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iPods use 1.8" Toshiba disks

Toshiba Pocket PC

That's odd, considering neitherDell, Sony, Toshiba, nor Fujitsu require you to purchase Office XP. IBM was the only one that I saw from a quick glance.

Personally I'm waiting for the Toshiba RD-X1. Its supposed to be available now, and has an 80 Gig drive as opposed to a 40. The price in the press release says $1500, but it can be seen on C|Net for as little as $789.

I recently purchased a nifty Toshiba 5105-607 which was, sadly, neglected from the last shashdot poll concerning laptops.

I have a 17" lcd monitor and I dont' know the manufacturer the but monitor is awesome. The max rez (which i run at) is 1600x1200. One thing I wonder is why LCDs are so expensive when the total cost of this laptop was purchased for $1500 off of Fleabay (and probably around $1700-$2000 msrp). It tends to make me think that LCDs (alone) are overpriced (since something similar to this would cost an easy $1000).

Btw I'm not a monitor freak but for Warcraft and Unreal it's performed quite well. Actually this is my only gaming machine and i think for hte majority of people otu there it wouldn't matter (since I do consider myself an avid Counterstrike player where ghosting really counts).

Toshiba made a 17" prototype back in May that you can read about here.

What bothers me a lot more is this:

MP3, WAV, WMA Compatible File Playback

Use the Toshiba Audio Application Software to convert various types of digital audio files on a PC hard drive to a rights-protected program recognized by MOBILPHILE. User can expand MOBILPHILE's functionality to include playback of custom music collections encoded in the MP3, WMA or WAV formats.

CONVENIENCE

Toshiba Audio Application Software Toshiba proprietary software program makes media manipulation a breeze. This software enables the user to convert MP3, WAV or WMA files to a rights protected data format recognized by MOBILPHILE. Once converted, the Toshiba Audio Application software allows you to transfer files directly to the MEG50AS.

I also wonder how GPL-friendly the thing can be if it's got that DRM stuff. Unless the hardware itself implements the DRM, I don't see how they can give out the source code without making the DRM defeatable.

Taking this WAY off topic... According to a previous article on /., the iPod uses a Toshiba 1.8" hard drive.. which according to Toshiba would be the 20GB MK2003GAH (HDD1364)... which is rated at 300,000 MTTF Hours.

so let me see... that would be about 34 years of 24/7 operation.. If you use it for 8 hours a day (a lot in my opinion).. that would be about 102 years. That seems a little absurd.. but that's what absurd benchmarks get you.

Note more importantly that the "Product Life" of the hard drive is rated at 5 years or 20,000 power ON hours. I'd guess that's a "which ever comes first" rating.

Taking this WAY off topic... According to a previous article on /., the iPod uses a Toshiba 1.8" hard drive.. which according to Toshiba would be the 20GB MK2003GAH (HDD1364)... which is rated at 300,000 MTTF Hours.

so let me see... that would be about 34 years of 24/7 operation.. If you use it for 8 hours a day (a lot in my opinion).. that would be about 102 years. That seems a little absurd.. but that's what absurd benchmarks get you.

Note more importantly that the "Product Life" of the hard drive is rated at 5 years or 20,000 power ON hours. I'd guess that's a "which ever comes first" rating.

Is it possible to upgrade the iBook hard drive?

Yes it is. I want to put one of these bad boys in my old clamshell iBook.

What I'd like to know is if I can upgrade the internal memory soldered onto the board, from 64MB to 256MB in addition to my 256MB SODIMM to give me 512MB.

That said, ogg is dead.

Huh? I've got 16GB of MP3's, my whole CD collection and my girlfriends encoded with LAME at 256kbit CBR. I am now going to go through the hassle of re-encoding all of them again because I can get the same quality in about half the HDD space. I've been aware of Ogg for ages, but I've been avoiding it until it hits 1.0 and when I can compare it. NOW I feel I can switch I will be, because as far as I'm concerned, Ogg has just been born.

The finest quality, most efficient codec that is not encumbered with patents, etc is not going to just die. Sure it may take a while for the general public to stop thinking "mp3 player", but plenty of people will use it to keep the interest going. Especially people who actually care about sound quality outside of listening to pure raw audio formats.

