POWERBOOK OWNERS who are searching for rugged and speedy removable storage have a new and attractive option: the APS 170PB cartridge drive, based on the 2.5-inch Avatar HARDiskette mechanism, which is gaining popularity in the Wintel world.
Designed to fit into the bay for the pop-out floppy drive of the PowerBook 190 and 5300 series, the 170PB boasts low power consumption and durable, rigid-disk, low-cost media (a 170-MB cartridge should sell for under $50 when APS ships the units in early 1996). The speed of the IDE-based drive is projected to be slightly higher than that of typical 2.5-inch hard drives and noticeably higher than that of 1.8-inch drives.
APS is looking into offering a stand-alone desktop model based on Avatar's SCSI-2 HARDiskette mechanism -- but if it does decide to ship one, it won't do so until later in the year. Unfortunately, until a stand-alone version appears, you won't be able to swap HARDiskette cartridges between your PowerBook and your desktop Mac. 800-235-3707.
