Seagate has debuted a 2.5-inch laptop PC hard drive that combines SSD-like performance with the capacity and price points of traditional HDDs.
According to company spokesperson Dave Mosley, the Momentus XT drive owes its high-speed capabilities to a feature dubbed “adaptive memory,” which optimizes performance by moving frequently used information into the flash memory for faster access.
“[As such], the Momentus XT solid state hybrid drive boots up to 100 percent faster than traditional 5400RPM drives, the mainstream spin speed for laptop PCs, and sets new benchmarks for real-world system performance for laptops and gaming systems,” explained Mosley.
“[And] the Momentus XT drive installs as easily as a traditional 9.5mm-high notebook drive for new systems or laptop upgrades. Unlike early hybrid drives, [the drive] operates independently of the operating system and the motherboard chipset. [It also boasts] 4GB of solid state memory and 7200RPM spin speed.”
It should be noted that the hybrid drive has already been adopted by Asus, which plans on offering the Momentus XT as an upgrade option for its new Republic of Gamers (ROG) G73Jh notebook.
The ROG is powered by an Intel i7 720Qm quad-core processor, 8GB of DDR3 memory, and DX11 capable ATI Radeon Mobility HD 5870.
