Toshiba MK8037GSX (80 GB, SATA)

This is the 80 GB version of the Toshiba GSX family. Like most 80 GB 2.5" drives, it is based on a single platter, which has a positive impact on the energy requirements: 1.0 instead of 1.1 W when idle, and 3.2 instead of 3.3 W when a lot of head movement is required. As the application benchmarks indicate, this model is clearly faster than the versions at 60 or 120 GB. Obviously, utilizing the full platter capacity is beneficial from a performance standpoint. However, this doesn't apply to access time, as the larger usable platter diameter increases the distances that the heads have to travel. Access time thus increases from 16.0 to 16.9 ms, which still is a nice result. This drive delivers 45 MB/s instead of the 40 MB/s maximum sequential throughput that the 120 GB version offers. As with Fujitsu, the 80 GB mainstream drive seems to be an excellent choice when compared to other capacity points.