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RHD

macrumors 6502
Jan 14, 2008
355
0
London
If you are doing video effects and 3D the faster drive makes more sense. That is what I am getting as I do 3D and Rendering.

If it's loud and it's hot then it just is.
I'll turn the music up and take my jumper off.
 

thinkband

macrumors regular
Dec 22, 2007
160
0
That link is very good. Here's my take:

If you do___Video editing, highly demanding tasks, 7200 rpm makes a significant difference, but expect it to run hotter and it'll be louder.

If you do___anything photoshop and less, 5200rpm will be fine for you, since the drive does not make that much difference.
 

bijou

macrumors regular
Sep 7, 2007
176
0
This evening I upgraded the 5400 120 gig drive with a 200 gig 7200 Hitachi drive.
WOW, this thing is fast!:D

BTW, the upgrade is pretty easy. Just don't mix up the screws and you're in business.
 

djejrejk

macrumors 6502a
Jan 3, 2007
520
1
Uhh...
I upgraded my 2.33 mbp from a stock 120gb 5400rpm drive to a Hitachi 7k200 (200gb 7200rpm). It was a great upgrade in terms of storage space and speed. The speed boost was very noticeable and the effects on battery life were not noticeable. Also, the drive is still very quiet,.. on a rare occasion, I can hear the drive spinning,.. but its not very noticeable.

I would recommend the upgrade to anyone.
 

Azmordean

macrumors 6502
Mar 10, 2004
250
0
Silicon Valley
Ok, sorry to resurrect this thread.. but the "is it worth the price" dilemma has hit me. The problem I have is this - if I take a stock base model, I can get it from MacMall - no tax and a $150 mail in rebate.. the total price ends up being $1850.

If I want the 7200RPM hard drive, then I have to go BTO through Apple. No mail in rebate, yes tax, total price is like $2200. So for me its not a $100 upgrade, its $350. Thats a chunk of change. On the one hand, I tell myself its not even close to worth it. On the other, I know hard drives to be a huge bottleneck speed wise, and it has been my experience that 7200rpm drives make things substantially snappier, even for everyday tasks. Note however that I am NOT a pro, though I do use my computer for sometimes intensive things, such as gaming.

I'd love to save the cash, but I don't want to regret it and gimp my new computer over 350 bucks. Thoughts?
 

skemmuni

macrumors member
Nov 21, 2007
32
9
Faroe Islands
Macworld just made a test:

"Another optional feature, the 200GB, 7,200-rpm hard drive, proved to be a big help in our disk-intensive tests. For example, the customized MacBook Pro was 14 percent faster than the standard 2.5GHz system when unzipping a compressed 2GB file and 22 percent faster when duplicating a 1GB folder in the Finder. A faster hard drive will definitely help when copying and manipulating large files and folders, or if your system is running low on memory or working on projects too big to held in memory. The downside to this 7,200-rpm option is, of course, its lower capacity than the 250GB drive that comes standard on the MacBook Pro as well as its $50 boost to your price tag."

http://www.macworld.com/article/132600/2008/03/mbpro_bto.html
 

andrewdale

macrumors 6502a
Jan 28, 2008
868
1
Memphis, TN
Macworld just made a test:

"Another optional feature, the 200GB, 7,200-rpm hard drive, proved to be a big help in our disk-intensive tests. For example, the customized MacBook Pro was 14 percent faster than the standard 2.5GHz system when unzipping a compressed 2GB file and 22 percent faster when duplicating a 1GB folder in the Finder. A faster hard drive will definitely help when copying and manipulating large files and folders, or if your system is running low on memory or working on projects too big to held in memory. The downside to this 7,200-rpm option is, of course, its lower capacity than the 250GB drive that comes standard on the MacBook Pro as well as its $50 boost to your price tag."

http://www.macworld.com/article/132600/2008/03/mbpro_bto.html

I like seeing that. Considering I'm frequenly copying audio recordings that can be upwards of 5-10GB per song.
 

johnellisdm

macrumors member
Feb 21, 2007
50
0
something i've noticed with my new mbp with the 7200 drive: it seems to get very very hot.

some history:

a while ago (2 years) i got a mbp with a 7200 drive. it was very very hot when running.

i traded it to a friend for a mbp with a 5400 drive (larger memory capacity) and it was only very hot.

now, i got the latest mbp (2.6ghz) with the 7200 and again, it is very very hot when running.

i'm guessing it is the drive, cause i heard that this new processor (penryn) is supposed to run much cooler. i also have an LED backlight, which is also supposed to be cooler, but this thing is not... it is much hotter than the one with the 5400 drive in it.

it is quick, though
 

tmoney468

macrumors 6502a
Mar 13, 2007
585
81
I've posted this before but I went from a 100GB 7200 drive to a 320GB 5400 drive (Samsung) and my computer is actually faster than it was before. It all depends on what you need it for I guess, but my guess is that the highest capacity 5400 drives will be about as fast as the 7200 drives...the 7200 drives will have an advantage but probably not that much.
 

alphaod

macrumors Core
Feb 9, 2008
22,183
1,245
NYC
The general uses the 200GB 7.2k is not much faster than the 250GB 5.4k, but for random seeks, the difference is noticeable.
 

