The Seagate is at least a fortnight away, the Samsung a couple of months if not three. Neither the Hitachi or the Seagate are slow, both should be comfortably quicker than any other 7200rpm drive out there. The Samsung however, if reports are to be believed, will be something else entirely. The data density is reported as being of the order of 340Gb per platter, the Hitachi is 200Gb, the Seagate possibly 250Gb. If that's true then the Samsung will be fast on a whole different level.