Notebook Hard Drives: 750GB And 640GB Models Reviewed

Toshiba MK6465GSX (640GB)

Toshiba’s mainstream laptop hard drive top model is called MK6465GSX, but we'll be referring to it as the GSX line, as the model number varies with the different capacity points of 160, 250, 320, 500, and 640 gigabytes. Like many others, this product uses the SATA 3Gb/s interface and an 8MB cache memory.

Although Toshiba’s data sheet doesn’t mention product weight, it notes a startup power of 4.5W. Unfortunately, this data point isn’t provided by the three other manufacturers. Active idle power is specified at 0.75W and seek power at 1.85W. We measured 0.8W active idle power, 2.6W at peak throughput, 1.1W during HD video playback, and 2.1W on our workstation I/O test.

Paired with the performance numbers of 43 to 91 MB/s on sequential reads, this results in solid throughput power efficiency. Workstation efficiency in performance per watt is actually the best of all the 5,400 RPM hard drives. Toshiba’s performance is high enough to have it come out on top in our desktop performance index. The drive specifies operation between 5°C and 55°C, while Samsung and WD support a slightly wider range.

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