Western Digital’s Blue series had gone through a long and storied history and the new Slim edition brings its standards up to today’s expectations. With the recent proliferation of Intel’s ‘Ultrabook’ standard and other, similarly svelte personal computers, it is not all that surprising that storage manufactures would start thinking ‘small’ in a big way. Unlike the typical laptop or micro ATX form factor which can easily accept a ‘standard’ 9.5mm height storage device, thin and light notebooks and certain desktops have shaved every millimetre possible. As such, only thin, 7mm devices can fit inside, of which there are very few options to choose from.

For most consumers and system builders interested in a light weight design, SSDs are the de-facto standard but they tend to be expensive and don’t allow all that much storage space without getting into extreme price points. As such, they aren’t an acceptable option for entry level Ultrabooks. This is why 2.5”, 7mm hard drives were been created and continue to flourish.