Western Digital has now launched a new series of harddrives called AV and just like Samsung it has set its sight for multimedia systems and Media Center PCs. AV is short for Audio/Video and implies that the disks are to be used in multimedia environments where both noise and heat are of utmost importance. WD’s AV series offers more than just little noise and a cool working environment, but also a higher reliability, which is also a very important factor with Media Center PCs, as they are often running 24/7.
“In addition to the sound-reducing properties of IntelliSeek and ramp load, WD utilizes multi-stage formed stainless steel top covers and precision-designed base castings that minimize sound levels for consumer sound-sensitive applications. The result is WD AV drives emit less than one sone, which is virtually below the threshold of human hearing.”
We’re looking forward to comparisons between this new series and Samsung SpinPoint S166, which is for the same market. But already we can see a big advantage with Western Digital AV, namely the storage capacity which will be 80GB up to 500GB.
