WD Scorpio Blue 1TB Notebook Hard Drive Review

type="html">

WD Scorpio Blue 1TB Notebook Hard Drive Review

ATTO Disk Benchmark v2.46

ATTO is one of the oldest hard drive benchmarks that is still used today. ATTO measures transfers across a specific volume length. It measures raw transfer rates for both reads and writes and places the data into graphs that you can easily interpret. The test was run with the default runs of 0.5kb through 8192kb transfer sizes with the total length being 256mb.

Western Digital Scorpio Blue 1TB:

Benchmark Results:  The WD Scorpio Blue 1TB 2.5-inch laptop hard drive was able to reach 119MBps on the read test and 119MBps on the write test in the Overlapped I/O benchmark. This was much faster than the 73MB/s read and 74MB/s write speeds sen on the Hitachi 5K500 320GB drive.

Comparison Performance Chart:

4MB File Size Benchmark Results:  The WD Scorpio Black 750GB notebook drive was able to reach 129MBps on the read test and 124MBps on the write test in the Overlapped I/O benchmark , so the WD Scorpio Blue 1TB drive wasn't too far behind with solid 119MBps read and write result. Both of these drives showed the apparent weakness of the Hitachi 5K500 320GB 5400RPM drive with just 71MB/s read and 74MB/s write speeds.

type="html">

Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB Hard Drive Review

Manufacturer Page: WD Caviar Black 1 TB SATA Hard Drives ( WD1001FALS )
Model Number: WD1001FALS 
Warranty: 5 years



While Solid State Drives are sexy, new and considered “high performance”, the truth of the matter is they are also bleeding edge technology and in some cases may in fact be slower than the more mundane alternative. More importantly, not everyone has the money or even the interest in SSDs right now and in fact most people want a drive which is large, fast and cheap. All of which are relative strengths of the old fashioned platter based Hard Disk Drive. We here at HWC believe that knowledge is power, and the more knowledge you can get before spending your hard earned money, the better.

In this vein we have decided to branch out (or more like go back to our roots) and deliver to you the detailed reviews of some kick arse Hard Disk Drives. The good folks over at Western Digital have been so kind as to help get the ball rolling with one of their Black Edition drives. To be precise we will be looking at the new Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1 TB beast. This drive not only has 32MB of onboard cache but also boasts a dual controller design. At this point it is the largest Black Edition drive listed on WD site and is widely available at retailers and e-tailers darn near everywhere for as little as $130!

Western Digital really needs no introduction as they are one of the largest and most highly respected names in the industry. They may be best known for their 10,000RPM Raptor line of hard drives, but if you take a look around at any enthusiast forum you will see many, many peoples' rigs sporting at least one of their other products. In what can only be called a stroke of genius, WD has separated their 3.5” SATA drives into three separate and distinct categories. The “green” line is their low power, earth friendly line where low noise and low heat trumps shear speed (though from all reports they don’t lag that far behind in this category either). The “Blue” line is their middle of the road line where noise and heat output are a concern but it is more in balance with performance (this is WD original line before the switch); and then you have the “Black” editions. These drives are all about performance and power, even if that means increased noise, heat output and energy consumption.

To put this a different way, the green line make perfect data drives (i.e. non OS drives) as they are quiet and draw less power. The Blue line are your all round drives and do a very, very well as a data or OS drive. You can consider these the station wagon or “yeoman” class of WD drives, perfect for most occasions. Then you have your hot rodded high performance, leather jacketed bad boys: the Black line. These drives are all about speed and while they can be used as data only drives they excel at being your number one OS drive. These beasts can supposedly come close to or even tie VelociRaptor levels of performance (and beat the older generations of WD360, WD740 AND WD1500 Raptors)….with a butt load of extra space thrown in for good measure. Add in an industry leading 5 year warranty for the Black line and you have the makings of one awesome, “enthusiast grade” HDD.

In this review we will not only be comparing the WD 1TB Black to a VelociRaptor but also a WD 640GB Black drive which is what many consider to be in the “sweet spot” of size versus price right now. For informational purposes only we will also be including SSD numbers to help you get a good feel for the positives and negatives of these high performance drives. When the dust settles it is our hope that you not only know if this drive is right for you but you will also have a clear understanding of what YOU need, want and desire in your next drive; whether it be a 10000RPM RPM HDD or SSD. So sit back relax and enjoy the carnival of drive carnage which has just come to town.

