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timmillwood

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 7, 2006
955
1
would you go for a 5400rpm drive or a 7200rpm drive?

is 7200rpm much faster? would i notice?
does 7200rm you more batter? make more heat? and more noise?
 

kalun

macrumors regular
Sep 13, 2006
154
0
timmillwood said:
would you go for a 5400rpm drive or a 7200rpm drive?

is 7200rpm much faster? would i notice?
does 7200rm you more batter? make more heat? and more noise?

well...it is a proven fact that a 7200rpm hard drive is much better...
7200/5400 = 1.3333 so ya, 33 % better on average loading speed

Not sure if you will notice it...depends on you actually. It is most noticible when you are loading (opening program, booting windows) and saving (closing application, paging, shutting down) stuff from/to the disk.

More heat/noise, but probably not noticible.
 

Veritas&Equitas

macrumors 68000
Oct 31, 2005
1,528
1
Twin Cities, MN
I'm also considering buying a 100 gb 7200 sata drive and throwing it in my Macbook...but how bad is the noise/heat to performance tradeoff compared to a simple 5400 drive? Can anyone with a 7200 specifically who switched out a 5400 comment? thanks
 

xfiftyfour

macrumors 68030
Apr 14, 2006
2,573
0
Clemson, SC
It depends what you're doing. For some things, you'll notice a difference, for others, you won't. Personally, I opt for more space vs. speed, but that's because nothing I do really needs 7200rpm, or would benefit from it.

The thing to consider, really, is whether space or a small performance jump is most important to you, because you can get a 100gb, 7200rpm drive for the same price as a 120gb, 5400rpm drive. Like I said, for some things, the performance will be more noticable.. but for most users, you probably wouldn't even notice.
 

Veritas&Equitas

macrumors 68000
Oct 31, 2005
1,528
1
Twin Cities, MN
xfiftyfour: Could you give me some examples of where are 7200 would be beneficial? What kind of activities/software are you talking about? While I use my current Powerbook for mostly simple things (Email, surfing, notetaking, iTunes, pictures, etc.) I also like to use it for Final Cut Pro and Photoshop about 15-20% of the time.

100 gb 7200 drive vs 120 gb 5400 drive? Which one? Anyone else?
 

jamone80

macrumors regular
Sep 22, 2006
109
0
So Cal
timmillwood said:
would you go for a 5400rpm drive or a 7200rpm drive?

is 7200rpm much faster? would i notice?
does 7200rm you more batter? make more heat? and more noise?

is this an external or internal hard drive? if its going in a MB then you should consider the heat that a 7200rmp drive will generate.MB's already got a heat issue so....
 

bwyan

macrumors newbie
Oct 2, 2006
4
0
Reykjavík, Iceland
I'm considering doing the exact same thing myself. I'm just as much in a dilemma as you. I would love the extra performance, but 20gb i allot to throw away on performance you might not be needing, when it comes down to it.

My MB is fairly slow as it is, but this is due to its low amount of RAM :) I'm really not sure if the 7200rpm harddisk would help it in any way, when Photoshop is just about the "heaviest" application I'm running on it.

- I really don't know :confused:
Bwyan
 

archurban

macrumors 6502a
Aug 4, 2004
918
0
San Francisco, CA
I have Seagate 120GB hdd in my macbook. I was used to get 100GB 7200RPM. but for me, space is more important than speed. 33% more? you don't really feel that. 20GB more space is much worth. oh, you can get 160GB 5400 rpm now. I will wait for 200GB 5400 if it will be available.
 

merc669

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2006
370
0
Southern MD, USA
kalun said:
Not sure if you will notice it...depends on you actually. It is most noticible when you are loading (opening program, booting windows) and saving (closing application, paging, shutting down) stuff from/to the disk.

More heat/noise, but probably not noticible.

I agree with Kalun here. You would see better load and save times but the cost and space factor by going to a larger 5400 HD to me is more important. I could see the 7200 being the way to go on a Desktop where you maybe doing some CAD or Heavey Duty Gaming, etc. But for probably 90% of what you will be doing once the program loads then Space becomes more of a factor. To me waiting a little while longer to Rip Something or mess with Photo Apps to get the results is not a real factor here. Also as was mentioned also is the Heat. It may not be much and for those that are concerned I will point you to this thread; https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/238961/ .

Bill.......:)
 

timmillwood

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 7, 2006
955
1
jamone80 said:
is this an external or internal hard drive? if its going in a MB then you should consider the heat that a 7200rmp drive will generate.MB's already got a heat issue so....

im talking about an internal drive..

the thing is i want to get 17" macbook pro and should i go for 100gb 7200rpm or 120gb 5400rpm

i would like the extra space but dont need it, if i would notice the speed of the 7200rpm i will get that if it is hardly noticable i would rather the extra 20gb
 

menziep

macrumors 6502a
Jan 21, 2006
527
1
timmillwood said:
im talking about an internal drive..

the thing is i want to get 17" macbook pro and should i go for 100gb 7200rpm or 120gb 5400rpm

i would like the extra space but dont need it, if i would notice the speed of the 7200rpm i will get that if it is hardly noticable i would rather the extra 20gb

I would go for the 100gb 7200rpm.

btw, good luck with the MBP
 

patrick0brien

macrumors 68040
Oct 24, 2002
3,246
9
The West Loop
Consider battery power draw as well. A 7200rpm drive draws a lot more that a 5400. Also consider that 5400's these days come with caches that drastically reduces the gap in performance between the 5400 and 7200.

On a desktop - sure, 7200 minimum. Laptop? I prefer 5400.
 

jamone80

macrumors regular
Sep 22, 2006
109
0
So Cal
patrick0brien said:
Consider battery power draw as well. A 7200rpm drive draws a lot more that a 5400. Also consider that 5400's these days come with caches that drastically reduces the gap in performance between the 5400 and 7200.

On a desktop - sure, 7200 minimum. Laptop? I prefer 5400.

i second that. space will prolly be more benefitial in the long run than being 1.3ms faster.
 
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