The Toshiba 5105 uses the Synaptics cPad, a touch sensitive LCD screen as a touchpad mouse. I haven't been able to find any information needed to create an open source device driver, though Synaptics web site does document the Windows API. I've wanted to use this device for various information displays in Linux (like Gkrellm, but so far requests to Toshiba and Syntaptics have been fruitless. :-(

Synaptics has a new touchpad for notebooks called the cPad. It has a B&W LCD under a (mostly) clear touchpad that can be used as a secondary display. It has it's own API, and looks pretty neat - it saves valuable screen space and I hope I could move the task bar down there. I've only seen it on the Toshiba Satellite 5100 series, but I'm sure Synaptics is agressively marketing it to other laptop manufacturers.

it is not just a regular 2.5" hard drive. this is a 1.8" hard drive that is the same thickness as a type II PC card.

check the link here. While it is lots of storage for a little space, it is restricted to the maximum transfer rates of the PC card interface.

I have 12GB of music (all legally ripped from my own CD's thanks...) so 20GB is the minimum I want from my mp3 player. you never know when you want to hear some Mozart or some Merzbow. I want it all on one player. Can't the device makers get that? Why not sell it it with no drive and offer a 5, 10 and 20GB option?

/b

885 grams == 1.95 pounds

This article is a bit of a ridiculous pitch, here are Other machines come close:

The Dell X200 = 2.8 pounds (800 MHz processor, 12.1)

Fujitsu Laptops (Various w/Transmeta) - P1000 is 2.2 pounds, $1299 starting

The Toshiba Portege - 2.6 pounds PIII750, bit expensive, $2199

-Sean

Check out products incorporating the NUON processor (formerly from VM Labs, recently bought out by Genesis Microchip), such as the Toshiba SD-2300 and Samsung N-2000, N-501, and N-504. NUON-enhanced DVDs contain additional info in the form of (tada!) HTML and Bob scripts - the DVDs play normally on regular players, the enhanced features are available on products like those above.

There are some NUON-enhanced DVDs available. You can also play games on these units, although it is by no means intended as a PS2/XBox/etc competitor. You can even download the NUON SDK and hack your own NUON programs! Check out the NUON dome for more info.

Disclaimer: I used to work for VM Labs. I don't anymore (left in September 2001), and have no business or financial connection with either VM Labs or Genesis Microchip. I still think the technology is pretty cool, though.

clambert asks: "A few co-workers and I are in the market for a new laptop, but it's been incredibly difficult to try and explore what's out there. How do Sony's warranties rank up against Dell's? Can I get Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on the new Toshibas? What model IBMs feature DDR memory? There doesn't seem to be an AnandTech/Ars/Toms for the notebook market, and short of filtering through all the marketing hype on every {brand}.com, its tough to find out what systems offer what specs. Are there any comprehensive resources out there for those of us in the market for a new laptop?"


Hi! I'm a lazy p.o.s. lard-ass who is too stupid too lookup information for myself on the web about laptop configurations. Can I have /. spoon-feed me since I'm too lazy to look up notebook specs myself?

Jesus! Comprehensive resource? It's called your brain your worthless coprolite! How was this question even allowed to be posted? Oh, that's right. We now have CaptTaco and his minions pandering to drooling morons who can't reverse a cranial-rectal inversion.

How do Sony's warranties rank up against Dell's?
I don't know dimwit, why don't you look it up on their WEBSITES!

http://www.sonystyle.com/vaio/notebooks/index.shtm l
http:/www.dell.com


Can I get Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on the new Toshibas?
I don't know dimwit, why don't you look it up on their WEBSITE!

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/pc/pc_prod List.jsp?comm=CS&plin=Portable%20Computers


What model IBMs feature DDR memory?
I don't know dimwit, why don't you look it up on their WEBSITE!

http://commerce.www.ibm.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce/Cate goryDisplay?cgrfnbr=2035724&cntrfnbr=1&cgmenbr=1&c ntry=840&lang=en_US


short of filtering through all the marketing hype on every {brand}.com, its tough to find out what systems offer what specs.

gee, all I had to do was to goto Dell's website to configure a system to the specs I wanted. and if I didn't understand what the technology was, I either clicked on the link that explained it or called up their 1-800-624-9896 and spoke to a technician. Ditto for Toshiba, IBM, and Sony. IT's called PRE-SALES TECH SUPPORT, you lickspittle excuse for a manager retard.

