TechARP take a further look at the Samsung Spinpoint F1 (HD103UJ) 1 TB Hard Disk Drive:

The 1 TB Samsung Spinpoint F1 (HD103UJ) has a lot going for it. It combines a large storage capacity with the low thermal output of 5400 RPM hard disk drives, and sequential read/write performance that's second only to the 10,000 RPM Western Digital VelociRaptor hard drive!

The Samsung Spinpoint F1 was actually the best performer in both Business Disk WinMark 99 and High-End Disk WinMark 99. The reason for its excellent performance - the combination of a very high areal density and the 7200 RPM spindle speed. Even the phenomenal Western Digital VelociRaptor could only play second fiddle to it.

Of course, the VelociRaptor's 10,000 RPM spindle speed gives it a huge performance advantage in random accesses, but when it came to sequential accesses, the Samsung Spinpoint F1 came real close to the VelociRaptor. Please see our Hard Disk Drive Performance Comparison Guide for a better comparison. The only disadvantages we see are the low lifetime rating of 50,000 load/unload cycles, and the short 1 year warranty. While they do not mean that Samsung Spinpoint F1 hard disk drives are unreliable, Samsung can do much better in these respects, especially if their competitors are offering ratings of 300,000 to 600,000 load/unload cycles and 3-to-5 year warranties.

Overall, the 1 TB Samsung Spinpoint F1 offers a great combination of a large storage capacity, low thermal output and excellent performance. To top it off, the Spinpoint F1 is competitively priced against its competitors.So, if you are looking for real value for money, you can't go wrong with the 1 TB Samsung Spinpoint F1.