Pros: The M7E series is Samsung's updated M7, with 320GB platter density (the M7 was based on 250GB density). This gives the drive equal to slightly better performance on benchmarks compared to the WD 640GB, and decisively better than the 5400.6 Seagate. The drive is quiet as can be, and quick. The replaced WD 400GB (based on the old WD5000 platform) in my 08 Unibody Macbook seemed just a bit louder, and subjectively the M7E performance appears to be somewhat faster in most activities - which it should be with the higher platter density. Samsung has a complete line of drives at all levels from 160GB - 640GB based on the 320GB platter technology.

Cons: None, really.

Overall Review: Seagate hasn't yet stepped up from the 250GB platter 5400.6 models and released the 5400.7, and when you buy WD drives you can't be sure to get the newer 320GB platter design. This is my second Samsung notebook drive, after spending years with Western Digital and Seagate. I continue to be impressed with the quality of product that Samsung produces, and being assured of having the cutting edge density technology is a bonus.

Pros: Drive worked great with HDTune measured read speeds @ 60MB/s max. Quiet when being accessed.

Cons: Quite noisy head parking access (like a paintbrush over a tabletop "swish-swish") every 3-5 seconds on XP dv1700 notebook at idle, which was easily heard above background sounds in quiet room; wasn't there on original hard drive I put back in to compare. Disabled drive indexing but sound remained. Symptom occurred only at system idle, and corresponded with drive access for 1/2 sec (at 5 sec intervals). Seagate notes a new power management system in the .6 series, so this noise could be a consequence of that. However, it wasn't clear whether this was due to improper construction of my particular drive or a new .6 design "feature" from power management or something else. Sent for RMA.

Pros: Easy install in my early '09 iMac, as Apple makes this very straightforward. After going through Sleep for a week or two, available RAM gets eaten up and the system would have to go into pagefile/page out when iMovie, iPhoto, Safari, Mail, Firefox PSE9 and a couple others were accessed. This creates a minor, but noticeable slowdown in software start and spinning balls on occasion ... not sure whether this was as much of an issue under Snow Leopard or newer one under Lion as I wasn't paying as much attention before the recent sales on GSkill memory here @ NEgg. In any event, 8GB and there's plenty of extra room for all the above without ever using the HDD for overflow and everything restarts quicker. Yay.

Cons: iMac/Macbook/Mini models that run DDR3 10066 (PC3 8500) RAM are known to not play nicely if you install DDR3 1333 (PC310600) and cannot correctly downclock the latter, resulting in boot hangs and other issues, so one must be sure to buy the correct RAM for the system you have. This is not truly a con for this RAM kit, but rather a caution to other Apple users to be sure the RAM they purchase is the correct one so it doesn't have to be returned.

Overall Review: Insane that 8GB can be purchased for such low prices these days, as it was 2-3x as much just 8 months ago. Unfortunate that the RAM industry is suffering so much that the floor has dropped out under them creating this price situation.

Pros: Good speed (avg 50MB/s on HDTune, max 68). Near silent.... even in a quiet room I can't hear this thing during seek access in my daughter's dv1700 unless I've got my ear an inch off the notebook's palmrest, and then barely. Quite impressive for my first Samsung drive.

Cons: none.

Pros: Piece of cake to install 1TB Seagate LP drive for Time Machine backups. Includes cables for USB and FW800. Cool as cool after 1hr running initial 240GB backup! FW800 connection allows OS X to control the HDD's spindown/up with sleep or shutdown. Yellow light is not bright, but pretty subdued.

Cons: none.

Overall Review: For those who care, there are two versions of this enclosure in black (mirror and matte black) that are identical in other respects, but also different pricing. The mirror black (this one) is very prone to fingerprints, even more than my Vantec enclosure, but I think the MB version matches the glossy black on the current aluminum iMacs better than the matte or silver finish enclosures would.

Pros: Great drive for Time Machine backup; in IcyDock enclosure running @ FW800 speeds I'm getting 60+ MB/s transfers. Runs very cool with 5900rpm speed.

Cons: none.