17" Unibody with 500GB Seagate 7200 HD.

[detz]

I've seen this asked in a few threads so I figured I would start a thread.

I got my 17" this morning and after I booted it up I replaced the HD with a brand new 500GB Seagate 7200 drive. This drive is MUCH faster than the previous drive in my macbook and so far it's very very quiet. No vibration at all.

 

[WPB2]

How would the 7200rpm 500GB vs. the 5400rpm 500GB act on the battery. What would be to % of battery drain for equal tasks?

 

[MAGICMOXTER]

How would the 7200rpm 500GB vs. the 5400rpm 500GB act on the battery. What would be to % of battery drain for equal tasks?

They both draw the same amount of power, my 7200 drive in my 15" MBP uses less power because it does things faster, like considerably faster boot times, a proper benchmark test of this would be nice though however making one is quite difficult.

 

[ayeying]

They both draw the same amount of power, my 7200 drive in my 15" MBP uses less power because it does things faster, like considerably faster boot times, a proper benchmark test of this would be nice though however making one is quite difficult.

However, the difference between 5400 and 7200 drives are very small now, especially if you compare a smaller 7200 drive with a newer, denser 5400 drive.

 

[zorahk]

Yeah, but he's talking about the 500GB 7200rpm drive, which is really dense, and really fast.

 

[gilesrulz]

How would the 7200rpm 500GB vs. the 5400rpm 500GB act on the battery. What would be to % of battery drain for equal tasks?

Yes. Even if there is a slight real difference, there will not be any appreciable difference in battery use from a 5400rpm to a 7200 rpm drive, regardless of density. You're talking about such minutia that your real world experience will be exactly the same (with respect to battery usage) while the speed of drive intensive activities increases dramatically.