Neil321

macrumors 68040
I've posted this before but I went from a 100GB 7200 drive to a 320GB 5400 drive (Samsung) and my computer is actually faster than it was before. It all depends on what you need it for I guess, but my guess is that the highest capacity 5400 drives will be about as fast as the 7200 drives...the 7200 drives will have an advantage but probably not that much.

Basically its down to the number of platters & data density,the 320GB has two platters the 7200 has
three,so therefor the data is denser over two platters = better performance
 

Nichod

macrumors regular
Oct 9, 2007
133
0
hmmm. a 7200 RPM HD shouldn't generate that much heat. Most have a similar heat rating. Personally I think 7200 should be standard in the Pro models.
 

jjahshik32

macrumors 603
Sep 4, 2006
5,366
52
Yah, some of my more computer geek buddies said it was worth it.. So I'm gonna go for it. Rather pay some extra cash than constantly be thinking, I wish I had that 7200rpm drive :)

With a 7200rpm drive multitasking, extracting, opening, searching, etc... will be heavily felt my friend! :D

I rather have a smaller faster drive (work horse) to get the job done fast so I can connect to the firewire 800 external drive (1tb) to just transfer it into. Plus the 7200rpm drives these days comes in 200-250gb which I think is plenty.
 

GotPro

macrumors 6502
Jan 29, 2007
382
0
I've posted this before but I went from a 100GB 7200 drive to a 320GB 5400 drive (Samsung) and my computer is actually faster than it was before. It all depends on what you need it for I guess, but my guess is that the highest capacity 5400 drives will be about as fast as the 7200 drives...the 7200 drives will have an advantage but probably not that much.

That's comparing apples to oranges.

Your 100GB 7200RPM drive was a few generations old, and the new 320GB 5400 Drive is brand new...

If you'd put a NEW 7200RPM state of the art drive in your machine that had an OLD 5400RPM drive in it... the difference would have been even that much more.

As platters get denser, the throughput increases.

So you can't compare 5400/7200 RPM drives from different drive generations... only CURRENT generations.
 

tmoney468

macrumors 6502a
Mar 13, 2007
585
81
That's comparing apples to oranges.

Your 100GB 7200RPM drive was a few generations old, and the new 320GB 5400 Drive is brand new...

If you'd put a NEW 7200RPM state of the art drive in your machine that had an OLD 5400RPM drive in it... the difference would have been even that much more.

As platters get denser, the throughput increases.

So you can't compare 5400/7200 RPM drives from different drive generations... only CURRENT generations.

So I can't compare different generations, but it's OK for you to do it in your post? I was just speaking from personal experience that for me I noticed an increase in performance when I upgraded my drive. I know all about platters and density.

Back to the topic, Samsung announced a 250 GB 7200 drive with their new line so that should be available sometime (all though I don't know if apple will make these available).
 

gonwk

macrumors newbie
May 21, 2008
10
0
Hi folks,:)

Thanks for lot of great input ... I want to aim my Q to all but also hope to hear from "Consultant" and "GotPro" ...

I am just getting ready to order a brand new laptop ... so I assume the manufacturer uses the latest Generation HD ...

BTW, both drives Cost the same so $$$ is not a factor here (getting discount).

With that in mind which one these 2 HD will give me the BEST performance in dealing with Video Editing

A) 250GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm]
B) 200GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]

Thanks,

G!:confused:
 

bart rijksen

macrumors regular
Mar 1, 2008
232
0
I have a 7200 200gb and it is so nice and fast. It rocks. I just use it for basic stuff, but it is awesome. I don't really notice any more noise, it is the same as the dell laptops we have, and i don't really notice the temp increase
 

GotPro

macrumors 6502
Jan 29, 2007
382
0
Let's just put it this way.

I recently got my new MacBook Pro with the 7200RPM hard disk.

My "boss" who is the head of the IT department (I support ~300 Macs for the University of Texas System) had the almost identical 15" MacBook Pro, save with the 5400RPM hard disk.

After playing around with mine... he has a 7200RPM hard disk sitting on his desk waiting to be installed.

He's pissed he didn't order it with the faster drive.

:)
 
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