SIS Sandra

This test was run with the removable storage benchmark in Sandra XII Standard. All of the scores are calculated in operations per second and have been averaged out from the scores of 4 test runs.

Now this is unexpected! It’s obvious that SIS Sandra likes this drive…but to actually beat the VRaptor’s numbers is impressive to say the least! When you look closely and see it's with in spitting distance of a SSD….WOW is all we can say. 

ATTO Disk Benchmark

The ATTO disk benchmark tests the drives read and write speeds using gradually larger size files. For these tests, the ATTO program was set to run from its smallest to largest value (.5KB to 8192KB) and the total length was set to 256MB. The test program then spits out an extrapolated performance figure in megabytes per second.

Read

In the read side of things this bad boy is only slightly slower than the VRaptor and it easily beats its little brother the WD 640GB Black. You've got to love sibling rivalry…especially when it results in kick arse performance and such reasonable prices.


Write

On the write side of things Western Digital's Black Edition 1TB actually beats the VRaptor in certain size chunks; however it does quickly start to loose to the VRaptor…but not by all that much. On the other hand it once again beats its little brother.

Specifications

Nvidia: Second wave of Android tablets a vast improvement

Nvidia is doing relatively well in the tablet space, with its Tegra 2 SoC being the core piece of silicon inside Honeycomb tablets like the Xoom and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. But Android was off to a slow start in this market compared to the hot-selling iPad. The platform's lack of 'killer' apps and unpolished software has been mentioned before as key weaknesses, but Nvidia's CEO Jen-Hsun Huang says this is just part of the problem.

"It's a point of sales problem. It's an expertise at retail problem. It's a marketing problem to consumers. It is a price point problem," he said in a recent chat with Cnet. Although Huang didn't mention any specific products, he clearly had Apple and the iPad in mind. Not only did the company have the lowest priced device in the market when it launched the first two iterations of the iPad, they also had a solid advantage when it came to distribution and marketing.

Having their own stores allows them to explain its product better to consumers through dedicated sales people, and it also means they can capture bigger margins than competitors who share a cut on each sale with retail partners.

The fact that tablets were initially selling with a smartphone OS was also a big issue, though Honeycomb has taken care of that for the most part. Lastly, Huang mentioned that tablets should be offered in a base WiFi-only configuration from day one, rather than launching with the 3G versions for the sake of packing more features and holding off the more affordable variants for later -- much like Motorola did with its heavily hyped Xoom.

Nvidia's chief executive believes the second round of Android tablets are far better than the first generation of devices, though, and while there are still issues that need to be dealt with we are already seeing the first devices that meaningfully undercut Apple's $499 price for the iPad 2 without sacrificing functionality. The Acer Iconia and Asus Transformer are two examples of that, and we're definitely interested to see what's next.

Corsair, A-Data launch new SandForce-powered SSDs

Corsair has launched its third-generation Force solid-state drives, delivering SATA 6Gb/s speeds to value-minded consumers. Powered by the same SandForce SF-2281 controller as OCZ's Vertex 3, the Force Series 3 can reportedly hit speeds of up to 550MB/s sequential reads and 520MB/s writes, with up to 85,000 IOPS during 4KB random writes. By comparison, the original Force drives peaked at 280MB/s and 50,000 IOPs. The Vertex 3 240GB lists the same maximum transfer rates as the Force 3, except it supposedly offers 15,000 less IOPS.

Despite claiming similar performance to the Vertex 3 (which most would consider to be today's quickest consumer SSD), Corsair is pushing its latest drives with incredibly aggressive pricing. The 60GB is set at $139, the 120GB costs only $219 while the 240GB is $499 -- all of which are bundled with a 3.5-inch adapter and backed with a three-year warranty. As of writing, the 120GB Vertex 3 is going for $299.99 at Newegg, while the 240GB is $529.99. The Force Series 3 will launch worldwide this month, so keep your eyes peeled for a review.

