PB Hard drive 5400 vs 4200 RPM??

[kntgsp]

Hey I just canceled my iMac G5 20" model order because I'm going to want the portability, and I don't really need the speed. So I was wondering whether or not the hard drive upgrade is worth it? I use Photoschop CS, Go Live sometimes, have a huge iphoto and itunes library. Just wondering if I'd see any major boost there?

Also, I'm having a tought time deciding between the 15" and the 17". Both can come with the 128 mb video, which I definitely want, and have the same number of ports. So I'm just deciding whether or not the extra screen real estate is worth it?



Thanks.

[yoda13]

Doing what you do, the 15" will work, the 17" will be nice. I would go with the 17" if I were you unless portablility is the ultimate factor between the two, then I'd go 15", which I did, but I have a PM too. I am not sorry that I got the upgraded hard drive, computer seems snappier than I thought it would, the hard drive is part of that at least. That is about all I can tell you with that. Enjoy your new purchase.

[California]

Noticable difference from 4200 to 5400 in my older PB. What is the price difference on the upgrade? I have a 15" which I love -- but depends on what you are doing with the 17" which I find too large to be a comfortable "portable" computer. The one thing I DON'T like about the 15" inch is that I notice on my friend's ancient 14" iBook, her screen is TALLER than mine! This means you can get the whole page of a word document without scrolling, and I use Word for a living. Lotsa scrolling here.

[James L]

When they added these options in last April it was like $50 or so to upgrade the HD, and another $50 to upgrade the GPU to 128MB of VRAM. Too cheap NOT too do it!

Barefeats showed that in todays current crop of games the 128MB of VRAM made little difference (just a few more FPS), but that the faster HD added up to a 7% performance boost due to the faster RPMs.... definitely worth it!

For the iLife Apps and Photoshop the extra video ram won't make a bit of difference too you, but as we grow into better 3D apps it definitely will. It cannot be upgraded after the fact so do it now for sure.

I did both six months ago and love my machine! Keep in mind we are at the six month mark right now, and new iBooks just came out today. I would say there will be new Powerbooks sometime within the next 3 months (my guess only), so buy if you need to, but wait if you can!

Cheers,

James