Hard Drive Speed .. need help!

Discussion in 'Buying Tips, Advice and Discussion (archive)' started by machiker, May 19, 2005.

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  1. machiker, May 19, 2005

    machiker macrumors newbie

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    #1
    I'm trying to decide between a new Powerbook 1.67 Ghz, and the previous generation model the 1.5 Ghz.

    The speed upgrade dosen't matter to me, and my only concern is the hard drive speed. The 1.5 has a 4200 rpm internal hard drive, while the 1.67 has a 5400 rpm internal drive.

    I'll be using it mainly for internet, office tasks, and occasionally recording (my main studio computer is a G5). And I'll obviously also be using an external firewire drive for all audio.

    Will the 4200 rpm drive give me problems? If it's only running the OS and the application does it matter?

    The 1.5 model is about $450 less that's why I'm considering it.

    Thanks.
     
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  2. CanadaRAM, May 19, 2005

    CanadaRAM macrumors G5

    CanadaRAM

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    #2
    Alternative: Buy a Seagate Momentus 5400 or 7200 RPM and a 2.5" firewire case. Put the new drive in the case, clone the stock drive to the new drive, swap drives. Now you have higher speed, twice the storage, at half the cost.
     
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  3. mms, May 19, 2005

    mms macrumors 6502a

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    #3
    The 4200 isn't that slow that it's not usable. Of course there's a difference between that and the 5400, but for internet and office tasks, it really shouldn't make a substantial enough difference to warrant paying an extra couple hundred bucks. Starting up is probably the only part where you'll see major improvements but again, I personally don't think it would be worth the money. That's not to mention that the faster the drive, the more battery power it will eat up while on the go.
     
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  4. PlaceofDis, May 19, 2005

    PlaceofDis macrumors Core

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    #4
    not neccissarrly, the drive would hve to spin less so it would probably be about equal battery life
     
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  5. gekko513, May 19, 2005

    gekko513 macrumors 603

    gekko513

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    #5
    As long as you have enough RAM so that the disk doesn't have to swap memory a lot, you should be fine.
     
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  6. machiker, May 20, 2005

    machiker thread starter macrumors newbie

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    #6
    Thanks for the input.

    Another question. If I replace the 4200 rpm drive with a 5400 rpm (or even 7200 rpm) internal drive myself, does this void the warrenty on the Powerbook?
     
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  7. yellow, May 20, 2005

    yellow Moderator emeritus

    yellow

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    #7
    I think it does, yes..
     
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  8. Mechcozmo, May 20, 2005

    Mechcozmo macrumors 603

    Mechcozmo

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    #8

    If you pay Apple, then it doesn't. If you do it yourself, kiss the warranty good-bye.
     
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  9. machiker, May 20, 2005

    machiker thread starter macrumors newbie

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    #9
    OK,

    let's say I stay with the internal 4200 rpm drive, and record all audio to an external firewire 800 drive. Will the slower internal drive be a problem? All it will be doing is running the OS and Digital Performer. All read/write of digital audio will be done on the external drive.
     
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