First there was Western Digital and then Seagate. Both boasted of the Terrabyte storage capacity, the latest metric used in measuring the amount of space that they could accommodate. Now, Hitachi enters the fray but not on storage but bragging about how eco-friendly their hard drive is. The new drive is the EcoTrac Classification hard drive.

The new drive features Hitachi’s EcoTrac Classification. This means it’s halogen-free and has very low power consumption. The new CinemaStar features a read/write power specification of 1.4W–a reduction of 22 percent compared to previous models.

According to Hitachi, its new CinemaStar hard drive is best suited for digital video applications that require compact design and low power usage, such as slim digital video recorders, set-top boxes, and surveillance systems.

The new CinemaStar drive will be available in capacities ranging between 160GB and 500GB and is expected to ship during the second quarter of the year. For now, it’s unclear how much the drive will cost.

If you are the environmentalist freak who wants to do his share for environmental improvement, then this is the hard drive for you. It may not yet be in the terabyte era but surely, it will be in a matter of months.

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It is a fact that we have to find an alternative to the usual aluminum casings of PCs these days but it has to be also consistent on supporting the various components of a PC. For one, the consideration should be broadened. It is not just a case of being environmentally friendly. It needs the deliberation on after-effects like sustainability as to how far they can accommodate the PC requirement we know of.

Apparently this is not to downgrade the use of cardboard casings that were unveiled recently. The intent is good but still, are they feasible and effective. And based on the reviews they are biodegradable meaning they can disintegrate after years of use. If that were the case, would it not be contradicting the actual savings of a PC in terms of casing requirements? Also, would it not be something that could alter the performance of owners since it may eventually lead to deformation and exposure of vital parts?

The time element is not covered the way that it should be and this is something that developers of these Cardboard Casings must take into consideration. Again, the intent and concept is good, but it still needs to answer some areas which were obviously left out.

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We have heard about eco-friendly desktops that are bound to hit the market and no other than Hewlett Packard (HP) has broken the ice as far as going green and using energy-efficient branded desktops in the market. For HP, the Pavilion Verde are Energy Star certified and up to 45 percent more efficient than comparable PCs.

The Pavilion Verde a6645f desktop features an AMD Athlon X2 4850e dual-core processor, a 500 Gb hard drive, 5 GB of RAM, Nvidea GeForce 6150 SE graphics with 128 MB of video memory, a DVD SuperMulti drive with Lightscribe, a 15-in-1 media card reader, six USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire ports, and VGA output. The Pavilion Phoenix a6655f steps up a bit, offering the same basic set of ports and features with an AMD X4 9150e quad-core CPU and a 640 GB hard drive. Both editions ship with Windows Vista Home Edition 64-bit, and feature custom case artwork: the Verde sports a green nature-inspired pattern while the Phoenix case sports a design with the mythical phoenix bird.

The tag price for the Pavilion Verde is $579 to $659. It will be officially injected and made available in the market by November 9. So if you are looking for a new computer, apply that eco-friendliness as well. It can certainly make the difference when it comes to balancing energy costs and getting the latest desktops available in the market today.

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If you haven’t felt the effects of the financial crunch yet, well it would be best not to wait for it to come to you. As a PC user, you also have to be aware that your finances may soon encounter some rough sailing especially now that everything (but your salary perhaps) is going up sky high.

So what is the best thing to do? Well for one, check if you have an energy saving computer. Through the years that you have been sticking to that same computer, chances are you may not even considered checking how eco-friendly and conservative it may be as far as power consumption is concerned. If before you ignored that pinch that these add to your electric bills, today you may finally realize that you may have to do the necessary adjustments.

One thing about old PCs is that they may not be as flexible. Add to the fact that you may be considering that long awaited upgrade to which you are considering perhaps this coming holiday season. As always, finding the right computer parts to go with your desired specifications will pose to be a problem. But this time around, make sure you add that eco-friendly consideration in terms of consumption and of course the materials that your new PC will be made up of.

Eco-friendly does not only mean green in terms of visualization of your PC. The energy star ratings are likewise important. If before you considered them as merely tags with no use, this time around it is a different story. Pay more attention to the energy ratings so you can avoid the financial pinch that is imminent.

When you are in the market for a new computer, perhaps you could include among your requirements green issues like perhaps the materials to which they are made of and energy saving features that is currently among the top points that people are being encouraged to do. We are all aware that going green has been added to the fray and while many PC manufacturers claim that they adhere to such eco-friendly policies, it would be best to decide on your own on what it really means to be green.

One thing you can be assured of is that you get the best performance as well. Power saving features has to be the leading indicator of being green which is closely followed by use of other resources from perhaps recycled materials or adhering towards policies governing proper waste and reusable resources. While these are a given, it is obvious that the main point that a PC buyer would have is simply to get a PC that can function normally and according to their needs.

The real deal on why PC buyers should place emphasis on energy consumption may not be realized immediately. For one, energy consumption can really save a lot as far as bills and finances are concerned. A computer is seen as the lesser consuming gadget anywhere. But if you could get a PC that can save you a bit, you may be surprised at the impact that it may have in the long run when finances come into play.

Do you want to do your own small thing for the environment? Well you can start by saving on power when your computer is not in use. Yep, you can always set a timer or put it into sleep mode like lets say being idle for about 15 minutes or more. There is no sense in keeping your monitor live if you are not using your computer since other than being a waste of energy, you are probably adding some stress to the monitor as well.

Monitors have their own share of product life cycles. They have a specific number of useful years and if you are not careful, you may find yourself getting a new one unscheduled.

To some, there are issues. One of which is that of crash problems for computers that cannot hold the proper programming or hardware that is usually something that is common especially if you are using a chop-chop computer. In fact, some PCs may not even boot after they have been placed on sleep mode, most of which is due to some issues as far as load and processes are concerned.

Regardless, saving on power is something that is really the main issue for placing a computer in sleep mode. Some may not want to be interrupted but if you are perhaps at home and choose not to turn off your computer, putting it into sleep mode is a good alternative to that.