A-Data revealed its latest contribution to the flash market alongside Corsair's announcement today. Unsurprisingly, the company's new S511 also employs an SF-2200 processor, and we wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it were an SF-2281. A-Data's lineup also consists of 60GB, 120GB and 240GB models with a peak throughput of 550MB/s reads and 520MB/s writes, along with 60,000 IOPS during 4KB random writes. They'll also come with a 3.5-inch adapter and are priced roughly equivalent to the Vertex 3 based on euro to USD conversions.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Review

A couple of months ago we were checking out Lenovo’s then latest ThinkPad offering, the X220. Based on Intel’s second generation Core processors, this system was classic business-oriented ThinkPad throughout. A few months before the X220, I had the IdeaPad U260 in-house which was classified by Lenovo as a “thin, light, stylish travel companion”.

I mention those two units as a transition to what we have for review today, the new ThinkPad X1. As the thinnest ThinkPad ever, the X1 seemingly takes the best features from the X220 and the U260 and merges them into one. The result is an extremely thin and sleek 13.4” notebook that is a real follow-up model to the X300 series that many came to own and love a couple of years ago.

The ThinkPad X1 packs a ton of features and powerful hardware in a thin frame, but it's interesting to note that the X1 lets go of a few key characteristics of the X300. Namely, Lenovo has transitioned to an internal non-removable battery and got rid of the optical drive. In true Thinkpad fashion though, the X1 maintains a rugged design and internal roll cage. For the first time Lenovo has also added a chiclet-style keyboard that is both spill-resistant and backlit.

The ThinkPad X1 unit we were sent is equipped with a dual-core Core i5-2520M clocked at 2.5 GHz. This is the same four thread capable processor we saw on the X220 which also features Intel HD 3000 graphics for a max TDP of 35W.

Additional hardware includes 4GB of DDR3, a Hitachi 320GB 7200 RPM hard drive, Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 wireless, Bluetooth, a 6-cell internal battery (38.92 Wh) and a 13.4” TFT display running at 1366 x 768 that is covered with Corning Gorilla glass. Our weight as tested is 3.73 pounds with dimensions of 13.26” x 9.1” x 0.65” – 0.84”.

Except for the internal battery, hardware specs are virtually identical to the X220 although you can configure the processor, memory and hard drive to your exact specification. We were also provided with the optional external slice battery, a 6-cell (35.5 Wh) unit for additional runtime

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Impressions

At first glance, the X1 looks much like any other ThinkPad but the more you study it, the more you realize how Lenovo has refined it. The front bezel and lid edge are featureless, a style that Lenovo carries around the perimeter of the system.

The exterior lid is solid black with a speckle-style black rubber-like finish complete with the Lenovo and ThinkPad nameplates. On the right side of the notebook is a switch to enable / disable all radios, a 4-in-1 card reader (SD, MMC, SDHC and SDXC) and the hard drive port.

The majority of ports are on the back of the system which include, from left to right: Network jack, what appears to be a non-functional SIM card slot, a USB 3.0 port, HDMI port, Mini DisplayPort port, a powered eSATA / USB 2.0 combo port, power connector and a Kensington lock slot.

On the left side of the system we find the CPU fan exhaust vent as well as a rubber plug that covers the headphone / mic jack and an additional USB 2.0 port.

There are four rubber feet on the bottom of the system as well as multiple vents to exhaust system heat. We can also see slots designed to drain liquid from the keyboard area in the event of a spill. Two of the smaller slots hide the dual downward-firing Dolby Home Theater v4 capable speaker system.

The hard drive can be taken out by removing a single screw, popping off the cover and pulling the drive out. Accessing the memory, however, is more difficult and would require the removal of no less than 10 screws.

The six row keyboard on the X1 looks and feels great. New features here include an LED backlight keyboard, a new spill resistance drainage design and what Lenovo has coined as a “legacy reduced layout” – a fancy term which simply means they have removed less frequently used buttons like Scroll Lock and SysRq.

This being a ThinkPad, the requisite TrackPoint pointing device is present between the G, H and B keys as is the dedicated mouse click buttons just below the space bar. Additionally we see that Lenovo has retained their Fn / Ctrl key placement which is a staple among ThinkPads.

Just to the right of the slightly concave chiclet style keyboard is a small media panel featuring the power button, ThinkVantage button and dedicated volume control buttons. A fingerprint reader sits to the right side of the touchpad for added login security.

The touchpad on the X1 measures roughly 3” x 2.5” and features integrated mouse click buttons. If you recall in my X220 review, I was not happy with Lenovo’s implementation of this. I am happy to report that this system works much better than what I used on the X220. I would still prefer Lenovo’s near-perfect physical click buttons, but this is the next best thing.

