Frankly, it may be a while before SSDs close the price-per-GB chasm. So it's welcome news that Hitach has lowered the power requirements of its desktop hard drives with the new P7K500 line. The 7,200 RPM units have capacities of 250, 320 and 500 GB. They draw just 3.6 watts for the 250 GB model and 4.8 watts for the 320 and 500 GB ones.

Maximum PC outlines some of the power-saving features:

• The Travelstar system-on-chip design has a new, power-efficient profile.
  
• In the drive's new "unload idle" mode, the drive heads are actually unloaded to the ramp and the drive's servo shuts down (although the platters still chug along at 7,200 RPM), which saves a bit of juice.
  
• In the drive's "low RPM idle" mode, the platters themselves spin down to 4,400 RPM.

Maximum PC will also be getting their hands on a unit soon with a review to follow. Stay tuned...

[via Gizmodo]