Seagate Momentus XT (500GB)

Pros: Boots ~15 seconds faster, overall speed is very good, doesn't get too hot.

Cons: Performance gain isn't quite good enough, andit should come with software.

Summary: I got the Momentus XT because I needed more storage space, and I was willing to pay a little extra to improve my boot time. When I got it I was pretty surprised to find that it does, in fact, work as advertised. My boot time is about 15 seconds faster. Additionally, it doesn't have the problems I was expecting from such an overpowered drive. It doesn't get too hot, or vibrate (as some users report), and it is louder than my old Western Digital drive but not by a lot. There are also performance benefits once my compter is running, like being able to load firefox 10 seconds after booting.

So why did I only give it 3.5 stars? Well, I was disappointed that the learning mode doesn't do all that much. The 3rd time I booted up with this drive it got faster, then that was it. It never got faster than that even after a dozen or so cycles. Besides feeling like it should be a little faster for $130, I also wish it had some supporting software so that I could see what it is doing. Right now I have no real way of knowing if this thing is working at full potential.

If I went back in time I would probably save my money and get a regular, non hybrid 7200rpm drive.