The 13.4” SuperBright LCD display features glossy Corning Gorilla glass for added scratch resistance with a low-light HD webcam and microphone centered above. Lenovo has implemented what they call an “infinity” design with the display and surrounding bezel. Much like an infinity pool, the glass covering the display extends out past the edge of the screen and covers nearly the entire display bezel. This results in a very elegant look and is something I would like to see other manufacturers adopt when using non-matte screens.

Pre-installed Software and Performance

The ThinkPad X1 we tested came installed with Windows 7 Professional 64-bit with Service Pack 1. 32-bit versions of Home and Professional are also available as configurable options, however.

ThinkPads have traditionally been light on pre-installed software and the X1 follows the same trend. Aside from an installation of the Bing Bar, there wasn’t any other questionable software to bog the system down. Trial versions of Microsoft Office 2010, Skype and Norton Internet Security are provided, but Lenovo leaves it up to the end user to decide whether or not to install these.

Lenovo installs plenty of their own software such as the ThinkVantage Toolbox, which is a suite of programs that cover things like system health, security, networking and diagnostics. Lenovo's custom power management program, Power Manager 3, is also included and set to a medium power / energy saving profile by default. Fresh out of the box, the X1 takes roughly 45 seconds to boot into a ready-to-use state of Windows.

Intel's Turbo Boost 2 is also part of the new second generation Core series chips and is designed to better manage workloads by dynamically adjusting individual core speeds depending on the processing power is needed. The Core i5-2520M in our unit is clocked at 2.5 GHz and should ramp up to 3.2GHz as needed.

Below we've included our standard suite of benchmark numbers tests run on the ThinkPad X1 to give you an idea of how the system performs under load.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 System Specs

• 13.4" TFT 1366 x 768 display (covered with Corning Gorilla glass)
• Intel Core i5-2520M (2.5GHz - 3.2GHz, 3MB L3 cache)
• 4GB DDR3 SDRAM
• Intel HD 3000 Graphics (650MHz - 1.3GHz)
• Hitachi 320GB 7200RPM hard drive
• Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)

Lenovo ThinkPad X220 System Specs

• 12.5" Premium HD LED-backlit IPS 1366 x 768 display
• Intel Core i5-2520M (2.5GHz - 3.2GHz, 3MB L3 cache)
• 4GB PC3-10700 DDR3 SDRAM
• Intel HD 3000 Graphics (650MHz - 1.3GHz)
• Hitachi 320GB 7200RPM hard drive
• Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)

Lenovo IdeaPad U260 System Specs

• 12.5" HD AntiGlare 1366 x 768 display
• Intel ULV Core i5-470UM (1.33GHz, 3MB L2 cache)
• 4GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM
• Intel HD Graphics
• Hitachi 320GB 5400RPM hard drive
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

HP Envy 14 System Specs

• 14.5" HP Radiance 1600 x 900 display
• Intel Core i5-450M (2.4GHz - 2.66GHz, 3MB L3 cache)
• 4GB DDR3 system memory
• 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650
• Seagate Momentus 500GB 7200RPM
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Benchmark Results

Synthetic Tests	X1	X220	U260	Envy 14
3DMark 06
3DMark Score	3750 3DMarks	3786 3DMarks	1148 3DMarks	6866 3DMarks
PCMark Vantage
PCMark Suite	7607 PCMarks	7201 PCMarks	3557 PCMarks	6840 PCMarks

Application Tests	X1	X220	U260	Envy 14
iTunes Encoding Test	01 min 15 sec	01 min 14 sec	02 min 39 sec	01 min 34 sec
File Transfer Test
Small files	1 min 23 sec	1 min 20 sec	1 min 42 sec	01 min 20 sec
Large file	1 min 2 sec	56 sec	1 min 31 sec	01 min 14 sec

The iTunes encoding tests consist of converting 14 MP3s (119MB) to 128Kbps ACC files and measuring the operation's duration in seconds. For the file transfer test, we measure how long it takes to copy two sets of files from one location to another on the same hard drive. On the small files test we transfer 557 MP3s, totaling 2.56GB. For the large file, these same MP3s were zipped into a single file measuring 2.52GB.

