7200RPM drive in the MacBook

[danielbriggs]

Hi All!

Just wanted to know a few things about HDD's in the laptops:



I'm going to buy my first apple laptop, I'm torn between going all out on a MBP 17" or getting a high end MacBook and upgrading it, hence saving money, (which I could do with doing!)

If I got the 17" MBP, I would have the 7200RPM drive in it for speed, and then max out the RAM. However I notice that on the MacBook BTO page, you can't stick a 7200 drive in. Is this for a practical / performance reason, or it is to simply make the MBP stand out to me more "Pro" like??

I.e. if I bought a 7200 rpm drive for a macbook would it work as fast as a 7200 drive in a MBP? Both with 2GB of ram each. Or is there something that means the 7200 drive would saturate the bus on the MB? Sureley not as it's SATA?

Is the 7200RPM drive a good upgrade or is the % speed increase not worth it. Does anyone have any benchmarks of 2 identical system 17" MBP and 13" MB, 1 with 5400 and the other with 7200 to compare?

But before I buy, i'm going to wait for the new C2D laptop(s) to see how things pan out, as i'm not 100% convinced that the extra money for the 17" is worth a graphics chip and bigger screen. + nice illuminated keyboard!!!

Anyway,

Dan

 

[joel8x]

You can easily put a 7200RPM HDD in a MacBook if you buy one from a place like Newegg. You can put in a much bigger and faster drive than what Apple offers for less money. I don't believe upgrading the HDD voids the warranty either since it is user accessable in the MacBook. Is it worth it? I would do it. Plus you need to buy 2GB of RAM from anybody but Apple as that will save you a lot of cash as well. 2GB of RAM and a big 7200 HDD on a 2GHz CD MacBook will be screaming. The only major difference would be in 3D, but if you don't play games or render Pixar movies, then you will be OK.

FWIW, the 15" Macbook Pro is a good value if you want the top of the line (17" is just not portable). I'm waiting on the C2D models myslef and will get the top 15" model, bump down the RAM (I bought 2GB a while back 'cause RAM prices are on the rise again), and put the $100 price preak back into a 7200RPM HDD.

 

[kainjow]

I upgraded my MB to a 100GB 7200RPM drive. Does it feel faster? I don't know - my previous Mac was a dual-proc G5 with a 10,000RPM drive.

I heard Seagate's coming out with a 160GB 7200RPM drive sometime next year. I will be sure upgrading to that once it comes out.

 

[kdum8]

I heard Seagate's coming out with a 160GB 7200RPM drive sometime next year. I will be sure upgrading to that once it comes out.

Wow really? That's fast and a lot of storage. I can't wait for some 250GB notebooks drives to come out. Maybe next year sometime....

It's amazing how storage capacity is now way behind user demands, even my itunes library alone is 60GB, add on OS X and a few apps and you don't have much left...

 

[jamone80]

I upgraded my MB to a 100GB 7200RPM drive. Does it feel faster? I don't know - my previous Mac was a dual-proc G5 with a 10,000RPM drive.

does the 7200rpm drive produce a lot more heat? i mean, at a point that you'd notice, i.e. freezing, beachballs? been thinking about the upgrade but a little cautious with the heat issues.

 

[kainjow]

does the 7200rpm drive produce a lot more heat? i mean, at a point that you'd notice, i.e. freezing, beachballs? been thinking about the upgrade but a little cautious with the heat issues.

Actually, on the original drive there was freezing going on, and I found several others on Apple's discussion boards with the same issue, and so I think it was a defect with those drives (I bought my MB from a local Apple store the day they were announced). But I haven't had any issues with it. Average temp of my system is 58C.

 

[Abstract]

If you're satisfied with either a loaded 17" MBP or loaded 13" MB, why not just get a 15" MBP if you wouldn't mind saving some money? The jump doesn't have to be as dramatic as going from a top of the line 17" MBP to a MB. You could jump down to the 15" MBP and save quite a bit while still getting a higher res screen than the MB.

 

[danielbriggs]

If you're satisfied with either a loaded 17" MBP or loaded 13" MB, why not just get a 15" MBP if you wouldn't mind saving some money? The jump doesn't have to be as dramatic as going from a top of the line 17" MBP to a MB. You could jump down to the 15" MBP and save quite a bit while still getting a higher res screen than the MB.

I know what you mean, but the MacBook is £850 + £250 for 2GB and 100GB 7200RPM HDD

So i'm looking about £1100 for that setup,

And the basic MBP is £1540 with a 7200RPM HDD + £150 for 2GB of RAM, so again I not sure if I can justify the extra £650-£950 for a bigger screen and propper graphics.

I'm still going to wait for the new ones C2D!!! to see if there is anything more to set the two models apart.

Anyone have any benchmarks for the drives???
Cheers!
Dan

 

[furious]

in normal use you would never be able to tell the difference between 5400rpm and 7200rpm drives. a few seconds difference at most. maybe if you were doing video of photo work you would but from the sounds of it you are more a word, internet, mail, general pottering type user

me i would prefer the larger capacity of the 5400rpm drives. simply because it is better value for money. more gb per dollar. which again is my opinion.

 

[danielbriggs]

but from the sounds of it you are more a word, internet, mail, general pottering type user

me i would prefer the larger capacity of the 5400rpm drives. simply because it is better value for money. more gb per dollar. which again is my opinion.

I know what you mean. But i'm not doing video or photo work, I just like a powerful system that I can do a variety of things on, the odd game. Basically just hammer it, and want it to do everything I thow at it, as fast as possilbe. I don't want some internet / email laptop, as yes I will do those, but I will push it way beyond its limits, to bring it to it's knees!

Just out of habbit!

So you think if I buy the MB with the stock drive, it is NOT worth me then spending £100 of my money to buy a bigger drive at 7200RPM?

Dan

 

[worldfar]

why you try the outer HDD(ex.7200 320GB) with firewire for you mac?

Wow really? That's fast and a lot of storage. I can't wait for some 250GB notebooks drives to come out. Maybe next year sometime....

It's amazing how storage capacity is now way behind user demands, even my itunes library alone is 60GB, add on OS X and a few apps and you don't have much left...

why you try the outer HDD(ex.7200 320GB) with firewire for you mac?