5400RPM or 7200RPM HD for notebook?

[DaveX]

I am getting a Dell laptop soon (because the nice coupons make it a good deal) and I was wondering if it was worth getting a 100GB 7200RPM HD over a 120GB 5400RPM HD. The upgrade for the 100GB 7200RPM drive is $84 more than the 120GB 5400RPM drive. I know that in the past the 5400RPM notebook drives were really inferior in performance to the 7200RPM drives but I heard that the performance gap is much closer now. Is this the case? Is the upgrade to 7200RPM worth $84 and losing 20GB of storage?

 

[Piuc2020]

7400 RPM, I have 5400RPM on my laptop and I kinda regret not getting 7400rpm, the difference is noticeable in my opinion.

 

[SpeedZealot369]

get the cheapest HD they offer and get a 7K100 off of ebay, you'll save a lot of money.

 

[DaveX]

Does anybody have a link comparing notebook performance between 5400RPM and 7200RPM drives?

 

[John]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=laptop+5400+vs.+7200

 

[DaveX]

Ok so I guess the 7200RPM will only make a difference when I am installing and loading games because I will be getting 2GB RAM. Looks like it will be the 120GB 5400RPM for me.

 

[LouPoir]

Waste in my opinion. I replaced my 100gb 7200 for a 160gb 5400 and saw little difference.

IMHO


Lou

 

[soccerballtux]

All you people fussing about not having a 7200RPM when you have a 5400RPM. I don't understand it. I have a 4200RPM, 40GB in my laptop (should be slow as poo right?), and it suits me just fine. WOW is ok with it, Windows boots up perfectly fast, etc, etc. It's really nowhere near as bad as you think. Just keep the installed programs that boot-up with Windows to a minimum, and keep it defragged, and its fine. (I use O&O Defrag, check it out, it has a "Defrag by Access" option that defrags based on when files were accessed. So all your bootup files are stuck right next to eachother, and all the firefox files are right next to eachother, etc.) Doesn't feel slow at all.

At any rate now is probably the absolute worst time to be spending lots of $$$ on a harddrive. I'd wait a few months till they start cranking up the perpendicular recording tech and then make your purchase. In the meantime stick with the basic HDD that is included, get O&O, and see if that's not enough for you. You may find performance is completely acceptable; much more than you were expecting. I did.

 

[gramboh]

When my dad built a C2D Merom Dell notebook a few weeks ago I suggest he go 5400RPM for the extra space and also because I thought 7200rpm might kill battery a bit faster? (strong motor)

 

[thescreensavers]

i got a 60gig Hitachi 7200 rpm hd in my laptop

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: gramboh
When my dad built a C2D Merom Dell notebook a few weeks ago I suggest he go 5400RPM for the extra space and also because I thought 7200rpm might kill battery a bit faster? (strong motor)

from what i understand, the battery life isn't too much worse productivity wise. the 7200rpm does use more power but at the same time it does the work quicker, meaning it's idle more often than the 5400rpm. if battery life is important, i don't see any reason to upgrade. i just got a core duo laptop with a 5400rpm sata drive and i see no lag from the harddrive whatsoever (none that i notice at least). i would go with the previous poster that recommended ebay. don't buy from dell; upgrade through an online retailer or something. and definitely do NOT get the 2gb from dell; it's waaaaaay too expensive

 

[DaveX]

Ok well I've heard that the new perpendicular 5400RPM notebook drives are really close in performance to the 7200RPM notebook drives. Does anybody know if Dell uses perpendicular 5400RPM drives in the E1705?

 

[pkme2]

I have 2 7k60s in my Inspiron.

I've do video editing on my laptop when I'm in the field. The 7200RPM 6MB cache is an absolurle necessity for that work. I got both hdds off eBay including my last 2 for $60 each.

Sometimes a computer pull is where you can get substantial savings. You just have to look.

 

[Trader05]

Ok well I've heard that the new perpendicular 5400RPM notebook drives are really close in performance to the 7200RPM notebook drives. Does anybody know if Dell uses perpendicular 5400RPM drives in the E1705?

My E1405 has a Hitachi perpendicular 120gb 5400rpm drive, i wouldn't doubt the E1705 would have them since its a higher end laptop

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: LouPoir
Waste in my opinion. I replaced my 100gb 7200 for a 160gb 5400 and saw little difference. IMHO Lou

That's also my take. I have had a 100 GB 7200, and replaced it with a Seagate 160 GB (PerpRec) and the difference in application speed is not really significant - but the added space is very significant. There are no 160 GB 7200s - yet! And in the near future, Seagate will release a 200 GB 5400 PerpRec drive, and that will replace my 160.

For mobile darkroom purposes (digital imagery) space trumps speed.

So - it really depends on the user's objectives.

 

[DaveX]

Originally posted by: alimoalemand definitely do NOT get the 2gb from dell; it's waaaaaay too expensive

It is expensive, but the default configuration is 1GB dual-channel so if I buy another 1GB of RAM separately, wouldn't that not be dual-channel anymore?