Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

13" Macbook Pro Hard drive upgrade 5400 vs 7200

M

mp33l

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 21, 2009
1
0
Hello people,

Just bought the new 13" Macbook Pro, which i am loving! My first mac!

I bought the 2.26 model with the intention of upgrading the ram and hd myself and saving some money.

Anyway i was looking at putting a 320gb 7200rpm drive in, but the guy at the store said apple dont recommend putting 7200rpm drives in the 13" models because it can cause them to overheat and should stick to 5400rpm.

So should i stick to 5400 or will 7200 be fine?

Also any recommendations on a drive? I was looking at ST9320421AS

Thanks!
 
I'm also interested in this. Would the 7200 drive cause more vibration and noise?
 
Get a 500GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue. Don't get a 7200RPM drive, the marginal speed increase is heavily outeighed by the increased noise and reduced battery life.
 
I upgraded my macbook HD to a 320gb 7200 rpm unit about 4 months back.

Ive not had any issues with overheating.

It was very simple to do aswell
 
I got a 320GB 7200RPM Wester Digital Scorpio Black, and while I haven't done any tests or anything, I'm sure it runs a little cooler than the stock 250GB one.

Definitely isn't louder, either.
 
Um... that's another example of apple employees not knowing what they're talking about. The higher speed drives do create slightly more noise, vibration, and have a higher power consumption, but I don't think any of them are going to be particularly noticeable.
 
I would also recommend getting the 500GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue. Not because it has better battery life, but because it is cheaper. You get more bang for your buck. However, the Scorpio Blue is much more efficient and faster compared to other 5400 rpm drives. It is also true that a 7200 rpm drive doesn't decrease battery life. It is a common myth that is false. 7200 rpm drives are much louder which may or may not be an important factor to you.
 
How is the hdd replacement on the new 13.3 MBP? I tried looking for a guide but the laptop is fairly new.

Trying to decide on a 13.3 or 15" to replace my current 15" MBP Rev. C.
 
I think the general consensus is that the WD Scorpio Blue is the best bang for the buck, currently on the market.

Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
mp33l said:
Hello people,

So should i stick to 5400 or will 7200 be fine?
Click to expand...

I ordered the 500 GB 7200 RPM drive from Seagate, and promptly returned it because the vibration and noise were too loud in my 15" unibody (and I had previously had the 7200 RPM 320 GB stock drive). I returned it for the Western Digital Scorpio Blue, 500 GB @ 5200 RPM. All of the reviews put it at the same or better speed than the Seagate drive, with less noise and vibration and much lower cost.

$89.99 on NewEgg with free shipping: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136314
 
I have the 320GB WD Scorpio Black (7200 RPM) on my unibody Macbook. While it may be louder and vibrate more than a 5400RPM drive, there is no difference that I am able to notice. I am not so sure about power consumption as I didn't really test this before changing the drive.

Nevertheless, I am completely satisfied with this drive and have no complaints whatsoever. I intend to keep my Scorpio Black for a couple of years, and then swap it for a 1TB SSD with a read speed of more than 3Gbps. Oh yeah, that SATA-II thing comes in quite handy now, eh? :D
 
catachip said:
I ordered the 500 GB 7200 RPM drive from Seagate, and promptly returned it because the vibration and noise were too loud in my 15" unibody (and I had previously had the 7200 RPM 320 GB stock drive). I returned it for the Western Digital Scorpio Blue, 500 GB @ 5200 RPM. All of the reviews put it at the same or better speed than the Seagate drive, with less noise and vibration and much lower cost.

$89.99 on NewEgg with free shipping: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136314
Click to expand...

Not doubting your experience, but I have the same drive and it is the quietest HD I have used, with the possible exception of a 160gb Seagate I used to have. This drive has been in the early 2009 White MB and is now in a new MB Pro 13. YMMV...

I may pick up a WD Scorpio Blue 500gb to throw in an enclosure though...
 
sovereign said:
Not doubting your experience, but I have the same drive and it is the quietest HD I have used, with the possible exception of a 160gb Seagate I used to have. This drive has been in the early 2009 White MB and is now in a new MB Pro 13. YMMV...

I may pick up a WD Scorpio Blue 500gb to throw in an enclosure though...
Click to expand...

