Bigger, Faster 1.8 HDDs Coming From Toshiba for MacBook Air?

The MacBook Air comes standard with an 80GB 1.8" Toshiba hard disk drive running at 4200rpm with an older PATA interface. Some have criticized the capacity and speed of this drive but the only alternative offered by Apple is the 64GB solid state disk drive for nearly $1000.

Toshiba announced two new 1.8" HDDs with capacities of 80GB and 120GB running at 5400rpm with a newer and faster 1.5Gbps SATA interface. The new drives have a faster 15ms seek time as well. Mass production of the new drives will be in April.

Along with high speed data transfer, the new drives offer high level vibration resistance and excellent shock resistance. They will contribute to the achievement of environmentally conscious products, thanks to near silent operation and low energy consumption and full compliance with the EU RoHS directive.

April is perfect timing for Apple to refresh the MacBook Air in June or so with these faster and larger drives. We think our 80GB MacBook Air on order will be fast enough, though. It is scheduled to arrive on Thursday of this week. [Bill Fox]