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MBP serial drive 5400 vs 7200 rpm

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064629009

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 8, 2010
53
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Firstly, is the $50 upgrade worth it (I will mainly be using the laptop for internet, Photoshop and some gaming perhaps)?

Secondly, would they have models with the 7200 rpm serial drive at the Apple store, or would I have to order online?

If it makes a difference, I live in Canada and I plan on buying the MBP a month from now.
 
It makes a small difference. On a disk intensive process it might save a few seconds in thirty. It depends how important $50 is to you.

AFAIK the only customizing you can do at the Apple Store is to add memory. At least that is what they said at my local store. YMMV.
 
Probably better to save your money. When SSDs come down in price, you can pick one out that's big enough to hold your data and then you will see a significant improvement. Otherwise, its not a big deal unless you have disk intensive work or too little RAM.
 
I had the same q a few weeks back. Decided to go for the 7200. Feel like for $50, even if its a minor bump its worth it. You cant get this at store so you have to wait and order online.

PS I ordered the 15 i7, 4gb, 7200, hi res mattte
 
Wow i'm getting some mixed reviews here. If it's just a very minor speed bump, i'll save my $50 (I want to get it from the Apple store anyways, i'm very impatient for waiting for things online!)
 
newmacboyoutube said:
$50 is a justified price for the extra speed, and to be safe, buy it online instead of from the stores, always!:apple:
Click to expand...

Totally disagree. Buy a 500gb 7200rpm on newegg.ca for $99.99 canadian. take your old drive put it into an enclosure and use it for time machine. Way move financially smart.

Or for $109.99 buy a 640gb 5400rpm. Since the platters are higher in density your performance will really be unnoticeable really.
 
they had only the 5400rpm drives in the models they have in the apple stores so i bought one of those. i could not see any obvious difference compared to my 7200rpm HDD in my old MBP. So i guess the effect is negligible for the average user. i can imagine if you do audio or video than it might be worth to do the upgrade. but even then I would get the HD from OWC/macsales and swap it out myself.
 
I agree with andiwm2003 on this one:
andiwm2003 said:
i could not see any obvious difference compared to my 7200rpm HDD in my old MBP. So i guess the effect is negligible for the average user. i can imagine if you do audio or video than it might be worth to do the upgrade.
Click to expand...

After some doubt I've chosen the 5400 rpm 500gb in stead of the 7200 rpm. When the SSDs are becoming way cheeper and bigger (in a year or two), I will consider replacing the drive. I don't think just any SSD are compatible (trouble free) with the new MBPs. I will wait and let others try and find what brands of SSDs that works.

Sorry if some find the SSD thoughts a bit off-topic. Thought it could be relevant for some...
 
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