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MBP - 2x512MB & 100GB (7200rpm) OR 1x1GB & 100GB (5400rpm)

A

assscat

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 29, 2005
126
0
So here's the thing:

What would be the (noticable?) difference in performance of the 2Ghz MBP between these specs?

2x512MB of memory & 100GB (7200rpm) hard drive
1x1GB of memory & 100GB (5400rpm) hard drive

The two work out the same price, you see.

I don't think it likely that I will want to up the amount of RAM in future, so how noticable would the speedier hard drive be?

The Assscat.
 
I'd say go for the 1 stick of RAM - you might want to put in more later, depending on the apps you use. More RAM seem to be the better option for OSX.

As far as the drive goes, it might help in manipulating large files a bit, but probably won't be noticeable for ordinary use.

Maybe even go stock RAM, and buy a 1Gig stick to put in yourself (it would be cheaper), and upgrade the hard drive now. It would probably cost about the same and you end up with more RAM.
 
I dont think a hard drive makes that much difference, and as RAM prices continue to reduce I think you may want to add another 1gb later
 
MacDonaldsd said:
I dont think a hard drive makes that much difference, and as RAM prices continue to reduce I think you may want to add another 1gb later
Click to expand...

i agree, get the one with the slower HD. Also, im only guessing, but surely the faster hard drive would run hotter?
 
depends on what ur planning to do with your MBP, i've ordered de 2 x 512 + 7200 rpm..
The difference with 2 x 512 or 1 GB doesnt make a difference.. dual channel isnt faster..
 
3mph said:
depends on what ur planning to do with your MBP, i've ordered de 2 x 512 + 7200 rpm..
The difference with 2 x 512 or 1 GB doesnt make a difference.. dual channel isnt faster..
Click to expand...

True but if he needs more RAM in the future, it will be a 512mb and a 1gb which would mean it wont be dual channel.
 
Well the 2 Ghz model comes with 1 GB of RAM in one slot, giving you 1 slot for future use. I'd leave it like that and upgrade to the 7200 RPM HD since it's only a $100 upgrade on a $2500 machine. That gives you the possibility to upgrade to 2 GB of RAM later if you decide you need more and you'll already have a 7200 RPM HD. The price of RAM keeps going down so you should be able to pick up a 1 GB stick for cheap, I've seen them as low as $85.
 
Man! do what I did, just upgrade the hard drive to 7200 RPM, trust me it makes a difference, and leave the ram as a 512, I then ordered a 1GB stick from eBay at less than half the price that apple were charging, so now i got 1.5GB of RAM and the 100GB 7200 RPM drive. Remember, the hard drive will be allot more difficult to upgrade at a later date than RAM (which can be upgraded by yourself in under 2 mins, whenever you want). So THINK! and don't make the wrong decision!
 
kashimash said:
Man! do what I did, just upgrade the hard drive to 7200 RPM, trust me it makes a difference, and leave the ram as a 512, I then ordered a 1GB stick from eBay at less than half the price that apple were charging, so now i got 1.5GB of RAM and the 100GB 7200 RPM drive.
Click to expand...
I do agree but he said he was getting the 2 Ghz model which comes with 1 GB of RAM stock. I think he's saying he would save a $100 by changing the RAM to 2x512 instead of staying with the 1x1 GB that it comes with. If I were him I would just spend the extra $100 and get the 7200 RPM upgrade and stay with 1x1 GB of RAM. That way he can always max it out to 2 GB of RAM if he needs to without having to by 2 new sticks of RAM.
 
WHat stick?

kashimash said:
Man! do what I did, just upgrade the hard drive to 7200 RPM, trust me it makes a difference, and leave the ram as a 512, I then ordered a 1GB stick from eBay at less than half the price that apple were charging, so now i got 1.5GB of RAM and the 100GB 7200 RPM drive. Remember, the hard drive will be allot more difficult to upgrade at a later date than RAM (which can be upgraded by yourself in under 2 mins, whenever you want). So THINK! and don't make the wrong decision!
Click to expand...


What do you mean by "stick"? A USB 1Gig stick?
 
Sorry, I should have called it a 'Module' If the 2GHz comes with 1x1GB then stick with that and just upgrade the Hard disk, I personaly would upgrade the HD, downgrade the the RAM, get $100 back ( which would go towards the faster HD, possibly sell the RAM and buy 2 1GB modules on eBay, or anywhwere you find it cheapest.
 
If you want the HD, it will probalby be cheaper to get it through apple. Because currently the Seagate 7200 drive is like 220 buxs. So you'd have to shell out another 220 for the upgrade. I'm waiting for a bigger 7200 drive to come out before I pull the trigger.
 
As for dual channel memory? It does help, but not significantly. It helps most on games, where both the processor and the video chip need access to main memory at the same time. Then again, higher AMOUNTS of memory tend to help more, too.

The faster hard drive also helps a little, but not significantly. (When I upgraded a PC notebook from 512 MB to 1 GB, enabling dual-channel, and upgraded the hard drive from 4200 RPM to 7200 RPM, it did see a decent speed boost, but it was probably more from the increase in the AMOUNT of memory than anything else.)

If you want the most bang for the buck, downgrade the memory, sell the two 512MB sticks on eBay, and buy two 1 GB sticks from Crucial.com. You could very well end up getting double the memory for 'free'.
 
kashimash said:
....I personaly would upgrade the HD, downgrade the the RAM, get $100 back ( which would go towards the faster HD, possibly sell the RAM and buy 2 1GB modules on eBay, or anywhwere you find it cheapest.
Click to expand...

that's what i was thinking when i bought my MBP 2.0; get the HD speed now and upgrade RAM, for less than apple prices, shortly after.

good luck : )
 
I think I have posted this link to benchmarks about 10 times already, but it bears repeating. The benefit of the faster speed HD in the MPB is only realized when you are dealing with large files (ex. video), but very little performance gain in day to day tasks. While I always like getting the "best", make sure that you are spending your upgrade money in areas where you will actually derive a benefit.

http://www.barefeats.com/5472.html
 
I'd also add that larger capacity hard drives should be faster than smaller ones at a given speed -- the denser the data, the faster it loads. A 120GB 5400rpm drive should be quite impressively close to a 100GB 7200rpm drive, and well ahead of a 100GB 5400rpm drive. Again, see barefeats.
 
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