Does my Mac mini have a 5400rpm 80GB HD?

[cheekyspanky]

Hello, can someone shed some light on whether or not my Mac mini has the 5400rpm hard disc?

My system profile shows the drive as an ST9808210A, which I have Googled for and it's supposed to be a Seagate 4200rpm according to this site:http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/marketing/detail/0,1081,638,00.html

But if you click on the link to the left; PDF Downloads: Datasheet and look at the spec's listed on page two, it shows the speed of the drive (Next to Performance Level) - but has a little number 2 next to it, which then nearer the bottom of the page says "Actual Spin Speed is 5400RPM"

So do you think the drive is a 4200 or a 5400?

 

[Jo-Kun]

maybe its a 4800 speed 😉 in the middle between them??

don't you think if it were a 5400 they would say the 5400rpm drive and not the 4200 rpm?? maybe its faster so it can compete with 5400rpm drives in speed but doing it at 4200?? like AMD does with processors: not telling the real Ghz but saying what its speeds are compared to Intel?

 

[Passante]

looks like a 4200

How do you like your mini?

 

[emotion]

if the mini shipped with the 80GB as a 5400 (like the 40 is believe it or not) then i'd be tempted.

i need the 5400 for audio

 

[za9ra22]

I'm not sure I understand why anyone really cares what the drive speed is - after all, iBooks and PBs have been built with 4800rpm drives for a long time now, and extensively used to owners' satisfaction for a whole range of purposes.

 

[iGary]

This month's Macworld addresses this - the 80gb drive is 4200 and the 40gb is 5400.

 

[ldburroughs]

maybe its a 4800 speed 😉 in the middle between them??

don't you think if it were a 5400 they would say the 5400rpm drive and not the 4200 rpm?? maybe its faster so it can compete with 5400rpm drives in speed but doing it at 4200?? like AMD does with processors: not telling the real Ghz but saying what its speeds are compared to Intel?

Minor point: AMD does tell the actual speed of its processors. It chooses not to advertise on that level because it tends to confuse consumers. Intel had everyone thinking the only way to measure a computer's performance is to increase the speed of the processor. Even though my AMD 64 says 3000+, it also clearly states 2GHz. Again, its a minor point.

 

[cheekyspanky]

looks like a 4200

How do you like your mini?

It's great! My first Mac and I feel completely at ease using it already - I've found some things a little confusing (mainly due to not knowing where an option is etc) but mostly it's been good!

I'm not really bothered by the drive speed - I'm just intrigued as to why it says 4200rpm as the speed..but then says actual speed is 5400rpm! Whatever hard drive it has it seems to be quick enough I think - a little slow installing big files like iLife 05, but other than that I haven't really felt slowed down by it!