Notebooks keep getting sleeker but that’s not holding back the storage folks. Today Samsung Electronics announced what it said is the world’s first half-terabyte (500 GB) mobile hard drive. The SpinPoint M6 consists of three 167GB platters in a 2.5-inch hard drive frame measuring just 9.5mm in height. These dimensions are no coincidence as they give notebook PC makers enough room to integrate the SpinPoint M6 in the tens of millions of standard PC notebooks that ship each quarter.

Notebook PC manufacturers can also double user’s pleasure (and Samsung’s) by opting for two Spinpoint M6 drives for a total capacity of one terabyte.

Tech specs on the Spinpoint M6 500GB include: a 5400rpm spindle speed, a 8MB cache, and 3.0Gbps SATA interface with a Free-Fall-Sensor available as an optional feature. Samsung said its use of “Perpendicular Magnetic Recording” technology enables the 500GB drive to store 160,000 digital images, 125 hours of DVD movies, or 60 hours of high definition video images.

The drive also features Samsung’s Flying-on-Demand head technology that improves recording stability over changing temperature ranges. Look for notebook makers to start featuring the new drive this year. The drive has a list price of $299.