Yeah? So what if this is flaming? It's one thing to ask for opinions, it's quite another to be too damn lazy to look up information that's easily retrievable on the web. Don't like it? sod off you pissant bugger!

Start your engines geeks. First one with a 20GB iPod wins!

The LOOX was announced weeks ago. Brighthand already had a forum up for it in February. Toshiba also announced their next PocketPC (XScale processor and embedded 802.11b included) last month.

A month behind the times? That's just shameful guys.

http://www.toshiba.com/taecdpd/products/features/M K2003GAH-Over.shtml

I figure, by the time I get an iBook, they'll have a 10 and 20 gig version. Or maybe I could just buy the HDD and do it myself.

I figure, by the time I get an iBook, they'll have a 10 and 20 gig version. Or maybe I could just buy the HDD and do it myself.

While we're on the subject of MP3 players, did anyone else notice that Toshiba just announced plans to start manufacturing 10GB and 20GB 1.8" drives this spring. How long before someone hacks one into an iPod and posts it ;) Price might still be a concern though; the 5GB drive used in the iPod can only be gotten by buying the PC card version from Toshiba, which costs $399 ($299 for the 2GB version), or by buying an iPod, which also costs $399 ($369 for students).

While we're on the subject of MP3 players, did anyone else notice that Toshiba just announced plans to start manufacturing 10GB and 20GB 1.8" drives this spring. How long before someone hacks one into an iPod and posts it ;) Price might still be a concern though; the 5GB drive used in the iPod can only be gotten by buying the PC card version from Toshiba, which costs $399 ($299 for the 2GB version), or by buying an iPod, which also costs $399 ($369 for students).

While we're on the subject of MP3 players, did anyone else notice that Toshiba just announced plans to start manufacturing 10GB and 20GB 1.8" drives this spring. How long before someone hacks one into an iPod and posts it ;) Price might still be a concern though; the 5GB drive used in the iPod can only be gotten by buying the PC card version from Toshiba, which costs $399 ($299 for the 2GB version), or by buying an iPod, which also costs $399 ($369 for students).

While we're on the subject of MP3 players, did anyone else notice that Toshiba just announced plans to start manufacturing 10GB and 20GB 1.8" drives this spring. How long before someone hacks one into an iPod and posts it ;) Price might still be a concern though; the 5GB drive used in the iPod can only be gotten by buying the PC card version from Toshiba, which costs $399 ($299 for the 2GB version), or by buying an iPod, which also costs $399 ($369 for students).

Actually, the iPod does -NOT- use a Laptop Hard drive. Laptop drives have a 9.5mm spec which corresponds to the 2.5inch profile. The iPod drive has a 5mm spec corresponding to a 1.8 inch profile. Toshiba is the only manufacturer making this drive and the biggest one they have right now is 5GB.

More info on the Toshiba drive here

Yes, and there's a toshiba pc card drive (MK5002MPL) that's 5gb! Check it out here. I'm using it on an ipaq with linux, and it works very nicely. Much better than the IBM microdrive, not only for storage space but it hasn't caused me any troubles like the IBM.

They list several that are compatible with the iPAQ on their website.

Of course there is the MicroDrive Which comes in the 340MB or 1GB flavors.
The Kingston DataPak Which holds 260MBor 2GB/5GB storage capacity.
and the Toshiba MK2001MPL a 2GB PCMCIA HDD or the 5GB version

Many of these are cheaper per megabyte than the MicroDrive and will give you much more storage for around the same price. They are supposed to work with any desktop Windows OS (98/ME/2K/XP) and Compaq says they will work with the iPAQ as well.

I bought the Toshiba 5GB and hooked it up to my iPAQ so I could play DivX movies with the Pocket DivX Player from ProjectMayo. I also store a whole bunch of MP3s on it and can transfer the card between my computer and iPAQ for easy file transfers.

These little hard drives are great for anyone who wants portable storage that is large capacity and is pretty easy to use.

They list several that are compatible with the iPAQ on their website.

