5400 rpm vs 7200 regular versus solid state

[Lata McGinn]

I want to buy a macbook pro and am thinking of getting the 7200 rpm and am wondering if the 7200 rpm is hotter than the 5400.

Also, I am wonering if the solid state option is lighter and/or less hot than the regular hard drive.

 

[maflynn]

I want to buy a macbook pro and am thinking of getting the 7200 rpm and am wondering if the 7200 rpm is hotter than the 5400.

Also, I am wonering if the solid state option is lighter and/or less hot than the regular hard drive.

No, the power consumption/wattage is nearly identical between the 5400 and 7200 rpm drives. It won't draw any more electricity nor generate any more heat.

The SSD would be a scosh lighter and probably produce less heat since its all solid state and no mechanical components.

 

[GGJstudios]

I want to buy a macbook pro and am thinking of getting the 7200 rpm and am wondering if the 7200 rpm is hotter than the 5400.

Some 7200 rpm drives are cooler, quieter and use less power than their 5400 rpm counterparts. Hard drive temperatures are rarely a concern, given the MacBook Pro's GPU and CPU run so hot, normally.

 

[Inside_line]

The 7200 RPM drives are so advanced now I am surprised they haven't replaced 5200 RPM drives completely. The decision is simple... go 7200 or SSD. I personally love the hitachi 320 GB.

 

[angemon89]

I bought a 7200rpm drive for my MBP recently, but it was too freaking loud. So I returned it and got a nice and quite 5400rpm. I can't even tell the difference between the speed of the two.

 

[Inside_line]

If you want OEM sound and battery life... I'd suggest buying Hitachi or Fujitsu. Which brand drive didn't you like? I'm guessing Seagate or WD.

 

[DoNoHarm]

The 7200 RPM drives are so advanced now I am surprised they haven't replaced 5200 RPM drives completely. The decision is simple... go 7200 or SSD. I personally love the hitachi 320 GB.

7200 rpm drives have not replaced 5200 rpm drives because they hog power and are noisier. While many people need that extra boost of speed, the lower noise, lower cost, and longer battery life outweigh the modest gain in speed for most mac users.

 

[vm7118]

7200 rpm drives have not replaced 5200 rpm drives because they hog power and are noisier. While many people need that extra boost of speed, the lower noise, lower cost, and longer battery life outweigh the modest gain in speed for most mac users.

not really.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/scorpio-notebook-hdd,2109-7.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/notebook-hard-drive,2006-16.html

just a couple of the many sources saying 7200 rpm drives can be cooler, quieter, and more efficient than 5400 rpm drives. really no reason to get a 5400 rpm drive anymore, outside of very limited applications.

 

[mac jones]

A bit off topic but


I've been using a SSD for about five months now.

I'm an average user not a power user and for a while I thought it was more of a marginal upgrade.

However, now I can't even use a regular hard drive except for storage.

It's mainly the multitasking upgrade. The difference is amazing.

 

[bbadalucco]

I've been using a SSD for about five months now.

I'm an average user not a power user and for a while I thought it was more of a marginal upgrade.

However, I can not even use a regular hard drive except for storage now.

It's mainly the multitasking upgrade. The difference is amazing.

I agree....I've had the OCZ Vertex and the Intel X25-M and I have loved them both. If you can't afford a SSD I'd definitely recommend a 7200 rpm drive as I noticed a difference between the two..and its not too costly

 

[John89]

A bit off topic but


I've been using a SSD for about five months now.

I'm an average user not a power user and for a while I thought it was more of a marginal upgrade.

However, now I can't even use a regular hard drive except for storage.

It's mainly the multitasking upgrade. The difference is amazing.

Stop teasing!!

I'm going to purchase one with 10.6. Ultimate speed upgrade package!

 

[JCastro]

I can't wait for SSD's to drop in price and go up in storage capacity. I want at least 500gb for a reasonable price. Until then, 7200 is the way to go for me.

 

[darkcurse]

SSD >>> 7200 > 5400 in that order of "awesome-ness" as well as "price". It really just depends on your budget and how much space you want.

 

[jlpoore89]

500GB 7200RPM Seagate

I am considering getting the Seagate 7200rpm 500GB HD for my UMBP. And I am wondering just how much louder it would be than the stock 5400RPM Hitachi drive. The tech specs show the same levels between the two at about 23-25 dB, but I would like a user's opinion.

P.S.-gotta love it when the mod's remove over half of the posts in a thread because of people arguing about searching and then blaming each other for detracting from the point of the thread. but thank you mod's for keeping the threads clean

 

[Santa Rosa]

I have all three in different combinations. SSD is by far the best performance wise. I would go with that if you can.

 

[John89]

I am considering getting the Seagate 7200rpm 500GB HD for my UMBP. And I am wondering just how much louder it would be than the stock 5400RPM Hitachi drive. The tech specs show the same levels between the two at about 23-25 dB, but I would like a user's opinion.

