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IBM Revamps Travelstar Hard Drives

New models will make for faster, quieter notebooks, company claims.

George A. Chidi Jr.

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Promising users faster, quieter notebook computers, IBM on Tuesday announced a revamped Travelstar family of hard drives. The drives will be introduced next quarter.

IBM's upgraded Travelstar family incorporates a noise-suppression system, replacing the ball-bearing design with fluid, dynamic-bearing spindle-motor technology and voice coil motor-dampening enhancements.

The Travelstar 48GH is a 48GB drive with a spin rate of 5,400 revolutions per minute and media transfer rates up to 241 megabits per second, according to an IBM statement. The Travelstar 30GN (in 30GB and 20GB capacities) and 15GN (in 15GB, 10GB, and 6GB capacities) have slower 4,800 rpm speeds, but are smaller--9.5 mm high versus the 12.5 mm height of the 48GH. IBM says the Travelstar 15GN is quieter during its read/write operation than its predecessor is while idling.

IBM plans to ship the drives in the second quarter of 2001, using it in its own notebooks and selling to other manufacturers, including Compaq, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard. Pricing information was not immediately available.

IBM is billing the revamped Travelstar line as "the world's quietest" family of hard drives. The company has a history of trying to stay at the leading edge of microelectronic component manufacturing, and was among the first to start replacing aluminum with copper in chips.

Though IBM did not break out chip sales in its quarterly consolidated financial statement, the company says microelectronics revenue increased strongly last year, mainly as a result of accelerated growth for sophisticated, leading-edge custom chips.

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