Of course there is the MicroDrive Which comes in the 340MB or 1GB flavors.
The Kingston DataPak Which holds 260MBor 2GB/5GB storage capacity.
and the Toshiba MK2001MPL a 2GB PCMCIA HDD or the 5GB version

Many of these are cheaper per megabyte than the MicroDrive and will give you much more storage for around the same price. They are supposed to work with any desktop Windows OS (98/ME/2K/XP) and Compaq says they will work with the iPAQ as well.

I bought the Toshiba 5GB and hooked it up to my iPAQ so I could play DivX movies with the Pocket DivX Player from ProjectMayo. I also store a whole bunch of MP3s on it and can transfer the card between my computer and iPAQ for easy file transfers.

These little hard drives are great for anyone who wants portable storage that is large capacity and is pretty easy to use.

The only problem I see with your logic is that Apples PDA technlogy is soooooo much better then anyone elses. Have you ever used a Newton with OS 2.x? It blows away anything currently on the market. The only problem with the old Newtons is their size. which could be dealt with now.

It would also retail for much more than $400, I would guess $750-$900 (yep as much as an iMac). The PDA market is stagnant, but if you could make a PDA with the 5gig iPod HD, the interface of a Newton, and an excellent battery life then you would have plenty of users upgreade(remember, people don't need to buy them often, and once they are locked into Apple's iWalk / iPod, what are they going to buy next?), they could even take a lose on the iWalk and make it up on the Macintoshs(They deffinately aren't making much with the iPod, the micro 5 gig drive retails for more than the iPod). http://www.toshiba.com/taecdpd/products/features/M K5002mpl-Over.shtml

I think an insanely great PDA(proprietarily liked to MacOSX) would sell a lot of G4s.

Honestly you would only have to soup up the iPods CPU and put a bigger screen to get the hardware for such a device. The iPod currently runs some embeded OS which Apple contracted out.
http://www.dailymac.com/content/editorials/ipod_fu ture.html

The e570s Official Homepage is The e570s Official Homepage. They have features, specs, videos, and accessories on there.

I don't see any mention of this on their official site. Anyone have a link to the data sheets?

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/pda/pda_home.html. There you have 7 seconds to find it!

• 1.8" sized drive
• 1 Platter
• 5.007 Gigabytes
• 5mm High
• 15ms Average Seek Time
• ATA (1 - 5) Interface
• Ultra66 Supported [they seem to contradict themselves here!]
• 1024KB Buffer
• Rotational speed of 4,200rpm
• MTTF 300,000 Hours

• 1.8" sized drive
• 1 Platter
• 5.007 Gigabytes
• 5mm High
• 15ms Average Seek Time
• ATA (1 - 5) Interface
• Ultra66 Supported [they seem to contradict themselves here!]
• 1024KB Buffer
• Rotational speed of 4,200rpm
• MTTF 300,000 Hours

• 1.8" sized drive
• 1 Platter
• 5.007 Gigabytes
• 5mm High
• 15ms Average Seek Time
• ATA (1 - 5) Interface
• Ultra66 Supported [they seem to contradict themselves here!]
• 1024KB Buffer
• Rotational speed of 4,200rpm
• MTTF 300,000 Hours

• 1.8" sized drive
• 1 Platter
• 5.007 Gigabytes
• 5mm High
• 15ms Average Seek Time
• ATA (1 - 5) Interface
• Ultra66 Supported [they seem to contradict themselves here!]
• 1024KB Buffer
• Rotational speed of 4,200rpm
• MTTF 300,000 Hours

• 1.8" sized drive
• 1 Platter
• 5.007 Gigabytes
• 5mm High
• 15ms Average Seek Time
• ATA (1 - 5) Interface
• Ultra66 Supported [they seem to contradict themselves here!]
• 1024KB Buffer
• Rotational speed of 4,200rpm
• MTTF 300,000 Hours

from apple's site: 6.5 oz (185 g) (link here)

the hard drive, specifically, is just under 2 oz (link here) ...

The toshiba hard drive oem'd to Apple for this kit has a 300,000 MTTF (Power on hours). That's 34 years (approx). 90 days is not a concern.

It's true, the iPod has only 5 billion bytes of storage capacity. Majik was smoking crack with timothy or something. Whatever. Now for the cool shtuff.

