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7200 or 5400 RPM?

So how does it work? If i got a new HD now, i could take it into a Apple Store and they would put it in?
 
Really you will only see a major difference when using a larger amount of Virtual Memory. You should not see that much of a difference in Battery life according to many studies and articles I have read. If you do not need the space then I would say the speed is what you should go for.

Never heard of them doing that. It is more of a thing that they get Factory Installed. So if you have a problem then they will not be held responsible. They also are not trained technicians. And Apple HDs are hard to get to in the Lappy.
 
The battery/energy use and heat issues have been largely taken care of in more modern hard drives. This was an issue five years ago but newer models seem to have less of this problem. The heat thing is still an issue no matter if you have a slower or faster drive -- I do believe it is the thing that ages computers the most -- but I think modern drives aren't as hot or energy sucks as they used to be
 
What you said about old vs new and heat is true. But you also have to remember that the faster drives to produce a little more heat than the slower ones for current HDs. You also have to remember that it will take more power to start and wake the HD but it will idle more than a slower drive. This tends to balance out. So in the end the Faster Drive vs the Slower Drive of both the current generation, you will see 0 to 1% loss in battery life after with the Faster one compared to the Slower one. And if you are actually using it constantly the entire time the battery is being used and the computer never goes to sleep and the HD never sleeps then you will have better battery life with the Faster one but not by much again 0 to 1% better.
 
homerjward said:
i'd say the seagate 160gb 5400rpm if it's within your budget. lots more capacity and should be faster than teh 100gb 7200 due to data density increase.
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I think the topic starter was asking so they could decide which BTO option to choose. There is no 160GB option on the MBP, unless you are suggesting they wait a revision or two along the line to buy it.
 
I went with the 120gb in mine. (still on order, as you can tell by other threads) I rather have the extra space to carry all my crap that I may need with me. Good to note also I plan on someday, someway, running windoze as dual boot or emulated, so that is going to take some extra space.
 
panoz7 said:
but won’t the increased energy consumption of the 7200 rpm drive be some what alleviated since it will be spinning for less time? I know it will be a little less efficient spinning at those higher speeds... but I really don't see how it could make that big of difference.
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You pretty much have it right there. There really is no increased battery consumption using a 7200 vs a 5400 for that exact reason.
 
panoz7 said:
Will battery life really be affected that much? I get the noise thing… but won’t the increased energy consumption of the 7200 rpm drive be some what alleviated since it will be spinning for less time? I know it will be a little less efficient spinning at those higher speeds... but I really don't see how it could make that big of difference. Anybody care to explain?
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It depends on how the data is organised and how often the heads are out of position. A lot of fragmented data in a poor file system can cause more spinning on a faster drive because it spends a lot of time just getting into position.

If things are well-organised, the 7200 rpm drive has the advantage without question. If not, seek time is much more important than rotational speed.
 
FYI: The Fragment problem occurs in both of them and that is why it is important to have a neat and tidy HD. And you should also note that Hard Drives are always spinning unless they are asleep. The HD that is faster will spend more time in Idle Mode than a slower HD which Idle mode uses less power but it will be on just as long. They always spin to prevent wear and tear. Think about how bad it would be for it to stop everytime it was not in use. It also takes more power to get the faster ones started and rotating again at the faster speeds.
 
This will be my only computer for at lease three years so I need every last bit of speed I can tap out of it. If the speed loss is negligible than I would probably go with the extra 20 Gbytes.
Or would I?
I plan on having all the pro apps + media (apple loops, etc.)
iTunes (currently 10 Gbytes)
iPhoto or aperture (around 5 Gbytes)
Various games (COD2 is the big one right now. Splinter Cell, X-Plane [with global scenery it can be in upwards of 60 Gbytes, most likley I will install 10 Gbytes worth.)
Various other stuff... Basic apple and third party apps.
Some day: 8-10 Gbytes for VPC.

Soo... I probably will need the extra space, right?
Im looking at around 60 Gbytes right there (if I store the loops on an ext. HDD) so I am hoping the speed drop is not too noticeable with 5400 RPM as long as the disk is kept defraged. Someone please confirm?
 
