Samsung has added considerable storage muscle to its 1.8-inch external hard drive range, introducing a 250 GB model.
The Spinpoint N3U has a native USB controller, making it ideal for portable storage, as opposed to the SATA or ATA connections used for netbooks and portable media players. Register Hardware reckons the drive is a prime candidate for casing in Samsung's palm-sized S1 Mini, which is currently available in a 120 GB model.
There are other perks to the drive as well. The Spinpoint N3U designed to withstand a 50 cm (20-inch) freefall and can resist a shock of up to 1,500G. It reportedly uses 40 percent less power than an equivalent 2.5-inch, 250 GB hard drive, which could land it a spot in netbooks, or at least cut down on power drain when hooked up to a laptop. On the downside, the drive's speed is a mere 3,600 rpm.
Indeed, a less power-hungry hard drive would be nice for netbooks, especially if the cost of SSD isn't dropping anytime soon. The Spinpoint N3U will come in smaller sizes as well -- 120 GB, 160 GB and 200 GB -- so the two lesser models would comply with Microsoft's Windows 7 licensing restrictions.
Samsung will ship the drives to original equipment manufacturers this month, with a suggested retail price of $199.
