Samsung SpinPoint N2 Hard Drive Announced

Samsung Introduces World’s Highest Capacity 1.8″ Hard Disk Drives for Advanced Consumer Applications

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a worldwide leader in digital consumer electronics and information technology, sets a new benchmark for 1.8″ hard disk drive performance with the introduction today of its new Spinpoint N2 Series. Featuring the highest available capacity in the 1.8″ form factor (120GB) and fastest speed (4200rpm) for notebook performance, Samsung’s N2 Series drives usher in a new era of advanced capability and enhanced reliability. Samsung’s new N2 Series is being introduced today at the company’s storage press conference in New York City.

In addition to their market-leading capacities, the N2 Series drives offer the fastest boot times, lowest power consumption, and quietest operation available in the 1.8″ form factor. The new drives, with capacities ranging from 80GB to 120GB, are designed to meet the growing demands for high-capacity storage in compact mobile consumer devices such as PDAs, MP3 players, cell phones, camcorders, digital cameras and ultra-light notebook PCs.

“The 1.8″ HDD market is going to explode over the next few years with annual sales expected to increase up to 65% by 2010 as demand for compact consumer devices continues to grow,” said Andy Higginbotham, Director of Hard Drive Sales and Marketing, Samsung Semiconductor. “Samsung’s Spinpoint N2 Series drives are positioned as the best available solution in the 1.8″ arena with best-in-class capacity, performance, value and reliability.”

The N2 Series has been developed specifically for portable consumer electronic applications where low noise, vibration and power consumption for longer battery life are key to success. These robust and rugged drives feature best-in-class environmental and acoustical specifications as well as decreased power consumption from the low operating voltage system-on-chip configuration. In addition, perpendicular recording technology enhances data reliability while dynamic Flying-On-Demand ensures better data signals.

The N2 Series drives feature a 4,200rpm spin rate, PATA/ZIF interface with 8MB cache memory, a 15,0ms seek time and a two second Drive Time to Ready. Samsung also offers the quietest drives in the industry with its patterned NoiseGuard™ and SilentSeek™ technologies.

Samsung’s SpinPoint N2 120GB Series is currently shipping with a $249 MSRP.