January 3 - 12:45am EST   Hitachi today unveiled two new large-capacity laptop drives, offering 400GB and 500GB sizes in a 2.5-inch format. The new drives will be slightly larger than a conventional laptop hard disk, rated at 12.5mm thickness versus the typical 9.5mm. The drives make use of a two-platter setup, and use two heads to read data from both platters. Hitachi adapted their Rotational Vibration Safeguard technology from its 3.5-inch drives to the 5K500 series, allowing the drives to anticipate bumps and compensate accordingly. The drives will be available in February, starting at $350 for the 400GB version, with the 500GB model sitting at $400. [full story]