What I have heard is that the drive in the iPod is none other than the Toshiba 5GB PC Card Hard Disk Drive, which itself is worthy of GadgetLust. Yep, that iPod's got a Type II PC Card slot in there, just waiting to be upgraded when Toshiba releases a 10-gigger (which probably won't be more than 6 months). If it's not a PC card drive, it's certainly the embedded version of the same drive, and hopefully will be eminently hackable. Here's to rumors, rumours, and the Apple stock I bought after the WTC bombings :)

It will also be interesting to see if future Apple "digital hub" products might connect to the iPod and use it for storage, for example imagine having an Apple digital camera that could offload images to the iPod, allowing you to go off into the woods and take thousands of pictures with just the stuff in your pockets ;) Apple often has new products interact with existing ones in cool ways like this, and this could help explain why it was named the iPod instead of something to do with music.

Ok, it wasn't "people like you". But there is a substantial portion of the Mac crowd that thinks every anouncement is going to be the greatest thing ever (tm), and they provide the hoop-la, and absurdly high expectations, not Apple.

All Apple did was hold a press conference for a new product. While you may abhor marketing and advertising, if you think it isn't necessary you're a fool.

I think the device is innovative in a couple of ways.

Here's a reality check for why the iPod is so expensive. It uses Toshiba's new 1.8in hdd which costs a buttload. I'm sure volume pricing is lower but the storage alone is a healthy chunk of the manufacturing cost. So for those of you whining about the iPod's storage/cost versus the Nomad, please get a clue.

Here's a reality check for why the iPod is so expensive. It uses Toshiba's new 1.8in hdd which costs a buttload. I'm sure volume pricing is lower but the storage alone is a healthy chunk of the manufacturing cost. So for those of you whining about the iPod's storage/cost versus the Nomad, please get a clue.

$399 at the Toshiba store. The iPod costs the same and has all the MP3 playing capability.

Can anyone find a cheaper, equally small drive?

It might be hackable for a bigger drive, but that question is moot since it uses a 1.8 inch drive. At that size, 5 gig is the current max.

-Aaron

(The probable drive they're using is here:)

The support for Digital Output without the connection is kinda silly. I haven't been able to find what video-out (if any) is supported because of slashdotting. Component Video out supporting 480p is a minimum, and 720p and 1080i would be useful as well.

You're asking for technology that doesn't exist. You need a dedicated TV out card, and it'll look like crap anyways, since even an HD ready TV has odd verticle resolutions (720, 960 and 1080).

As a refresher course, let me remind you that 720i means interlaced, while 720p is progressive scan... and I know you don't have a 720p capable TV. My Toshiba doesn't even do it. Don't forget that component video is not digital.

Well, as everyone else said, the Titanium is sweet. However, if you can't shell out 3500, you can still get a decent deal. Since you are pointing at the IBM I'm assuming you don't mind a machine that comes preloaded with the Spawn of Evil (TM) and can either use that or reformat. Also, since I work retail in one of my jobs, I'll give you an idea of what you could pick up in a store. HP does pretty well with the N5470, and Compaq is fairly comparable with the 1215US. They should fall around $2100 and $1900 respectively. Toshiba has the 4600 Satellite Pro at $2400 that is pretty good, although I'm not too crazy about the 16MB Trident as the video adapter. That is offset a bit by the fact that it's a bit more rugged than the others. Those are about the best things I see on the sales floor that I'd actually like to use for a laptop. As for under $1000, you could actually probably dredge up a PIII or Duron 600 laptop around somewhere that would do decently. The HP N5470 can be found here. The Compaq 1215 can be found here. And the Toshiba is here.

-)Is it going to run Linux? then hardware becomes a major concern, though there are many sites that show you how to run Linux on the iBook, but you might not be a Mac Zealot.

-)Do you want DVD support?

-)What speed range? How much RAM?

-)What chip...AMD or Intel?

-)Are you looking for a mobile desktop?

there are plenty more things to consider, but I'd look at Dell, the iBook starting at $1200 is a beautiful machine, and give Toshiba a look see.

This stuff is pretty dependent on your needs and wants, the iBooks are ideal and more for students, but aren't usually compatible with all business machines which are often x86. Look around, compare prices, and look at the common sense article on top-of-the-line computer hardware.