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5400 vs 7200 HDD

C

CBAviator

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 10, 2007
299
0
Nederland
I am looking to purchase MacBook Pro. I'm definitely wanting a 500GB HDD mainly because I take lots of photos, love to catalog using Aperture, etc. I'm mainly using the computer for my masters program but certainly don't want to run out of hard disk space.

Other than the obvious different in speed, I've heard that the 7200 can be a lot noisier and get a lot warmer than the slower HDD. Am I going to notice a difference in my daily tasks with a faster drive? I assume it would make a difference when using Aperture and other HDD demanding apps but I just don't know if it's worth it or not.

Can anyone provide any experience/insight?

Thanks!
 
CBAviator said:
I am looking to purchase MacBook Pro. I'm definitely wanting a 500GB HDD mainly because I take lots of photos, love to catalog using Aperture, etc. I'm mainly using the computer for my masters program but certainly don't want to run out of hard disk space.

Other than the obvious different in speed, I've heard that the 7200 can be a lot noisier and get a lot warmer than the slower HDD. Am I going to notice a difference in my daily tasks with a faster drive? I assume it would make a difference when using Aperture and other HDD demanding apps but I just don't know if it's worth it or not.

Can anyone provide any experience/insight?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I have the 7200 RPM 500GB drive and I don't think its too loud or too warm. That is a subjective statement but my MBP has been quiet and it runs cooler than my old PowerBook.

I do notice a difference when saving files especially large files. I say it's worth it. A computer is only as fast as its slowest part so don't let your hard drive slow you down.
 
I just bought a 500GB Hitachi for my new uMBP that I got last night. It's really quiet and not even too hot. I like it.
 
kidwithdimples said:
I just bought a 500GB Hitachi for my new uMBP that I got last night. It's really quiet and not even too hot. I like it.
Click to expand...

I'm looking to do the same thing to my MBP that's on the way. I can't decide between that and a 128gb SSD. Could you please post some xbench results? How much decrease in battery life have you noticed?
 
I also use Aperture primarily for photography and use quite large file sizes (14MP RAW). I am using a Mattbook 2.53 4GB with on-board graphics. Aperture totally flies and I'm looking forward to Aperture X which will apparently be much faster and take advantage of SN new coding + 64bit technology. I upgraded from the stock HD to a WD Blue Scorpio 500GB. Noise wise in a utterly silent environment I can hear it buzzing but does not really bother me. Having 500Gb onboard is worth it.
 
Gav2k said:
Don't forget the 7200 uses more juice
Click to expand...
I still get about 6 hours of battery life so I don't think it makes too much of a difference unless you are constantly spinning the hard drive for access. Once an application is opened it should be running off of your RAM more than accessing data from your hard drive.
 
I think, single platter 7200RPM drives use less power. I replaced an old 120GB 5400RM Fujitsu with a 160 7200RPM scorpio caviar black in my windows PC and performance was day to night with some battery savings.
 
iAmRod said:
Interesting statement. Can you cite any reference material for such a claim?
Click to expand...
http://www.barefeats.com/hard96.html
Many of you have asked if the 7K notebook drives will drain your battery faster or make your laptop run hotter. Here's a shocker: the 5K WD Scorpio averages 2.5 watts for read/write functions. The Hitachi 7K200 uses only 2.3 watts. When it comes to "active idle," the 5K WD drive requires twice as much power as the 7K Hitachi (2.0 vs 1.0 watts). In other words, the 7K Hitachi 200G notebook drive will have a lower impact on your MacBook Pro's battery life (and generate less heat) compared to the 5K WD 250G drive.
Click to expand...
 
I upgraded to 7200 and its worth it...only thing ive noticed is its a bit more noisy but nothing annoying. And the 25% increase in rotational speed pretty much translates to a 25% increase in HD performance.

My stock XBench HD score was 31.3 and 7200 HD score was 41.31
 
Thanks for everyone's replies. I did, in fact, end up deciding on the 500gb 7200 for my MacBook Pro today. I think it'll ultimately help in hard drive intensive programs like Aperture and Photoshop, too.

Thanks for some of the links posted, as well -- interesting.

