Hard drive speed vs size in laptop

[crazycat]

Friend of mine is intrested in a Macbook Pro as a desktop replacement, he moves a lot, has lots of movies on his pc and music. How much slower will the 200GB 4200 rpm compared to the 160GB 5400 rpm modle? Is the extra speed better or would it be better to have more space?

Is it like 1/4 slower? or close to that number?

Thanks in advance

 

[YoNeX]

http://forum.tabletpcreviewspot.com/showthread.php?t=427

This post goes over 4200RPM vs 5400RPM. Based on the testing, they came out that 5400RPM is about 4MB/s faster than the 4200RPM drives. I'll put this in retrospect, if it takes the 5400RPM drives 60 sec to transfer something, it will take the 4200RPM drive about 70 sec to transfer something. While those 10 sec might not seem like a lot, it does add up if you are going to be constantly transfering files. So, if It was me, I would get the 7200RPM drive and pack a FW800 (7200RPM) external drive, but that is just me.

EDIT: The drives tested might be the IDE, instead of SATA drives. Granted it won't make much of a difference, you should still consider this a factor. Regardless, the 5400RPM drives will still be faster than the 4200RPM.

 

[Garden Knowm]

Thanks YO...
I really want the extra space.. but I do a **** load of video editing.. And I can't standing waiting... How much faster is the 7200rpm drive?

It sure would be nice to have 160GB rather than 100GBs..

cheers

 

[Bill Gates]

Thanks YO...
I really want the extra space.. but I do a **** load of video editing.. And I can't standing waiting... How much faster is the 7200rpm drive?

It sure would be nice to have 160GB rather than 100GBs..

cheers

The 100GB is not much faster, if at all faster than the 160GB 5400RPM drive. The 5400RPM drive uses perpendicular recording and packs data at a higher density than the 100GB drive, allowing the read heads to pick up more data in a single pass.

 

[Garden Knowm]

Thanks BILL.. I am happy to hear that..

If video editing was your primary use.. and space as well as speed are vital.. which would you go with?

cheers

 

[Bill Gates]

Thanks BILL.. I am happy to hear that..

If video editing was your primary use.. and space as well as speed are vital.. which would you go with?

cheers

The 160GB drive. 4200RPM just isn't acceptable for lots of reads and writes, which video editing consists of. I would buy a FireWire 800 drive for extra storage.

 

[Garden Knowm]

Thanks BILL.

I have 10TBs of external drives (ug).. But it would be really nice to have a portable laptop that I can use without EXTERNAL HDs (while on the road)..

I think you have conviced me that the 160GB drive is the way to go...
Hopefully the 3GBs of ram will help speed things along.

cheers

 

[crazycat]

Well thanks a lot guys, i seem to have a lot of time on my hand and i rather send 1 more min transfering a file then making sure my external HD is connected. Thanks for the info, it seems my recommendations to my friend would be to go with extra space.

 

[dunnick]

Bootable Firewire

Hi All,

Seeems like the place to post or at least get directions as to where.

Next paycheck is going towards the 2.33 MacBookPro 15". Planning on playing games (BF2, WoW) on the XP boot and working on the OSX boot. My original concern was the slower speed of the available HD (5400 vs 7200) but after reading numerous comments have opted against installing an aftermarket 7200 HD.

Does anyone know of the advantages (or disadvatages) of booting into XP on a 7200 Firewire Drive to play games....possibly protecting my MBP from overuse (HD) or heat (the whole thing)

Any suggestions or thought would be greatly appreciated.