Conclusion

If you've already read our review of the 640 GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue (WD6400BEVT), you will remember that we were pretty disappointed with its performance. Despite its higher-density platters and consequently higher transfer rates, the WD6400BEVT could not beat the older 320 GB Western Digital Scorpio. This is mostly due to the "Advanced Format effect".

Then Western Digital gave the Scorpio Blue family a new boost in storage capacity and performance by replacing the 320 GB platters in the WD6400BEVT with new higher-density 500 GB platters in the new 1 TB Scorpio Blue (WD10JPVT) hard disk drive. They also introduced a new stainless-steel top plate and a more robust headstack design, increasing the drive's shock tolerance to 400 Gs during reads.

Now, it's the 500 GB Scorpio Blue (WD5000LPVT) that gets the same treatment, a higher-density platter for better performance and a more robust design. The higher-density platter also allowed Western Digital to make the drive thinner at just 6.8 mm, and lighter at 90 g. This helps OEM manufacturers make thinner and lighter notebooks.

All these factors make the new 500 GB Scorpio Blue (WD5000LPVT) hard disk drive a much superior drive to the WD6400BEVT. In our real-world tests, the new 1 TB Scorpio Blue (WD10JPVT) was at least 35% faster and as much as 52% faster than the WD6400BEVT. It was actually faster than older 7200 RPM hard disk drives!

When we examined the WD5000LPVT's performance a little closer using IO Meter, we found that it was actually slightly faster than the 1 TB Scorpio Blue (WD10JPVT), especially in sequential reads and writes. This is quite surprising because both drives use the same 500 GB platter and Advanced Format Technology.

Thanks to its slimmer profile, the new WD5000LPVT is an ideal drive for Ultrabooks. However, notebook manufacturers would do well to note that while the WD5000LPVT is very cool when it idles, it delivers almost as much heat as the 750 GB Scorpio Black and the 500 GB Scorpio Black (both 7200 RPM hard disk drives) at full load.

Overall, we are very happy with the performance of the new 500 GB Scorpio Blue (WD5000LPVT). It is a much better drive than its 640 GB brother, the WD6400BEVT. Although it has less storage capacity than the WD6400BEVT, it has better shock tolerance and is much faster. You may think that all this comes at a price. It does, but it's a pretty affordable price. You can get one today for less than US$ 90 (RM 270). You can check Pricegrabber for the lowest price.

Support Tech ARP!

If you like our work, you can help support out work by visiting our sponsors, participate in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donate to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!

Questions & Comments

Please feel free to post your questions or comments here!