News Bits: Hitachi 160GB Notebook HD, Inventec, HP and Dell Tops for IT, Sony UMPC

[Charles P. Jefferies]

Hitachi launches 160GB mobile hard drive

Hitachi announced its first perpendicular magnetic recording technology (PMR) hard disk, following Seagate and Toshiba. The new drive encompasses 160GB of storage in a 2.5" form factor.

It wasn't long ago that hard drives had appeared to reach the barrier of natural storage density, which would force manufacturers to move to a completely different technology within a few years. Perpendicular was a concept idea for quite a while, and puts a lot on the table - manufacturers predict that current drive capacities could increase up to a factor of five, meaning up to 500Gb/inch2 and more in the space of a few years. The fact that Hitachi is the third manufacturer to announce a perpendicular drive shows that it is not just a niche-market technology.

Hitachi's new 5k160 is a 5400RPM, 2.5" hard drive, aimed primarily at mobile computing. Hitachi calls it a "super perpendicular drive," because according to Hitachi, it also improves storage reliability in addition to capacity. Two 80GB platters are used in the drive, with a storage density of 131Gb/inch2.

Hitachi is planning to move the majority of its hard drive products to PMR technology by 2008 according to company officials. Seeing that PMR is only at the beginning of its life cycle, it will carry premium pricing - the 5k160 will be available this summer for $270 in volume, meaning an upgrade kit will be about $300.

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HP to receive 2.4 million notebooks from Inventec in 2006

According to Chinese-language Apple Daily, Inventec will ship about 2.4 million notebooks to HP in 2006, amounting to over 40% of its total output. According to the paper, HP also receives notebooks from Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics and Wistron.

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Windows Media Player 11 Leaked

Windows Media Player 11 has been leaked and is available for download (22.9MB) in RAR format. Once extracted, the WMP11 run time needs to be installed first, followed by the actual application.

See our forum discussion here, and the link to download is here. Special thanks to forum member qohelet for contributing the link.

Dell and HP/Compaq voted Best IT Equipment Brands Globally

Although Dell's quarterly earnings were lower than expected, IT executives in the USA voted Dell as the top IT equipment brand, believing that Dell still offers better value for the money than any other IT equipment brand, according to an ACNielsen/VNU Global Tech Forum Survey released today. European IT execs voted HP/Compaq as the leading IT equipment brand, with Dell taking second.

CEO and President of ACNielsen Europe, Frank Martell, said:

"One in three IT executives in the USA and one in five IT executives in Europe have chosen Dell as their leading IT equipment brand. However, HP/Compaq - with its international image and global presence clearly holds poll position in Europe, despite Dell catching up quickly in second place in France, UK and Germany."

The race between Dell and HP/Compaq continues to intensify - while Dell is losing market share and lowers its quarterly forecast earnings, HP/Compaq has been gaining market share, both in the USA and Globally over the past twelve months.  Martell also said:

"Our survey tells us that when companies buy Dell, they are buying into the brand's core values of value-for-money and outstanding customer service. When they buy HP, they are buying into its global reputation and its track record for reliability - and when they buy IBM, they believe they are buying a highly reputable, top quality brand and are willing to pay the price for it."

The ACNielsen IT Growth and Brand Positioning Study was conducted among 1680 senior IT executives in the US and Europe, and two common attributes that are valued equally in both markets is the expectation that an IT equipment partner should be a one-stop-shop for all of their IT needs, and the second attribute: outstanding service/support. The difference between the US and European markets is that while European companies place their values on reliability and high quality, US companies value brands that are fast growing, improving, and offer high security features.

"To maintain their leadership position and safeguard their future in Europe, HP/Compaq needs to maximize its current leading position among the next generation of IT leaders. Dell currently has the second highest brand equity in all European countries except Germany, so HP/Compaq needs to recognize its perceived value deficit and work at capitalizing on the brand values that are winning them favour with today's leaders - heritage, trust and familiarity. Selling these brand values to the next generation of IT leaders is the only way that HP/Compaq will maintain its leadership position in Europe."

Sony Vaio UMPC Device

It has been awhile since the popular Sony CLIE has been a topic of conversation for mobile computing enthusiasts. PDAs (outside of smartphones) are a dying breed, but it looks as though the Ultra Mobile PC platform is stirring up excitement in this computing segment.


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As it did in the PDA market, Sony looks like it has quite an offering for the UMPC platform. At this time, the only specs. available suggest that Windows XP Tablet PC Edition will not be driving the Sony device. Here are the specs for the upcoming Sony VAIO UX that have been posted by mobility today via an "anonymous tip":

• 7" touch screen,
• Slide-out QWERTY keyboard,
• Core Solo
• WWAN
• Biometric sensor
• Dual cameras
• "UMPC" with Windows XP Pro (not Tablet Edition)
• 3G Enabled
• Bluetooth/Wifi

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Other Interesting Links

Next Call of Duty not for PC

Next-gen Firefox reaches Alpha 2

Microsoft to release HD webcams

[gd-student]

Will the release of "perpendicular" drives have an effect on 100gb 7200 SATA drive prices? Will they drop? I ask because I'd like to upgrade in the near future but am not sure WHEN I can get the lowest price the soonest.

[Tim]

Wow that is surprising that the new Call of Duty won't be relased for PC. I really enjoyed the first one and I plan to pick up the second one as well. Not a smart move on their part.
Tim

[Hucsman]

Is the WMP11 leak legal to install?

[otaku]

Yes it is-beta. Its great to! Very nice design and features. As for perpendicular drives they still don't outperform 7200RPM drives you just get more storage. And as for call of duty I believe the decision was made because of console sales being so high and PC sales not nearly as much so. It does seem a bit strange though not to try and reach everybody.