Thin hybrid HDDs could help not only to kickstart the hard disk drive market, but also give UK cable manufacturers a new kind of custom cable design to work on. Measuring just 5mm thick, thin hybrid HDDs have been tipped by electronic components analyst iSuppli as one way notebook manufacturers can claw back some market share, compared with tablets. “Since their appearance on the market two years ago, tablets – with their slim profile and fast ‘instant-on’ capabilities – have eaten mightily into the sales of notebook PCs,” iSuppli reports. This has left even relatively thin HDDs – with a 7mm profile – appearing slow in comparison to tablets, whereas 5mm hybrids could perform better in comparison. However, the most important aspect of 5mm thin hybrids for UK cable manufacturers could be their ability to replace existing hard drives. This is likely to lead to a new market for custom cable designs that are able to connect these new devices into existing laptops and notebooks, and allow owners to benefit from faster performance as a result.