for a little while... but only through dell as a upgrade for their dell inspiron 8100 notebooks. You can buy it from them for $499 I think, although they had an earlier promotion for 20% off and the total was under $400. Anyways, when it was first released, IBM's quoted price was $429, $579 is an outrageous price to pay for the drive, I would rather have the 48GB travelstar for $299 with almost all the same features

peace
 
Where did you see IBM's quoted price??? I have a preliminary report from my contact, but he is waiting to hear from his vendor about the true cost. The person he is calling is in CA, so there is a time delay in getting information (they don't get up as early as we do on the east coast). :D

My contact believes that he got a quote of under $400 on Friday, but needs to confirm this before giving a true cost.

If this turns out to be true, I am ordering up one today.
 
Can't imagine 80GB? Well, imagine it, I have 52 that is getting VERY full. With MP3s, a scanner (these can really eat up space, I don't know why the hell you'd want to do this, but an 8.5x11 scanned at 48 bit depth is a 5 GIG @#$#@$ file), and movies, you can easily fill up just about any hard drive imaginable. I've been backing stuff up to CDs lately to free up hard drive space, the only thing is that CDs have a tendency to dissappear (esp. in my frat house), so I actually feel safer having them on my hard drive (also).


I don't know how big it is, but if you don't mind the external hard drive, you can find drives up to 120 GB that are external firewire drives for only about $400 which is a lot less than $579.
 
60GB?! Sweeet! but....

:( My ONE concern with these 60GB drives is the noise. I know it's got new bearing technology, but I can't imagine it being quieter than my 20GB (came with my Ti 550).

How's the noise on the 48GB drives? Are they rickety or whirlwind-ish?
 
Thanks for the link dru and I will let you know what they can do for the price of the 60GB model.

grrr223... While it is true that you can get a 120GB external drive for about the same money, or less, the things are rather large (physically). The are about the size of a cd burner, and with the fans, louder. I would much rather have the 60GB inside my laptop then outside. Granted, I have the 30GB VST slim drive (Titanium model), will be making my 20GB drive an external firewire drive, and have a 40GB drive that I popped into an OWC Firewire enclosure (3.5" hard drive). All added up, I can have 90GB outside the laptop, with another 60GB inside of it (approx. 150GB of space total). I don't anticipate running out of space any time soon with all of that available to me. Also, if I need even more space for some reason, then I will go out, grab the largest 3.5" hard drive that I can find, and get a firewire enclosure for it. Considering that the Maxtor 160GB drives run around $300, and the enclosure is about $100 +/- a few. I will be able to add 160GB at a shot for about $400 or so. That will stay at home though, and not go on the road with me. The most that I will take with the laptop, are the two converted 2.5" drives. Mainly because they can be bus powered and will not require additional AC adapters.

It's all about the Gigabytes baby.... :D
 
Digidesign,

The growing consensus is that the IBM drives are quieter then the Toshiba's that come in the TiBooks. If anything, they will be as quiet, not louder. This is because of the bearing technology they are using.
 
Originally posted by AlphaTech
If anything, they will be as quiet, not louder.
Click to expand...

It's talk like that which will make me $459 poorer! :D (and 60GB happier)

Please keep us posted if you or anyone else gets one!


**warning, tangential nostalgia ahead**
150gb?! :eek: Remember the days of 40mb drives? Back in the days of Win3.1/Dos 6.2, I'd have to shuffle around my drives and constantly maintain the space (uninstall progs & games to install a new one). It's amazing how far we've come! (and how far we haven't -> windows... hehe)
 
Is it hard to install or is it difficult to find the enclosures to put a 160 gig hard drive in a firewire enclosure? And would that drive be as mobile as say the 120 gig drive that already comes in the firewire enclosure? I don't really konw anythinga bout this stuff.
 
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