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Any reason *not* to get a 7200rpm MBP drive?

O

oxfordguy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 27, 2008
503
4
Oxford, England
Hi - I'm currently spec-ing out a 2.5Ghz Macbook Pro (the 6Mb cache is the clincher over the 2.4Ghz), was going to hold off until the updates later this year, but had my Powerbook G4 stolen yesterday (fortunately its insured), so need to buy now...

Anyway, I was thinking of going for the 200Mb 7200rpm hard disc option for the speed benefits (for audio editing and gaming mostly, possibly a little video editing) and was wondering if there are any drawbacks to going this route, apart from the loss of 50Mb (which I won't notice, have lots of external storage)? e.g is the battery life worse, does the MacBook Pro run hotter, is it noisier and/or less reliable (or possibly the opposite)? Thanks
 
It is a little noisier than some of the other drives. If you mostly use it in a very quiet environment that is one thing to consider. Other than that, the only real issue is less disk space.
 
I think you mean GB ;)

From what I've read and from my own experiences (I have the Hitachi 7200 rpm but nothing to compare to) it can be a little noisier, but just barely. I was just being paranoid as I've never owned a laptop and didn't know about the head parking in OSX being audible. Other than that, I'd say that I can't think of any other problems with getting a 7200 rpm drive. My MBP usually sits at 60 degrees Celsius, and from what I've read that's the average for a Penryn... so I don't think the HDD is contributing much to that at all.
 
skorpien said:
I think you mean GB ;)
Click to expand...

Ah, ahem! Yes... My first hard-drive (in an Amiga) was only 80Mb BTW!

From what I've read and from my own experiences (I have the Hitachi 7200 rpm but nothing to compare to) it can be a little noisier, but just barely. I was just being paranoid as I've never owned a laptop and didn't know about the head parking in OSX being audible. Other than that, I'd say that I can't think of any other problems with getting a 7200 rpm drive. My MBP usually sits at 60 degrees Celsius, and from what I've read that's the average for a Penryn... so I don't think the HDD is contributing much to that at all.
Click to expand...

Okay, can probably live with a little extra noise...
 
If you insist on purchasing your MBP at an Apple Store (like me), many stores don't offer the 7200rpm option.

All they're willing to do in store is upgrade the RAM.
 
asmallchild said:
If you insist on purchasing your MBP at an Apple Store (like me), many stores don't offer the 7200rpm option.

All they're willing to do in store is upgrade the RAM.
Click to expand...

I'll be buying it online via the UK Education Store (I work for a University) as will get a large discount...
 
nomar383 said:
OMFG, really? Thats hotter than Death Valley on a bad day :)
Click to expand...

Well keep in mind this is internal temperature :p And an average, off the top of my head number. I'm not at my MBP so I can't check. This is usually after a few hours' use too, so it takes a while to reach those temps. Also, it seems there is a thermal paste issue which makes the MBPs run hotter than they should :( (Not NEARLY pro enough to fix it myself and don't want to ruin my Apple Care warranty)
 
skorpien said:
Well keep in mind this is internal temperature :p And an average, off the top of my head number. I'm not at my MBP so I can't check. This is usually after a few hours' use too, so it takes a while to reach those temps. Also, it seems there is a thermal paste issue which makes the MBPs run hotter than they should :( (Not NEARLY pro enough to fix it myself and don't want to ruin my Apple Care warranty)
Click to expand...

I just checked my iStatPro a little closer and you are totally right, it's in Celsius! In fact my CPU is at 77 right now :eek: I guess 77 F wouldn't be very hot at all now that I think about it, hmmmmm
 
higher density drives at 5400 can be faster than lower density 7200 rpms

a 320 gig 5400 rpm has about equivalent speed to a 200 7200 prm

look up the benchmarks
 
Yes if you need random seek then you will want the 7.2k drive, otherwise, just get a bigger 5.4k drive.
 
oxfordguy said:
Ah, ahem! Yes... My first hard-drive (in an Amiga) was only 80Mb BTW!



Okay, can probably live with a little extra noise...
Click to expand...

Very cool.... Ex - Amigahead here too. Cut my teeth on a 500, ended up with a very nicely equipped 1200 that left me in 1995. I recall paying $200 bucks or so for that 80MB hard drive and about the same for an 8MB simm. Whoa... those were the days. :rolleyes:
 
nomar383 said:
OMFG, really? Thats hotter than Death Valley on a bad day :)
Click to expand...

Much much hotter.

Actually my iMac doesn't even run that hot and I would imagine that it would because the screen is brighter and everything is in one slab, not two.
 
jaredisme said:
Much much hotter.

Actually my iMac doesn't even run that hot and I would imagine that it would because the screen is brighter and everything is in one slab, not two.
Click to expand...

But much cooler than the Gen 1 MBPs. or maybe they've just gotten much, much better at disipating the heat so as not to pass it through the case.

My first gen would get way too hot to touch in several places, including the bottom. You really couldn't work with it on you lap for very long without getting uncomfortable. The new one (just recently got a 2.5) is much better when it comes to temperature - it's a little warm, but not painful to touch.
 
Fully loaded 200GB 7200 is slower than 250 GB 5400 loaded with 200 GBs of data.

When both are nearly empty, 7200 is faster.
 
. . . the 100GB-per-platter 7200rpm jobbie is roughly as quick for streaming, at least on the outer part of the disks, as a 167GB-per-platter 5400rpm HDD - these are not available yet as BTO options.

The original specsheet for this Macbook Pro 4.1 showed a 500GB option - this would imho be the ideal HDD; but the 9.5mm 3x167GB HDDs are not yet available.

I also have the Hitachi 7200, & it is just about audible, tho' refined & quiet by all normal standards.

My 2.5GHz Penryn idles at 46~51C [I am also in the UK] with the fans set to have a minimum speed of 1500rpm, using 'Fancontrol'.

I have never got the thing over 66C even when encoding H264 for days on end - the fans run at just under 4000rpm to hold the thing to that temperature range & are clearly audible but not unpleasant.
 

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eXan said:
wow they must have lowered the minimum fan speed in penryns, because in SR and older the min speed was like 2000 rpm
Click to expand...
. . smcfancontrol didn't work for me [appeared to be incompatible with the 17" 4.1]; see the fancontrol homepage for further info/confirmation of 1500rpm setting. Uninstallation is mildly non-trivial [requires resetting the SMC].
 
shoarthing said:
. . smcfancontrol didn't work for me [appeared to be incompatible with the 17" 4.1]; see the fancontrol homepage for further info/confirmation of 1500rpm setting. Uninstallation is mildly non-trivial [requires resetting the SMC].
Click to expand...

It didn't really answear my question...

What is the default minimum fan speed in penryn MBPs? Also I didnt know it is possible to set the fan speed below the factory minimum
 
eXan said:
It didn't really answear my question...

What is the default minimum fan speed in penryn MBPs? Also I didnt know it is possible to set the fan speed below the factory minimum
Click to expand...
. . 2000rpm, as with the previous gen C2D.
 
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