Difference in 7200rpm HDD & Hybrid SSD/HDD @ 5400rpm on a Mid-2010 i5 MBP (a/v apps)

[sullen]

I'm going to upgrade my RAM and HD on my 15" i5 mid2010.

It's the 2.4g i5, 4GB, 320GB 5400RPM Hitachi.

So I'm deciding between the 1tb WD scorpio black and hitachi travelstar,
Both are very similar, 7200RPM HDDs. No real big issue picking one of these

What I'm also considering and would like to hear some input from you guys who are more informed on tech than I.....
For 20$ more, the new Seagate 'SSHD' "hybrid" drive is the other option.
I was all but sold, and figured it couldnt be worse and for only 20$, i don't have much to lose...
Then I realized the HD part of the drive is only 5400RPM.

I really don't have complaints with the current 5400rpm stock drive, I just want a bit more storage. However since I'm upgrading and upgrading the memory, might as well get what I can in terms of HD performance while I have the computer in surgery.

So what will have better usability? A 7200HDD or a 5400SSHD.

Aside from just web browsing, listening to music, and email.
Primarily the machine is used for viewing video on VLC>Minidisplay>HDMI
and various Audio and MIDI apps and DAWs, Logic, Reason, Native Instruments products, etc etc etc.

Don't really do any video production, and very little photo editing.
Streaming video to my TV and playing my synths through it is pretty much 95% of the use this machine sees....

Whats the better choice here? 7200HDD or 5400SSHD.
I don't really want to go with a SSD at this point in time.
I know they are the best, but I have my reasons.
Open to one in the future for sure, but not now, not on this machine.

 

[swunderful]

I'm going to upgrade my RAM and HD on my 15" i5 mid2010.

It's the 2.4g i5, 4GB, 320GB 5400RPM Hitachi.

So I'm deciding between the 1tb WD scorpio black and hitachi travelstar,
Both are very similar, 7200RPM HDDs. No real big issue picking one of these

What I'm also considering and would like to hear some input from you guys who are more informed on tech than I.....
For 20$ more, the new Seagate 'SSHD' "hybrid" drive is the other option.
I was all but sold, and figured it couldnt be worse and for only 20$, i don't have much to lose...
Then I realized the HD part of the drive is only 5400RPM.

I really don't have complaints with the current 5400rpm stock drive, I just want a bit more storage. However since I'm upgrading and upgrading the memory, might as well get what I can in terms of HD performance while I have the computer in surgery.

So what will have better usability? A 7200HDD or a 5400SSHD.

Aside from just web browsing, listening to music, and email.
Primarily the machine is used for viewing video on VLC>Minidisplay>HDMI
and various Audio and MIDI apps and DAWs, Logic, Reason, Native Instruments products, etc etc etc.

Don't really do any video production, and very little photo editing.
Streaming video to my TV and playing my synths through it is pretty much 95% of the use this machine sees....

Whats the better choice here? 7200HDD or 5400SSHD.
I don't really want to go with a SSD at this point in time.
I know they are the best, but I have my reasons.
Open to one in the future for sure, but not now, not on this machine.

By the numbers, a typical speed of a 5400RPM would be around 80 read/60 write approx.

A 7200RPM - 100-110 read, 80-90 write. This is all mb/s.

How big is the sad portion of the hybrid? Enough to install ML onto and some programs? If it's really small I never saw the point.

However SSD's are much faster. It's noticeable vs 7200/5400. The difference between a 5400/7200 is not THAT different. The 5400's are pretty damn slow though.

Depending on the size of the SSD portion of the hybrid that's how I would decide. If the SSD portion is enough I'd go hybrid, it's only something dumb like 8GB, I'd go 7200 RPM because 8GB is useless.

 

[cube]

8GB of flash is not useless. I had both generations of Momentus XT and the first one only had 4GB. Both were the only hard drives to provide me with a smooth experience with my MBPs.

I now have a Travelstar 7K1000 because it became available before the 1TB hybrids, but I think in my case (big virtualisation), the 7200RPM trumps the flash, so I won't be getting a 5400RPM hybrid with only 1TB capacity.

If you're happy with your current 5400RPM, I think it's better for you to go for the hybrid if you're not moving massive amounts of data. The machine becomes very snappy.