P.S.-gotta love it when the mod's remove over half of the posts in a thread because of people arguing about searching and then blaming each other for detracting from the point of the thread. but thank you mod's for keeping the threads clean

I upgraded my old macbook to 7200rpm. Never notice any extra noise. Nice speed bump though

I have all three in different combinations. SSD is by far the best performance wise. I would go with that if you can.

In the unibodys?

 

[WilliamG]

I just picked up an OCZ Vertex SSD drive for my 17" UMBP a few weeks ago. Good grief the difference in speed from my Western Digital Scorpio Black 320GB 7200rpm is staggering. Honestly, this is the best performance upgrade you can make for your laptop right now. Just incredible. Stuff loads lightning fast. I'd say having 2GB of RAM and an SSD is miles more useful than 4GB RAM and a 7200rpm drive for general computer use.

 

[magamo]

I've seen a bunch of posts and threads about heat from HDD and power consumption, but does it really matter? None of drives I've used had a heat problem or were so cool and efficient my laptop could run noticeably cooler and longer. It seems even SSD are pretty much the same when it comes to heat and power consumption in real life. Certainly, some HDD were louder than others, and SSD are awesome in that regard. The same goes for read/write speed. But heat and power? I always thought they would matter only to servers and such unless you chose really bad one. Am I missing something?

 

[Quad 2.5 G5 =)]

7200 rpm drives have not replaced 5200 rpm drives because they hog power and are noisier. While many people need that extra boost of speed, the lower noise, lower cost, and longer battery life outweigh the modest gain in speed for most mac users.

The other reason people get 5400 RPM drives is that the PowerBook and other older Macs use the slower ATA-6 interface. There aren't that many high capacity drives that are at 7200 RPM.

 

[GGJstudios]

7200 rpm drives have not replaced 5200 rpm drives because they hog power and are noisier. While many people need that extra boost of speed, the lower noise, lower cost, and longer battery life outweigh the modest gain in speed for most mac users.

That's not true. Many 7200 rpm drives use less power and are just as quiet or quieter than 5400 drives.

 

[pdxflint]

I just picked up an OCZ Vertex SSD drive for my 17" UMBP a few weeks ago. Good grief the difference in speed from my Western Digital Scorpio Black 320GB 7200rpm is staggering. Honestly, this is the best performance upgrade you can make for your laptop right now. Just incredible. Stuff loads lightning fast. I'd say having 2GB of RAM and an SSD is miles more useful than 4GB RAM and a 7200rpm drive for general computer use.

I'm certainly with you when it comes to potential SSD performance, but I've already got 260g filling up my 500g drive (206g available,) which would mean most SSD drives out there I would have filled up completely. I'm not ready to be tied to an external drive for my data when going mobile. When they get the 500g SSDs on the market for under a couple of hundred bucks, I'm there.

 

[Lata McGinn]

ssd vs 7200 vs 5400

thanks for everyone's advice. Many people emailed back saying ssd was the way to go but i would like a bigger hard drive right now.

some replied saying 7200 was faster but noisier and some said it was less noisy, and some said it was the same. so still confused but thanks for all your input.
considering staying with the standard 5400 macbook pro with 4 gb ram and 320 hd

sorry not to be as in the know about these things, just going from a pc to a mac for the first time. as far as recommendations to go for hitachi versus seagate etc, not even sure what all that means. do i have an option when I buy my macbook pro as to which company makes specific parts?

 

[Chupa Chupa]

sorry not to be as in the know about these things, just going from a pc to a mac for the first time. as far as recommendations to go for hitachi versus seagate etc, not even sure what all that means. do i have an option when I buy my macbook pro as to which company makes specific parts?

Hitachi and Seagate are hard drive brands. Like everything you have to compare brands and even models within brands. Just as all 32" LCD TVs are not equal neither are hard drives. If you go over to Newegg.com you can compare all the various brands and models.

 

[jlpoore89]

Hitachi and Seagate are hard drive brands. Like everything you have to compare brands and even models within brands. Just as all 32" LCD TVs are not equal neither are hard drives. If you go over to Newegg.com you can compare all the various brands and models.

Yes go to Newegg or OWC both of the sites are excellent for comparing hard drives or any other computer hardware for that matter.

 

[js81]

I upgraded my old macbook to 7200rpm. Never notice any extra noise. Nice speed bump though

... and I upgraded my white Macbook to a 7200rpm drive and the noise and vibration liked to have driven me crazy. I went back to a 5400rpm drive, though the 7200rpm was more responsive - I just couldn't stand the noise/vibration. It was like going from Toyota/Lexus smooth-as-silk to old school Kia/Hyundai vibration/buzzsaw (notice I said "old school" in front of Kia/Hyundai - I don't want to start a car war here...)