7200 RPM drive worth it?

AoWolf

AoWolf

macrumors 6502a
I was looking at getting a 7200 rpm drive for my new macbook. I was just wondering if its really worth it and what kind of performance increase and in what tasks I should expect.
 
You'll notice the biggest difference if you work with large files (most often video). Otherwise, my feeling is that the performance gain is minimal.
 
WildCowboy said:
You'll notice the biggest difference if you work with large files (most often video). Otherwise, my feeling is that the performance gain is minimal.
Click to expand...

Agreed.
 
WildCowboy said:
You'll notice the biggest difference if you work with large files (most often video). Otherwise, my feeling is that the performance gain is minimal.
Click to expand...


Hmm I wonder because the main application of my laptop will be world of warcraft. (Please no OMG get a MBP posts) so I would assume that would be lots of small files. Is there anyone with a 7200 rpm drive or anyone who has a link to some benchmarks?
 
A 7200rpm drive would definitely be worth it imo in a MacBook. I'd rather have a 100gb 7200rpm drive than a 120gb 5400rpm drive. The speed is definitely noticeable. 5400rpm drives are heading the way of the dodo just like 4200rpm drives went.
 
The price difference between a 5400 and a 7200 drive nowadays is so negligible that it seems like everyone should just go 72000 so they phase the 54's out entirely.

I think we can do it! Let's begin another floppy disk-caliber revolution!
 
imnotatfault said:
The price difference between a 5400 and a 7200 drive nowadays is so negligible that it seems like everyone should just go 72000 so they phase the 54's out entirely.
Click to expand...

Except that 5400 rpm drives are available in higher capacity than 7200 rpm drives...and that's the dilemma most people face. 100GB/7200rpm or 120GB/5400rpm? I always choose the larger capacity.
 
WildCowboy said:
Except that 5400 rpm drives are available in higher capacity than 7200 rpm drives...and that's the dilemma most people face. 100GB/7200rpm or 120GB/5400rpm? I always choose the larger capacity.
Click to expand...


Well its a matter of preceptive. I know personally I just want the fasted because I use a firewire drive for back ups and storage.
 
AoWolf said:
Well its a matter of preceptive. I know personally I just want the fasted because I use a firewire drive for back ups and storage.
Click to expand...

Absolutely...different people have different priorities. Mine happens to be capacity. Other people (such as yourself) prefer speed. Both are perfectly valid, which is why there continue to be lower speed drives on the market.
 
i disagree with the proposed "phase-out." there is nothing wrong with offering people an option. in the case of the 4200s, they simply became obsolete as the 5400s became similarly priced with better specs. the 54s will only be removed as an option once the 72s get up to speed (pun intendend).

for the OP: i have a 5400 and i don't notice any decrease from my last laptop, which had a 7200. that said, i also don't play games or do heavy lifting with anything movie-related. (and my last laptop was a windows machine, so the MBP was obviously a step up.)
 
somevelvet said:
will 7200s mean a decrease in battery life?
Click to expand...

Not significantly so...yes, spinning faster uses more energy, but it has to spin for a shorter period of time. Any difference in battery life is essentially unnoticeable. Here is a bit of comparative data between drives...it's a little old, but still useful.
 
I got a new 7200 recently for my iBook and it has made a world of differrence.

Just with in a week, these applications got a performance boost, remember I went from a 4200rpm drive.

Safari, iPhoto, Photoshop, Illustrator, iTunes. I use to get the spinning beach ball all the time in Safari for example and now I don't, its been great and mine is an older system as well.
 
I had the same dilemma and went with the 120 5400rpm hdd. I would never go back on this either... I worried so much before I got my MBP, but am so happy I went with the 5400 one. Speed is really not noticeable at all, as I had a 7200 in my older powerbook, and the 20gb is so great. It's basically all my music library!
 
AoWolf said:
I was looking at getting a 7200 rpm drive for my new macbook. I was just wondering if its really worth it and what kind of performance increase and in what tasks I should expect.
Click to expand...


I wasn't aware that the MacBook HAD 7200rpm drives available. I just recently ordered a macbook and had 60,80,100, and 120 but they had no speeds beside them. BTW.. I'm talking about MACBOOKS.. I know the Pros have a 7200 @ 100Megabytes.
 
mattsh said:
I wasn't aware that the MacBook HAD 7200rpm drives available. I just recently ordered a macbook and had 60,80,100, and 120 but they had no speeds beside them. BTW.. I'm talking about MACBOOKS.. I know the Pros have a 7200 @ 100Megabytes.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure he was talking about getting a 7200rpm drive and putting it in himself.
 
Spanky Deluxe said:
I'm pretty sure he was talking about getting a 7200rpm drive and putting it in himself.
Click to expand...


Ok... BUT.. I thought doing that would
A) Void your Apple warranty
B) You couldn't cause on the PowerBooks Apple smooshed the drive way up in?
(This should have read "MacBook" and NOT "PowerBook")
 
mattsh said:
Ok... BUT.. I thought doing that would
B) You couldn't cause on the PowerBooks Apple smooshed the drive way up in?
Click to expand...

Interestingly enough, we are talking about the MACBOOK not the POWERBOOK which has a very easily accessable HDD and RAM slots, far more so than the MBP or PB.

I have the 7200rpm, which I like very much (in a MBP). The problem I have, and I'm sure most other people here have is that there is no way to compare. It would be nifty to have a way to switch between 5400 and 7200rpm, maybe for saving battery life but mostly so I could see the difference and answer all these 7200rpm threads once and for all!

I have 12gb of music in iTunes, and it is open and ready to go before the first bounce is done. This, compared to my old dell desktop (HDD speed unknows- possibly 4200 or 5400) is blazing fast, as the dell took a good 30 seconds to get going.

I would recomend the 7200 if you want to "future proof" (quotes because it is really impossible to do so, but I always recomend the best you can buy and using it for as long as possible), but if you NEED the extra 20gb while mobile, go for a bigger 5400rpm drive. I would like to point out though, that while you can add on external HDDs for storage needs, the rpms cannot be changed without buying an entirely new HDD.
 
Felldownthewell said:
Interestingly enough, we are talking about the MACBOOK not the POWERBOOK which has a very easily accessable HDD and RAM slots, far more so than the MBP or PB.
Click to expand...

Yeah my fault... I typoed... in the MACBOOK (Not Pro) I thought there was no 7200 option.
 
WildCowboy said:
You'll notice the biggest difference if you work with large files (most often video). Otherwise, my feeling is that the performance gain is minimal.
Click to expand...
Hear hear but the biggest difference is still barely noticeable.
I went from a 5200rpm to a 10000rpm HD and still had little difference in my PM G4.
 
mattsh said:
Well cool! Guess it still voids the warranty.. but may be useful years down the road :)
Click to expand...

No, as Felldownthewell implied, it doesn't void the warranty. The hard drive is a user-installable part on the MacBook, and thus swapping it out doesn't carry any warranty issues with it. It's the only Apple laptop for which this is the case.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Back
Top