7200 or 5400 rpm

[Tech198]

Just thinking of getting a 500Gig or (possible )750Gig Hard drive....one internal and one external (as i have enclose for it)

Do you guys recommend 5400 or 72000 rpm drives for Macbook pro ? I know it comes down to performance vs battery, but I would think you guys would know allot more than me when it comes to this stuff.

 

[nefan65]

If the cost diff isn't much, go for the 7200. If it's a fairly large delta in $$, then go the 5400. You won't notice a ton of difference in performance.

However! lol...it all depends on what your'e doing too. If it's heavy graphical stuff, or a lot of reads/writes to open files, applications, etc. then the 7200 will service you better. But the real difference in performance is SSD vs. SATA. Depending on your needs/budget, go for a 128GB SSD for your MBP, and then a larger drive for external storage. The external drive in either scenario can be 5400...

My 2 cents

 

[Old Muley]

I put a 7,200 RPM Seagate Momentus XT in my 13" MBP and have been very happy with it. There is a definite speed bump from the stock 5,400 RPM drive; of course the 4GB SSD probably plays a big role in that. I put the stock drive in an external enclosure that I use for backups.