Seagate to Halt Production of 7200-rpm Laptop Hard Drives

When it comes time to buy your next high-performance laptop, chances are good that it will feature a solid state drive (SSD). But what if you'd prefer to have a high-speed, high-capacity traditional hard drive instead? Don't look to Seagate, one of the two 800-pound gorillas in the hard drive industry. The company recently said it will stop making 2.5-inch, 7200-rpm laptop hard drives by the end of 2013.

“High performance in the notebook segment in the future will come from solid-state hybrid drives (SSHDs) rather than drives with higher spin speeds,” a Seagate spokesperson told PCWorld. Seagate’s comment certainly implies that 7200-rpm notebook drives are on their way out, but the spokesperson stopped just short of confirmation. Both X-bit Labs and AnandTech say Seagate has confirmed it will stop producing 2.5-inch 7200-rpm HDDs. Seagate’s high-performance, notebook-sized hard drives will still be around for some time, however, as the company winds down production and works through its remaining stock.
Seagate does not currently offer a consumer SSD, but those drives are coming. The company signed an agreement with DensBits in 2012 to co-develop both consumer- and enterprise-focused solid state drives.