What Models were you looking at that had a $30 difference? Because if its something like the 30GB models where the IBM is 150 and Maxtor is 120 then go with the maxtor, $30 is a lot at that price and it might not be worth it for that extra money. I myself opted for the IBM because i heard their quality was great, and i must say it definately is amazing, i went from 2 10GB seagates at 5400 rpm and the new IBM's are so much faster. btw, seagate makes some pretty kick ass drives too. i never had one single problem wiht them in the 2+ years i used them, still using them too.