vs 5400 RPM?

1/15/2008 2:53:09 AM

Are you just buying a new drive or is this an option for a laptop you're looking at through dell or gateway? If the latter, how much extra is the 7200rpm? And is there an option to go to a smaller drive that is 7200, what's the difference there in size and price?

If just shopping for a drive:
Was there a specific drive you were looking at?

I made some assumptions and compared prices from newegg. I choose SATA and compared 80gb Hitachi TravelStar drives. It's about a $20 increase to go from 5400 to 7200 on those drives. I would pay that difference.

1/15/2008 4:52:53 AM

i'd say definitely unless you're just using it for storage (and not running an OS on it)

1/15/2008 6:56:16 AM

[yes]

1/15/2008 8:06:00 AM

[Edited on January 15, 2008 at 8:09 AM. Reason : ah, laptop]

1/15/2008 8:08:39 AM

[yes]

a hdd is the biggest bottleneck in almost all computers

1/15/2008 8:13:15 AM

The sweet spot for price/performance is going to be going from 4200 to 5400. a jump to 7200 will most likely be negligible. unless it's a free swap, i'd stick with 5400.


your battery life may be slightly affected too.

[Edited on January 15, 2008 at 9:29 AM. Reason : ill admit, i haven't tried a 7200 in a laptop.]

1/15/2008 9:29:10 AM

Quote :

"The sweet spot for price/performance is going to be going from 4200 to 5400."

truth...although i can honestly say that i always recommend going 7200rpm when you can...it'll decrease your battery life in theory, but in practice you're going to get faster access times so it you'll get your stuff done more quickly (depending on what you're doing), which means it'll probably equal out

1/15/2008 9:54:00 AM

Quote :

"The sweet spot for price/performance is going to be going from 4200 to 5400. a jump to 7200 will most likely be negligible"

naw i went from a 5400 to a 7200 in my thinkpad and it was a very noticeable performance difference

1/15/2008 9:55:57 AM

do you think this guy's gonna notice though?


he'll be better off spending extra money on ram.

1/15/2008 10:22:24 AM

it doesnt matter how much ram you have if your hard drvie is too slow to fill it, youll still be waiting

get the faster drvie

1/15/2008 10:26:58 AM

Get the 7200. Hard drives are almost always the bottleneck on laptops.

Of course a faster processor and bus and more memory are always better, but the weakest link is almost always the hard drive. Unless you just like the churning sound it makes while it takes 3 minutes to load windows.

1/15/2008 10:28:59 AM

i'm sure that this doesn't always happen, but i've also seen reports where 7200 gave better performance and battery life vs a 5400... this was however in a macbook pro, and an upgrade from the standard 5400 to a seagate 7200 (80 or 60 gb to a 120gb)

1/15/2008 10:34:01 AM

if he's buying a new laptop, he might as well go 7200, as long as they aren't charging more than $20-30 extra.



if he's already got a laptop with a perfectly fine 5400, i'd spend the $100 on maxing out the RAM in that bitch.

1/15/2008 10:37:44 AM

^, and the ram shouldnt be that much either, esp. w a lot of the deals the past few months.

upgrade if it's cheap, or go ram

1/15/2008 10:46:01 AM

Quote :

"upgrade if it's cheap, or [and] go ram"

i dont think duke's on a shoestring budget...i'm sure he can swing the 7200 AND get 2GB of RAM.

1/15/2008 11:03:20 AM

heck, with the price of SODIMM these days, you can do 4gb for less than $65:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211200

spend the extra cash on the 7200rpm and pick up 4gb of memory...you'll have a pretty rockin' laptop, methinks

1/15/2008 11:39:24 AM

Absolutely. I've been saying the same thing synapse has been saying for years.

1/15/2008 11:40:52 AM

Damn! I didn't realize laptop RAM had gotten so cheap.

Shit, I'm just gonna buy a laptop with 1GB and put my own RAM in it after the fact.

Quote :

"i dont think duke's on a shoestring budget...i'm sure he can swing the 7200 AND get 2GB of RAM. "

Yes and no. I can afford any laptop I want...but with $1007/month going to child support, $1000-1200 going to savings and investments, $600 going to car payment and insurance...a lot of my dollars are already spoken for, so I'm very frugal with everything from store-brand groceries (most of the time) all the way up to big ticket items.

Quote :

"do you think this guy's gonna notice though? he'll be better off spending extra money on ram. "

My rationale is that RAM is easier and cheaper to upgrade down the road. I was just gonna start with 2GB and add more later if I wanted it. However, with the consensus in favor of the faster HD, I'll get that, buy the minimum amount of RAM, then add my own for cheaper.

As far as me noticing it...well, prob not appreciably in my day to day applications. I do want to be able to play video games for times when Uncle sends me to shitholes with nothing to do besides work.

