As with any computer hardware you need to ask yourself, what is it that you want and what is it that you want to pay for?
Laptop hard drives are one of those funny little bits of technology that don't ever seem to go down in price and you can hardly ever get a good cheap one. So you must ask yourself is a 2.5" HDD (2.5" being the standard size for a laptop hard drive, and HDD = Hard disc drive) what you really need or what you really want. Do you need something that small? Could a 3.5" version do the job? Etc etc.
Mine is currently sitting in a tiny Via Epia SP13000 based system used as a media server and download box. Image provided. The system itself is nearly silent, in fact the only moving parts are in this HDD. It is nice a quiet. It doesn't have that annoying hum some other HDD's have. It seems reliable and it has good access times. So overall it performs well. Seagate are a trusted manufacturer and have been around for a while. As far as I'm aware they have never made a bad device line, but then my HDD's of preference are normally Western digital.
The device uses an 8mb cache, this isn't a special as it used to be since many other 2.5"HDDs now use this amount but its still a plus point for the device. It runs a 7200RPM, this is about the same as many normal 3.5" HDDs but is quite fast for a laptop variant.
As I said before it is important to look at your need for this type of device, there are many other devices available that do the same job but for a far lower price. You should only buy 2.5" HDD's if you really need one and if you can't use anything else.
I bought this one new from Ebuyer for just over £100 inc VAT and delivery. Its now happily running windows XP Pro SP2 and allows me to play DVD's and stored media files directly on my TV, it displays no image lag and seeks its data quickly and reliably, Overall its a good hard disc drive if its what you need.
