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MacDonaldsd

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 8, 2005
1,005
0
London , UK
Just curious, because the 200GB hard drive is only 4200 rpm does that mean it will be noticeably slower in real term use compared to the 160GB 5400 rpm hard drive ?
 

mrwilly123

macrumors member
Jun 3, 2003
66
0
Yes. Primarily when loading or saving files, and when switching progams.

If you have enough RAM, it shouldn't make a difference when switching programs. Launching programs (especially large ones, like Illustrator/Photoshop) is a different story.

I got a 200GB drive in my MBP....hoping I'm not going to regret it.
 

CanadaRAM

macrumors G5
If you have enough RAM, it shouldn't make a difference when switching programs. Launching programs (especially large ones, like Illustrator/Photoshop) is a different story.
I got a 200GB drive in my MBP....hoping I'm not going to regret it.

Also programs that make extensive use of scratch files like Final Cut and Photoshop, and programs like databases that save all entries to the drive, will be affected.

Yes, if you have enough RAM that all of your programs, OS and data can fit in the physical RAM, then switching programs should not be affected.

I say get the 160 Gb 5400, plus a nice fast 250 Gb external Firewire.
 

Bill Gates

macrumors 68030
Jun 21, 2006
2,500
14
127.0.0.1
Yes, the 200GB drive is noticeably slower. I have no first-hand experience, but this is what I have concluded from viewing benchmarks on the drive. It's not a slow drive, it's just slower. If you need the extra 40GB, go for it. However, if not, the 160GB is the sweet spot in terms of both speed and capacity.
 

mrwilly123

macrumors member
Jun 3, 2003
66
0
After comparing XBench scores on Disk tests between my MBP (200 GB, 4200 rpm) and bcavanau's (120 GB, 5400 rpm), it seems that my disk performs about 85% to 90% as well as his on various tasks, without a whole lot of variation.

My MBP: http://www.eggdropper.com/picdrop/mbp3gb-xbench.txt
bcavanau's MBP: http://lartren.com/mac/xbench.txt

Haven't seen any XBench results from a 160GB, 5400 rpm MBP, which should score higher considering the greater bit density...
 
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