Now I must go wait at the doorstep for the FedEx truck to show up with my new toy...
 
CBAviator said:
Thanks for everyone's replies. I did, in fact, end up deciding on the 500gb 7200 for my MacBook Pro today. I think it'll ultimately help in hard drive intensive programs like Aperture and Photoshop, too.

Thanks for some of the links posted, as well -- interesting.

Now I must go wait at the doorstep for the FedEx truck to show up with my new toy...
Click to expand...

Hey man!

If u dont mind sharing info of what brand and type u bought? a link?
Im looking into buying one

Thanks
 
CBAviator said:
I am looking to purchase MacBook Pro. I'm definitely wanting a 500GB HDD mainly because I take lots of photos, love to catalog using Aperture, etc. I'm mainly using the computer for my masters program but certainly don't want to run out of hard disk space.

Other than the obvious different in speed, I've heard that the 7200 can be a lot noisier and get a lot warmer than the slower HDD. Am I going to notice a difference in my daily tasks with a faster drive? I assume it would make a difference when using Aperture and other HDD demanding apps but I just don't know if it's worth it or not.

Can anyone provide any experience/insight?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

from what i've heard, while the 7200 is faster initially, you'll keep your computer faster in the long term with a larger drive as it will seek more efficiently. here's a 640gb drive at amazon.com for example:

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Notebook-WD6400BEVT-Scorpio/dp/B002P3KO8I
 
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DoNoHarm said:
from what i've heard, while the 7200 is faster initially, you'll keep your computer faster in the long term with a larger drive as it will seek more efficiently. here's a 640gb drive at amazon.com for example:

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Notebook-WD6400BEVT-Scorpio/dp/B002P3KO8I
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link.
That looks like a great deal! 640GB 5400 RPM is perfect! and the price is not bad. I also could still use my 500GB protable but I always prefer that larger internal HDD.

Would u say go order this one? I live in Canada, is there any better deals? :apple:
 
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lilskaterpunk said:
Thanks for the link.
That looks like a great deal! 640GB 7200 RPM is perfect! and the price is not bad. I also could still use my 500GB protable but I always prefer that larger internal HDD.

Would u say go order this one? I live in Canada, is there any better deals? :apple:
Click to expand...

ahhhhhh you had my hopes up, that is the only thing that will be stopping me from getting anything bigger than a 500GB is the RPMs, once they can get 7200 in hard drive bigger then 500GB I'll be SOLD!!

From the product details...
WD Scorpio Blue 5400 RPM 2.5-inch SATA hard drives from Western Digital deliver lightning-fast and ultra-quiet performance hand-in-hand with low power consumption
Click to expand...

How does the "deliver lighting fast performance" stack up against a 7200RPM? I don't know much about hard drives. However, in terms of cars (I love muscle cars), if you have a honda civic and a corvette....just because they are running at the same RPMs doesn't mean they are gonna be on par :)
 
Where do you go to do a bench score on the HD?

As soon as I picked up my uMBP last night, I installed SL on the stock 160GB then quickly swapped it with the 500GB. If I need to go to Apple for any issues then I can just swap the 160GB in :p
 
palmerc2 said:
ahhhhhh you had my hopes up, that is the only thing that will be stopping me from getting anything bigger than a 500GB is the RPMs, once they can get 7200 in hard drive bigger then 500GB I'll be SOLD!!

From the product details...


How does the "deliver lighting fast performance" stack up against a 7200RPM? I don't know much about hard drives. However, in terms of cars (I love muscle cars), if you have a honda civic and a corvette....just because they are running at the same RPMs doesn't mean they are gonna be on par :)
Click to expand...

Sorry about the mistake and 5400-7200 RPM :(
Its decision whether or not to go 640GB 5400RPM or 500GB 7200RPM :apple:
 
Thanks for the help on this. I'll probably shop around, in the next month or two, for the 7200RPM 500GB model. I think half a terabyte is a good size for an internal drive, considering I do thousands of Photos, lots of Logic Pro work, and more and more video work using Final Cut. Still, I think I want to ask around the appropriate forum about how to offload more of my picture library to External drives without losing my hair doing so.
 
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