Gaming Performance	X1	X220	U260	Envy 14
Far Cry 2
1024x768 Medium Quality	26.59 FPS	27.56 FPS	--	--
Native Resolution, High Quality	17.94 FPS	18.46 FPS	--	--
StarCraft 2
1024x768 Medium Quality	15.23 FPS	15.60 FPS	--	--
Native Resolution, High Quality	10.42 FPS	10.21 FPS

Usage, Battery Life and Closing Thoughts

One key feature missing from the X1 that we liked about the X220 is the IPS display. While the Corning Gorilla glass and “infinity” screen are nice features, the display can’t hold a candle to the IPS display in terms of viewing angles. Observed independently, the horizontal angles are actually pretty good, but the vertical angles are bad in comparison. Thankfully it’s easy to adjust the angle of the display, so this isn’t as big of an issue as it could be. Aside from viewing angles, colors looked nice and text was crisp thanks to the 1366 x 768 resolution.

The keyboard on the X1 is one of the best I’ve seen on a ThinkPad. It starts with the chiclet keys that feel great as you type. Lenovo has managed to work in a backlit keyboard in addition to the spill-resistant design carried over from previous iterations. Key layout is good as well with Lenovo implementing their “legacy reduced” key delete and typical Fn / Ctrl placement.

I can also report that the touchpad is much improved over the X220’s implementation. The problem I found on the X220 is that Lenovo integrated the mouse click buttons into the touchpad. The implementation was pretty bad and difficult to use. Lenovo has corrected that issue with on the X1 and although it’s still not as good as dedicated click buttons, you can use it without becoming frustrated.

For those looking to forego the touchpad completely, the TrackPoint and its dedicated click buttons are a viable option, especially for ThinkPad veterans.

Intel’s Core i5-2520M performed as anticipated. We had an idea of what to expect from the X1 since our X220 sample came equipped with the same processor, memory and hard drive. 1080p full screen videos on YouTube only taxed the CPU around 15%. The 4k resolution video that we tested with on the X220 also taxed the X1 for roughly the same amount of cycles, around 80% CPU utilization.

The downward-firing speakers are up to the task as well. Audio can be played pretty loud and sounds just fine when bouncing off of a hard surface. Playing music with the system on a bed or sofa will result in less noise as the cushion below it will undoubtedly absorb some of the sound.

Heat generation and fan noise are both kept to a minimum even under full load. The system is very quiet at idle and just marginally louder under full load. At full load, the bottom back and left side do get warm but again, not overly so. The cooling fan seems to do a respectable job and keeping things under control, while part of the credit also goes to Sandy Bridge and its 32nm power-conscious architecture.

Connectivity options have also been improved on the ThinkPad X1. Noticeable additions include a USB 3.0 port, eSATA port and HDMI out. This is one of the few notebooks I have used that doesn’t have a VGA port, however.

I conducted a few different battery tests using the internal 6-cell battery. Our video playback test consists of looping a 720p rip of one of my favorite movies (Inception) in Windows Media Player at full screen with max screen brightness and Wi-Fi disabled. This is a taxing test that resulted in 2 hours and 43 minutes of usage with the single battery.

Our endurance test is run with five Firefox windows open with the Reload Every add-on refreshing each page every 5 minutes to simulate real-world browsing. Max screen brightness is used and Wi-Fi is enabled. This test resulted in 3 hours and 23 minutes of life. We anticipate that decreasing the screen brightness to the default setting will likely meet the 5 hours Lenovo claims the X1 is capable of on normal use. The X1 also has the external slice battery option similar to the X220's, but we had issues testing our unit with it. If it's anything similar to the X220, this will result in doubling the battery life at the expense of additional weight and thickness.

Lenovo advertises that the X1's RapidCharge feature can charge the laptop's battery up to 80% in 30 minutes. In the single test we performed we had a completely dead system in hibernation when we started, then unplugged at 30 minutes and booted up to find 85% battery life. Seems spot on with their claims. This can be handy if you need a quick refill between connecting flights or while waiting between classes or during lunch.

If you can live without the fabulous IPS display found on the X220, the new ThinkPad X1 is a great notebook. The hardware under the hood is plenty powerful to keep the system relevant for some time to come. The thin frame, infinity display, backlit keyboard, Trackpoint and trackpad are all positives on this system. An SSD upgrade on the X1 would really wake the system up and ensure a snappy computer for the long haul, granted you can afford the upgrade cost and sacrifice disk space. Battery life, however, was lower than expected.