2011 quad core HD upgrade. Realistic speed increase?

[lavrishevo]

I like the idea of having the 750 gigs with the stock 5400. With these newer stock drives what do you think will be the overall system performance increase going with a nice 7200? 10 - 15%?

SSD 20 - 30%?

 

[Hellhammer]

It's hard to give any specific numbers because not all tasks are limited by the I/O. A 7200rpm drive will give you a small upgrade but if you really want to feel the difference, then go with an SSD.

 

[nikhsub1]

I can't give you specific numbers but I went from my 2007 Santa Rosa with a 500GB Momentus XT to the 2.3Ghz quad in my sig with the 750GB. The quad felt sluggish with the 5400 RPM drive I couldn't stand it and put the XT in the new machine as well. It is a pretty significant difference. I've never owned an SSD but I imagine the speed increase is pretty substantial with one. FYI I have had zero issues with either XT I've had running the latest 1.24 firmware.

 

[alphaod]

SSD is probably 50% faster in day to day use, but in terms of productivity increase, it's a lot higher than that—seems I can get a lot more done in the same time.

The downside to an SSD is the lack of capacity or rather mostly unaffordable price/GB.

If I were to choose between the a 5400RPM and 7200RPM from a pure computing stand point, I'd go for the faster spindle; increases are mostly in the 5-10% increase in my view; not much, but still there.

For other purposes, I have reasons to choose a slow drive, from lower heat, to less power used.

 

[frankieboy]

I benchmarked a 7200 rpm Seagate in my 2010 MBP and the stock 5400 rpm Toshiba in my new 2011 using AJA Kona System Test. The 7200 Seagate was about 6% faster at the 128 Mb file size, about the same at the 256 Mb file size, and about 5% slower at the larger file sizes.

All things considered, I decided to leave the stock drive in. And although I think it is the biggest bottleneck in the performance of this machine, I don't think the rpm difference is the issue: what I need is an SSD, and I will be shopping for one in the next couple months, after the 3G drives from OCZ, Intel and others get on the market and prices settle in a bit.

 

[lavrishevo]

Thanks for the input. I'm a little on the fence on buying the 500 gb Momentus XT hybrid or just wait for better deals on large SSD drives. It seems the specs & benchmarks are impressive for the XT. Anyone seen any benchmarks for 2011 stock 5400 vs the Momentus XT?

 

[nikhsub1]

Thanks for the input. I'm a little on the fence on buying the 500 gb Momentus XT hybrid or just wait for better deals on large SSD drives. It seems the specs & benchmarks are impressive for the XT. Anyone seen any benchmarks for 2011 stock 5400 vs the Momentus XT?

NO but from experience it is quite a big improvement, definitely worth the $100

 

[lavrishevo]

NO but from experience it is quite a big improvement, definitely worth the $100

I hear you. Hah. I guess what was second guessing me is the 19 second chime to fully up on the stock 5400 drive. Pretty impressive.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

ssd is about 10000% difference . The effects are more profound when your MBP crashes at several hundred G's while operating and the data is still intact vs the heart wrenching sound of a crashed head.

 

[Mac-key]

I went from a stock 5400 drive to a Seagate 7200.4

In my opinion, there is a performance bump, but nothing to get overly excited about. it's slightly noticeable

 

[systole]

Echoes

What is your main concern? Battery, storage, or speed.

1st 2nd 3rd

Battery = SSD 5400 7200

Speed = SSD 7200 5400

Storage = 5400 7200 SSD