Samsung Spinpoint F4 10pc faster but also greener

Samsung today added a new, high-speed desktop drive to its Spinpoint mix. Although topping out at 320GB, the F4 is designed for speed with its entire storage in a single, half-platter design that drastically cuts back on the seek time. The disk is estimated to run about 10 percent faster than the earlier F3 yet still uses about seven percent less power.

It still spins at the 7,200RPM of typical desktop hard drives and attaches to an SATA or SATA II system, including Macs; Samsung sees it as a drive for Mac Pros and other workstations or servers that need speed but where an SSD would be too expensive. The disk will have either 8MB or 16MB of buffer space and should still be quiet in spite of the extra performance.

Unlike most of Samsung's drive line, the F4 is intended primarily for system builders and doesn't have a price. Most of the Korean company's drives are usually available in retail.

By Electronista Staff