Yeah, it very well might be a combination of the different architecture in the 13 and 15 inch models as well as personal tolerance. The speed/price argument is pretty objective though, especially considering this very comprehensive review from The Tech Report: http://techreport.com/articles.x/17010
 
hldomster said:
Get a 500GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue. Don't get a 7200RPM drive, the marginal speed increase is heavily outeighed by the increased noise and reduced battery life.
Click to expand...

Here I am using a Seagate 500GB 7200rpm drive with my 13" mbp

no noise, no vibration and no decrease in battery life except maybe 10 minutes.

Don't get caught up with urban legends as the 7200rpm drives are noisy and decrease battery life.
 
I don't see why a 7,200 rpm hard drive would not decrease battery life. Assuming the actual hard disk platters are the same size and weight, moving them at a faster rotational speed would require more energy, hence more battery power consumed.

I'm planning on getting the Hitachi 5k500.B from Newegg. Some Western Digital drives make a very irritating clicking noise, like the one in my Dell Studio 1537, and I'm hoping the new Hitachi will be as quiet as the 160gb stock Hitachi that came in my MBP 13.
 
buckeye17 said:
I don't see why a 7,200 rpm hard drive would not decrease battery life. Assuming the actual hard disk platters are the same size and weight, moving them at a faster rotational speed would require more energy, hence more battery power consumed.

I'm planning on getting the Hitachi 5k500.B from Newegg. Some Western Digital drives make a very irritating clicking noise, like the one in my Dell Studio 1537, and I'm hoping the new Hitachi will be as quiet as the 160gb stock Hitachi that came in my MBP 13.
Click to expand...

There is a very miniscule difference in battery life, however it is not noticeable at all. The power consumption difference is so small that you would never notice it. There wouldn't even be a difference of a minute in battery life.
 
Anaxarxes said:
Here I am using a Seagate 500GB 7200rpm drive with my 13" mbp

no noise, no vibration and no decrease in battery life except maybe 10 minutes.

Don't get caught up with urban legends as the 7200rpm drives are noisy and decrease battery life.
Click to expand...
Same experience here. In my case the the only difference I've noticed with my 7200rpm is increased speed.
 
Hey guys, this thread has been most helpful in helping me decide what to do with my new macbook pro 13.

My only concern was battery life and since this is not going to be a major issue I think I'll probably be upgrading to a 7200rpm hd. Now, I have a Western Digital Element 400GB 7200rpm external hd sitting around collecting dust and I was wondering if there is anything that would prevent me from swapping out the 160GB 5200RPM hd that came with the mac with that.

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digit...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1247337156&sr=8-1

I am guessing it should be possible to take it out of the enclosure and that would save me a few bucks because I'm hardly using this external hd which I only purchased because I got it for a really good price.

And my next question as a first time mac owner is, how hard is it going to be to reinstall all the drivers. I've had thinkpads and dells in the past and my experience with drivers has been mixed after reinstalling windows.

Thanks in advance.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Macbook Pro 13 inch + 2tb internal hard drive

Hey guys I was looking to get a 2TB hard drive for my 13 inch macbook pro, 7200 rpm 64 mb, sata3g, its WD Caviar Black. I wanted to know if this is at all possible to install, I have been looking online and I feel that maybe it's a little too much space for the macbook pro 13 inch? Is there a limit, Im not sure?

Thanks I will take any kind of advice you send, I can see that the battery life might not work up to par with a 7200 rpm internal drive with this macbook, but I still feel that I'll have my laptop plugged in most of the time, it's just a matter of speed and space.
 
Hi

hello, I have a question
If I changed the hard drive, then my macbook pro will lost all of its memory right? so what will happened to my snow leopard software? can I install it again? from where? :confused:

Sorry for this stupid question, I'm new in mac world.. :eek:
 
JasonTeja said:
hello, I have a question
If I changed the hard drive, then my macbook pro will lost all of its memory right? so what will happened to my snow leopard software? can I install it again? from where? :confused:

Sorry for this stupid question, I'm new in mac world.. :eek:
Click to expand...

Several options from complete reinstall to cloning. I typically put the new drive in a USB enclosure, partition/erase it, clone it with Carbon Copy Cloner, then just reinstall. All the data and programs are there, ready to go.

If you are having some problems and suspect that you have some corruption or a bad install - just install the drive and reinstall Snow Leopard.
 
Where can i buy the 1tb hard drive?

can you guys send me a link where i can buy a 1tb internal hard drive for the macbook pro 13"?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back