Getting new iBook, but...

[Xeem]

Well, I have finally scraped together enough money for a new 12" iBook and some extras (I already have an extra gig of RAM). My biggest problem is that because I will be playing WoW and other games, I really want a faster hard drive than the 4200 rpm that it ships with, but I don't want to void the warranty (just call me paranoid). After doing a little searching in the forums, I've found several people saying an Apple certified tech can install the new HD for me without voiding the warranty on any other part of the iBook, but I went to an Apple store, and the "genius" said that they couldn't install anything they don't sell. Unfortunately, this same "genius" refused to believe me when I told him 7200 rpm laptop drives existed, thus ruining his credibility in my eyes. The "nonexistent" Hitachi 7k60 I'm looking at is here. http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/site/en/menuitem.c8c3966a526cfb5deb4703e3aac4f0a0/
Can I get a definite answer about the warranty, hopefully from someone that has had an iBook hard drive replaced?

 

[shadowmoses]

Well, I have finally scraped together enough money for a new 12" iBook and some extras (I already have an extra gig of RAM). My biggest problem is that because I will be playing WoW and other games, I really want a faster hard drive than the 4200 rpm that it ships with, but I don't want to void the warranty (just call me paranoid). After doing a little searching in the forums, I've found several people saying an Apple certified tech can install the new HD for me without voiding the warranty on any other part of the iBook, but I went to an Apple store, and the "genius" said that they couldn't install anything they don't sell. Unfortunately, this same "genius" refused to believe me when I told him 7200 rpm laptop drives existed, thus ruining his credibility in my eyes. The "nonexistent" Hitachi 7k60 I'm looking at is here. http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/site/en/menuitem.c8c3966a526cfb5deb4703e3aac4f0a0/
Can I get a definite answer about the warranty, hopefully from someone that has had an iBook hard drive replaced?

An apple store wont do the job for you because as you said they don't install what they don't sell, but any authorised mac service center will probably do the job for you all be it charge you a hour or two labour which may make the whole thing work out very expensive...

Call around your local area to mac service centres and ask them how much it would cost to fit the HD inside your iBook...

SHadOW

 

[Voidness]

You might be interested to read this about the differences in performance between 4200, 5400, and 7200 RPM:

http://www.barefeats.com/pb12.html

The 5400 and 7200 are pretty close, according to the site. But it's strange that even though the 7200 RPM is a lot faster than 5400 RPM in writing, the 5400 RPM is a lot faster in reading.

 

[Voidness]

You might be interested to read this about the differences in performance between 4200, 5400, and 7200 RPM:

http://www.barefeats.com/pb12.html

The 5400 and 7200 are pretty close, according to the site. But it's strange that even though the 7200 RPM is a lot faster than 5400 RPM in writing, the 5400 RPM is a lot faster in reading.

I'm writing this on a new iBook 12" right now, and I think you should definitely get a faster hard drive. I think I'll do so next year.

Edit: Oops! I thought I pressed the edit button! Sorry...

 

[iEdd]

5400 is the best option I think.
-Fastest read time
-Medium write time
-Medium noise
-Medium power consumption and heat
-Medium cost

(compared to 4500 and 7200)
^I think the above is accurate.. I remember something about not putting 7200s in laptops.. It was ages ago maybe call for help or screen savers, can't remember the reason though..

 

[Xeem]

Thanks for the responses. I'll start shopping around to see how much installation will cost. If it's too much, I'll probably just do it myself. 4200 rpm is unacceptable; I already have a 5400 rpm drive I could use, but it has been heavily used for years so I'll probably buy a new drive anyway.

 

[panda]

really?

Thanks for the responses. I'll start shopping around to see how much installation will cost. If it's too much, I'll probably just do it myself. 4200 rpm is unacceptable; I already have a 5400 rpm drive I could use, but it has been heavily used for years so I'll probably buy a new drive anyway.

doesn't doing the installation yourself, obviate your first premise of not voiding the warranty?

from the contributions above, it seems like anything more than a 5400 is not going to make a huge difference.

so, (and excuse my ignorance here)....

-if speed is your perrogative, why not just put in even more ram?
-if the premise is "i gotta have either a 5400 or 7200 and i will pay to have it installed"... why not go for the powerbook, especially if the installation + hd cost is going to be more than a couple of hundred dollars?

i love my ibook and it is old (i don't game). but if you need the speed, the pb option could be a no-brainer. more speed, more everything.

make sense?