It looks like hybrid hard drives are set to take off. TG Daily reports this week that Microsoft has stated that laptops will need a hybrid hard drive if they are to run the Premium blend of Vista with all its bells and whistles enabled--the Aero interface and SuperFetch feature, to name two. (A hybrid hard drive includes up to 1GB of flash memory, which allows for fast data access and low power consumption.) Laptops will need such a drive by June 1 of next year if they care to be emblazoned with the Vista Premium logo. Without such a drive, a laptop will run only the vanilla Vista Basic. Listen closely, and you can hear the hybrid wings of Samsung's and Seagate's hard drive factories kicking into overdrive.

CNET Labs' Dong Van Ngo, who peeped a hybrid hard drive at WinHEC last month, has more here.

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