Power consumption when the card is idle has also been reduced. A slower rotational speed. Slowing the rotating platter inside the Microdrive from 4500 rpm to 3600 rpm means internal components will be stressed somewhat less during their life. It's interesting to note that even though the drive is spinning slower, the data throughput spec is still better than the original Microdrive. That's because of the new Microdrive models' increased areal density.
Areal density is the number of bits per square inch a drive can hold.
Since increased areal density means each bit of data on the drive takes up less space, the drive's head doesn't have to travel as far as before to read and write the same amount of data. This apparently more than offsets the slower rotational speed. If you want to know more about hard drive technology in its various forms, check out Scientific American's May 2000 feature . It should be noted that impressive specs on paper don't always translate into impressive performance in the real world. It remains to be seen whether the new Microdrive models are indeed faster in the cameras and computers pros use, and able to withstand the rigours of daily news photography in particular.