7200 rpm?

[lacereza]

I'll be getting a MBP in August. I'll be using it for browsing, watching, music and photos etc, but mostly for running Dragon speech recognition software with MS Word for Windows inside the OSX environment using VMWare Fusion. I think that's going to chew up some grunt.

So what effect will upgrading to a 7200 rpm hard drive have? Would it be worth it? I plan to use this throughout my two years of grad study and then for at least a year, hopefully two, afterwards.

 

[aquajet]

Stick with a larger 5400 rpm drive. Based on your uses, I believe a larger hard drive would be more useful to you than a marginally faster one.

 

[macworkerbee]

Agreed, the 7200 is only slightly faster and only really worth the money when working with larger files.

 

[ejack24]

I had exactly the same question. Sounds like the speed difference will be minimal. Good to know.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Additionally, the 7200 rpm drive WILL drain your battery faster. I'd stay away.

 

[snf122]

World Wizard is 100% wrong, check this link

You may find these test results helpful:

http://www.barefeats.com/hard96.html

 

[dul311]

Additionally, the 7200 rpm drive WILL drain your battery faster. I'd stay away.

This is very interesting thread. I am having to consider these same questions.

I have a 17" MBP with a 200GB 7200rpm drive. I have it partioned OSX/XP. I use Logic (OSX) and Sony Vegas (XP). The best practice for both of those applications is to use a different drive to record to other the OS drive. So i have gone ahead and purchased a 7200 rpm external drive.

The only wild card is that i have a drum sampler product that is installed on the OS drive. It can not be installed on an external drive.

So I am at a crossroad: Keep the 200GB 7200rpm drive (eventhough I am running out of room) or buy a bigger 5400rpm drive since in most cases I would be recording to an external drive?

Any thoughts?

 

[wrldwzrd89]

World Wizard is 100% wrong, check this link

You may find these test results helpful:

http://www.barefeats.com/hard96.html

Thanks for the link (and the correction). Learn something new every day I visit these forums 😀

 

[snf122]

no problem

haha just making sure people get the right information when making their purchases.

 

[Pixellated]

Heat, Noise

Also with the 7200RPM, you get increased noise and heat.

 

[snf122]

Pixellated is wrong as well...

Cmon people, please read the link before you post false information

 

[alphaod]

Additionally, the 7200 rpm drive WILL drain your battery faster. I'd stay away.

No it doesn't drain more power. It used to be a problem, but it is no longer.

Also with the 7200RPM, you get increased noise and heat.

Not in my experience.

 

[ryanrul]

I wanted a 7200 rpm drive as well, but decided against it because i was worried that customizing my MBP would make it more difficult to get a replacement unit (rather than a repair) if i my computer shipped with any problems right out of the box. I'm glad i did, because i'm on my 3rd MBP already in one week.

 

[alphaod]

I'm glad i did, because i'm on my 3rd MBP already in one week.

How can you be glad to getting a 3rd replacement.