The good: The Toshiba SSHD
significantly reduces the boot time of its host computer and enables
the system to launch applications much faster, when compared with a
regular hard drive.
The bad: With
only 8GB NAND flash memory and the spinning speed of just 5,400rpm, the
drive isn't ideal for transferring a large amount of data. The drive is
also expensive.
The bottom line: If
you can affordable the comparatively high price, the new drive is a
great replacement for that old hard drive inside your aging computer.
In my testing, it proved to be a good alternative to solid-state drives (SSD) by offering somewhat similar performance -- especially in terms of boot time.
If you're looking to speed up your HDD-based computer's performance without spending too much, the new Toshiba SSHD is an decent upgrade. Its suggested retail cost of $199 for 1TB (or $159 for $500) is pricey for what it has to offer, however, and also means you can get a better deal going with the Seagate SSHD instead. Design and features
Seagate separates its laptop SSHDs into two categories, the Laptop Thin SSHD (7mm) and the Laptop SSHD (9.5mm); each capacity gets a different model number. The new drive is also available in two thicknesses with the 320GB (model MQ01ABF032H) and 500GB (MQ01ABF050H) capacities being just 7mm thick, and the 750GB (MQ01ABD075H) and 1TB (MQ01ABD100H) capacities being 9.5mm thick. The drive will work in all standard laptops and desktops, with its lower capacities, and it will also fit certain ultrabooks.