1/15/2008 1:53:18 PM

Quote :

"Damn! I didn't realize laptop RAM had gotten so cheap. Shit, I'm just gonna buy a laptop with 1GB and put my own RAM in it after the fact."

inorite! check http://www.bensbargains.net/ every day and you can probably find OCZ/crucial for the same price within a few weeks (i didn't see any when i checked a little while ago)...that said, i'm going to go out on a limb and say that at this point in the game, MOST ram is the same and name brand means little (i say this from my experience, though the higher-end - read: significantly more expensive - can be better)

1/15/2008 1:57:09 PM

don't worry about checking http:///www.bensbargains.net daily for ram, just search it for SODIMM in the search box on the right hand side of the page.

i dont know what laptop youre getting, but as long as it only comes with a single 1gb stick, then you can buy another for $10-$20 after rebate and you'll be set. if it comes with 2 512mb chips, then you can spend around $40 or so for 2 1GB sticks

Quote :

"Yes and no. I can afford any laptop I want...but with $1007/month going to child support, $1000-1200 going to savings and investments, $600 going to car payment and insurance...a lot of my dollars are already spoken for, so I'm very frugal with everything from store-brand groceries (most of the time) all the way up to big ticket items."

yeah i hear ya, and i meant that if the difference was $30-$50 or something that you probably wouldn't have a problem justifying it. its not like we're talking an extra $100+ here something

and it sounds like you're on the right path....get the 7200 and upgrade the ram on your own for not much $.

1/15/2008 2:13:25 PM

7200 for any data applications that constantly access the drive. Photo, video editing, database and such. Gaming, it's noticeable when loading, but not really needed for actual playing. I notice a significant increase when I apply a series of batch edit commands in PS to a huge set of pictures. Just loading and saving saves a good amount of time.

My dell with my 7200 is pretty much almost exactly the same as my friend's XPS system minus his 5400 hard drive. We both have the same battery and his lasts about 15mins longer on average. Min never lasts more than 70 mins, but again, my laptop is more like a "desktop replacement".

1/15/2008 3:35:07 PM

FWIW, 4gb (2x2gb) of OCZ PC5400 SODIMM, $60 AR: http://www.frys.com/product/5284717

1/16/2008 9:41:03 AM

^ desktop is about the same price (for anyone interested) http://shop4.outpost.com/product/5439699

1/16/2008 9:53:35 AM

****DISCLAIMER: IF YOU PUT 4GB INTO A x86 SYSTEM, IT'S ONLY GOING TO PICK UP ~3.2GB****





for the less inclined.



[Edited on January 16, 2008 at 10:04 AM. Reason : for those browsing this thread and not knowing.]

1/16/2008 10:01:51 AM

200gb hitachi 2.5" HD

- SATA
- 7200rpm
- 16mb cache
- perpendicular recording

from ben's bargains, here it is at newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145160

$135 after $10 off code (EMCACCBCH) and $30 MIR

i'm thinking about doing this...my laptop came with a 160gb 5400rpm drive (8mb cache), but for this price, i could probably sell my old for not much less, meaning the increase in storage and performance (40gb more space, double the cache, and perpendicular recording) should be well worth it

2/21/2008 12:49:30 PM

I upgraded the HDD in my wife's laptop to a 7200 rpm drive after her old 5400 rpm one died. The 7200 rpm drive is noticeably faster and, because it's newer, actually uses less power, despite it's higher speed, resulting in longer battery life.

2/21/2008 1:03:22 PM

5400 is atrociously slow.

I'd always go with 7200 with at least 3GB of ram.

2/21/2008 1:28:34 PM

and...purchased!

between the 2.5ghz (6mb) c2d processor, the 4gb RAM, and the 7200rpm (16mb/PMR) hard drive, i think i have a fairly powerful laptop for less than $1k

2/21/2008 3:03:02 PM

^What'd you pick up?

2/21/2008 4:31:13 PM

at the beginning of february, HP had a $500 off $1400 coupon...i got a customized dv2700t for $960 after taxes:

- 14.1" WXGA HD (1280x800)
- Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
- Intel C2D T9300 (2.5ghz, 6mb cache, 800mhz FSB)
- 1gb DDR2 (2 DIMM)
- 128mb nVidia GeForce 8400M GS
- fingerprint reader
- webcam/mic
- Intel 4965AGN (a/b/g/n) and bluetooth
- 160gb 5400rpm SATA
- DVD+RW DL (with LightScribe)
- 12-cell battery (~7 hours of life, supposedly)
- ExpressCard HP ATSC/NTSC TV tuner

i got 4gb of SODIMM on sale and sold the old RAM for a net cost of $20 and sold the tuner for $100...that knocks the net cost down to $880...i just picked up the drive listed above for $135, and i've got 3 responses from craigslist people looking to buy the original drive for $100...so for roughly $915 i have what i consider to be a pretty quick machine...i'd like to run 64-bit vista on it, but i'm in the process of installing 64-bit ubuntu to see if it works out

2/21/2008 4:47:15 PM

for what it's worth, dell is selling a rebranded 200gb 7200rpm seagate with 16mb cache, perpendicular recording, and NCQ for $122.73 (for me) after shipping and taxes (NC has to pay), no rebates:

http://tinyurl.com/296aby

at least, everyone seems to think it's a rebranded seagate ST9200420AS...either way, for $123, that's not a bad upgrade at all

2/22/2008 10:20:36 AM

^ nice... might pick that up on Friday. I assume it will work in a macbook pro? Looking to run bootcamp and would like 100gigs per for OSX and 100 for XP..

2/23/2008 3:27:12 PM

^ i would assume so...SATA is SATA is SATA

2/23/2008 4:58:43 PM

Yeah, I knew that..and was 99% sure that macbook's used sata, just making sure though.

Thanks.

2/23/2008 6:05:43 PM

Macbook = SATA for hard drive, PATA for optical drive

2/23/2008 6:19:02 PM