200GB@7200rpm or 250GB@5400rpm

[Ken Masters]

I was thinking about getting the 200GB 7200rpm Seagate drive for £146.31 although the 250GB 5400rpm Western Digital drive is only £112.21
Should I stick to the faster but smaller and more expensive one or the larger, cheaper but slower one? It's used for running fairly intensive music editing programs.

Is there anywhere better/cheaper to buy from than this place?
http://www.macupgrades.co.uk/store/machine.php?name=macbook-pro

Thanks!

 

[MBHockey]

My suggestion is if you aren't going to miss the extra 50 GB of space, go for the faster drive. It's the biggest bottleneck out of all your computer's components as is. Don't make it worse with a 5400 rpm drive.

 

[Ken Masters]

Cool that's what I was thinking. Does the price seem OK?

 

[weblogik]

doesnt a 7200 rpm hard drive run much hotter though????

 

[Digital Skunk]

doesnt a 7200 rpm hard drive run much hotter though????

Not that much hotter, but it does eat up a little bit more battery life. IMO it's worth it do to the faster speed of the machine overall.

Go for the 200GB @7200 rpm drive.

 

[Ken Masters]

Also, my current 120GB Fujitsu MHW2160BH drive is 'only' 5400rpm and that seems 'fine' to me although I'm not sure when a faster HD makes a difference. Anyone care to enlighten me

 

[deggs37]

I went with the 250gb 5400rpm and I am starting to wish I went the other drive. Unless this is your only machine and you have no plans to ever get an external then I would go with the 200gb 7200rpm.

 

[olliebraves20]

Does anybody have any type of benchmarks for the difference between the two??

 

[Freyqq]

Also, my current 120GB Fujitsu MHW2160BH drive is 'only' 5400rpm and that seems 'fine' to me although I'm not sure when a faster HD makes a difference. Anyone care to enlighten me

faster RPM will make apps load faster the first time that they are opened and if you're working with large files..it will be faster.

 

[deggs37]

Also, my current 120GB Fujitsu MHW2160BH drive is 'only' 5400rpm and that seems 'fine' to me although I'm not sure when a faster HD makes a difference. Anyone care to enlighten me

You will be able to notice a difference if you begin to use one. Everything is a bit snappier. Load times decrease. It definitely won't go unnoticed.

 

[Ken Masters]

faster RPM will make apps load faster the first time that they are opened and if you're working with large files..it will be faster.

You will be able to notice a difference if you begin to use one. Everything is a bit snappier. Load times decrease. It definitely won't go unnoticed.

Just what I wanted to hear, thanks!

 

[Peterkro]

Comparison:
http://www.barefeats.com/rosa06.html

 

[Digital Skunk]

Also, my current 120GB Fujitsu MHW2160BH drive is 'only' 5400rpm and that seems 'fine' to me although I'm not sure when a faster HD makes a difference. Anyone care to enlighten me

The faster drive will allow the system to access information from, and writer info to the HDDs faster. So you apps will load faster, files will open faster, copying files and deleting them will be faster, and the machine will boot faster.

I went with the 250gb 5400rpm and I am starting to wish I went the other drive. Unless this is your only machine and you have no plans to ever get an external then I would go with the 200gb 7200rpm.

I think he should get an external drive anyway. Backing up is essential. And they make external FW400 portable drives with the same 200GB 7200 rpm drive for $350.

Does anybody have any type of benchmarks for the difference between the two??

http://www23.tomshardware.com/storage25.html