THG take a close look at the latest 2.5" drives by Fujitsu, Samsung, Seagate and Toshiba:

If you care about the performance of your notebook hard drive - and we hope you do - there are only two possible choices today. Users who want it all should go for a Hitachi TravelStar 7K100, because it is by far the fastest notebook hard drive available. Should you require more capacity, the only feasible choice is Seagate's Momentus 5400.3, because it merges 160 GB capacity with the highest available 5,400 RPM performance. In addition, Seagate offers an unmatched five-year warranty, which are more than enough reasons for us recommending it.

Fujitsu's 160 GB 2.5" drive disqualifies itself for notebook use due to its size, weight and inadequate performance. However, this drive is considerably cheaper than the Seagate model, making it a nice choice for digital home or mobile storage applications. Inside a PVR or Multimedia PC, the MHV2160BT can be of good service despite its drawbacks.

Fujitsu and Toshiba fight for the second place in the 5,400 RPM field, while Samsung has to accept being third. However, the real losers are the 4,200 RPM drives, because they are far behind. These drives are noticeably slower than the current 5,400 RPM generation, which is why we clearly recommend avoiding all 4,200 RPM models.