Originally posted by AmbitiousLemon
laptops take 2.5" hard drives. the 3.5" drives you see are for desktops.
ibm is realy the only quality manufacturer of 2.5" hard drives. the drive in your computer is either a toshiba or ibm.
if you want a performance boost in addition to size then purchase a 5400rpm hard drive. standard 2.5" hard drives run at 4200rpms (compare that to the standard 7200rpms of desktops). a 5400rpm drive will give you a modest but noticable performance boost in addition to delivering more space. the other advantage of purchasing a 5400rpm drive is that since these are high end drives they incorporate other high end features that deliver quieter performance and longer battery life. the negative aspect of these drives is that you definitely pay a premium for them ($$$), however with any laptop drive you pay much more than you would if the drive were a full 3.5" drive.
my thought on the situation comes down to this: you are dropping at least a $100 for this drive. if you decide to go cheap you get the storage space and spend ~$100. If you splurge you will spend $130-$200 and get storage space, perfromance boost, quiet computing, and longer battery life. But you will pay a few extra bucks (depending on what drive you choose to get 32GB, 48GB or 60GB, and whether you pay shipping and tax).
there are also come good diagramed and pphotographed tutorials for installing drives in those computers (your computer is called a lombard) if you need them.