AJBMatrix said:
FYI: The Fragment problem occurs in both of them and that is why it is important to have a neat and tidy HD. And you should also note that Hard Drives are always spinning unless they are asleep. The HD that is faster will spend more time in Idle Mode than a slower HD which Idle mode uses less power but it will be on just as long. They always spin to prevent wear and tear. Think about how bad it would be for it to stop everytime it was not in use. It also takes more power to get the faster ones started and rotating again at the faster speeds.
Click to expand...

how do you keep your HD neat and tidy??
 
As per the last post: I thought (and had an apple tech support tell me) that OSX defrags on the fly, thus avoiding problems of bogging down as seen on windows machines. So if that is the case then the difference between 54 and 7200 RPM is nil. I dunno. Someone clarify. :D
 
The Difference is not Nil. It is real. The OS will load faster, the Virtual Memory can be accessed faster. Things will write and read faster as well. But if you are talking about power consumption then it is practically nil. Now, OSX does defrag on the fly but it does not do a perfect job. If you go into disk utilities and have it repair permissions and keep the back files and stuff straight then that is keeping your hard drive clean. I also recommend for battery purposes to only use a max of 75% of the HD. But you can go over that by all means.
 
With all the stuff I will be using do you think I will miss the extra space? I am just scraping by on 40 Gbytes right now. 100 should be a blessing, but apps are getting bigger and I will be going to film school. If its noticeably faster then by all means I will get the 7200 RPM.
 
Noticable Yes. But essential no. My question to you would be. Applications and Music are your biggest components. So if you have over 50 gig of Apps and music that you are going to have on your computer at one time then you should just get the larger HD. If you are going to have more than 60 gig of Apps and Music then you need to rethink what all you have on a computer. So under 50 go for Fast. Over 50 go for larger. Reason I say this is because you are going to notice the most difference not in calling programs and such but calling files and larger files at that.
 
Depends on what you will be doing. I would say it is an absolute must if you are doing any video editing on the go. If you just want the notebook for causual use and want to just STORE videos and mp3's then get the larger drive. If you plan on mixing and editing then you will wish you had the 7200rpm. I upgraded my previous laptop from 5400rpm to 7200rpm and it made a noticeable difference in the applications I was using.
 
Like I said I will be doing a lot of video and audio editing, but all via FW HDD's. The only thing I can imagine doing on the main HDD would be GarageBand songs. I can deal with the drop in speed on the occasional time I am stuck in the field without an external 2.5" drive and am forced to capture/rough cut onboard the Mac HD. In light of that I suppose I will get the slower, but bigger, drive. Thanks for all the help. If anyone has last minute revelations please post ASAP before I click the buy now button!
 
I would take a 60GB 7200 RPM drive over a 120GB 5400 RPM drive any day of the week. I've upgraded laptops before from a 5400 RPM to 7200 RPM, and it's just as much of an amazing performance increase as jumping from 4200 RPM to 5400 RPM.

No joke.
 
I am coming from a 4200 RPM drive so i am sure anything will be fast in my eyes. The more I think about it the more I realize that I am surely gonna need that extra 20 Gbytes. Or am I? Arrgh! I wish god would buy my MacBook for me, then I know I would get the right one... so many choices!
 
Kingsly said:
So if that is the case then the difference between 54 and 7200 RPM is nil. I dunno. Someone clarify. :D
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If that were the case then Apple would use 5400s in the desktops. Heck, the industry wouldn't have even marketed 7200s. And 10,000RPM drives those would just be a total waste of $.

If you drag race a BMW 325 against a BMW 330, expect the 330 to win every time. Faster is faster.
 
Geez, doesn't anyone use the search function anymore? This is the 3rd or 4th thread on this topic.
If you can't find the search button maybe you shouldn't be operating a computer...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/179923/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/176949/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/175331/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/172126/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/174105/

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=2137318&posted=1#post2137318

Only the ones this year... :mad:
 
The 7200 is faster and uses the Same Power. I think enough information has been supplied on this forum for you to decide. I gave you a Data Range and others gave you a usage range for each. It really is your decision and if you want someone else to make it for you. Just ask your female counter-part. They are good at that. Just decide man. They both have Pros and Cons.
 
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