I got my Macbook Pro 13"!

[eVolcre]

I recommend the 500GB Scorpio BLUE. Same performance as the smaller Black series but less vibration and more battery life. Do a search, there's a bunch of threads here on it

eV

 

[SephirothXR]

I've been wondering about the harddrive as I'm about to get a 13" MBP as well. I've heard of getting a WD 7200 rpm 500 GB HD for $94 on Newegg, but I also hear concerns that a 7200 rpm HD can create problems like hearing unusual sounds. How much will Intel's new SSD cost and how much space will it have? Honestly I think I might just get the 320 GB HD with the MBP unless the SSD will be a good investment.

 

[asianjello]

I recommend the 500GB Scorpio BLUE. Same performance as the smaller Black series but less vibration and more battery life. Do a search, there's a bunch of threads here on it

eV

I've done a couple searches right now and it said 7200 RPM is nothing but trouble and there really is no speed difference between the two speeds, but then I read somewhere else where it said there's a huge difference!
Now I don't know where to turn.

 

[eVolcre]

I've done a couple searches right now and it said 7200 RPM is nothing but trouble and there really is no speed difference between the two speeds, but then I read somewhere else where it said there's a huge difference!
Now I don't know where to turn.

It does make a huge difference if you're comparing smaller drive sizes. For example, a 7200 RPM 320GB WILL outperform a 5400 RPM 320GB drive.

It gets a little trickier when you look at the larger ones. I'm too lazy to find you the links but there were some studies done where they compared a 500 GB 5400 RPm to a 320GB 7200 RPM drive. Performance was similar, and in some cases, better.

It's got something to do with the larger platters on the bigger drives being compressed into a smaller space. Someone else can explain it.

What it comes down to is that yes, drive speed makes a difference but not at the larger sizes.

That is why I recommended a 500GB Scorpio BLUE. It's about 10 bucks more than a 320GB Scorpio Black. Same performance (because its larger) with less noise, vibration and more battery life.

eV

here you go ... same discussion from last night

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/734273/

Someone needs to make a sticky on this topic!

 

[SephirothXR]

I won't need 500 GB, and I won't be doing anything advanced with my MBP, but I'm still debating whether I should buy the 500 GB Scorpio or just have a 320 GB come with the MBP and be done with it. Btw the difference between these are SATA and ATA, what's the difference, and would getting the 7200rpm 500 GB SATA create any problems with the MBP (I've heard of people hearing things from the HD and whatnot).

 

[eVolcre]

I won't need 500 GB, and I won't be doing anything advanced with my MBP, but I'm still debating whether I should buy the 500 GB Scorpio or just have a 320 GB come with the MBP and be done with it. Btw the difference between these are SATA and ATA, what's the difference, and would getting the 7200rpm 500 GB SATA create any problems with the MBP (I've heard of people hearing things from the HD and whatnot).

Why would you pay a hundred bucks to upgrade the HD to a 5400 RPm 320GB drive from Apple?

Spend the same hundred and pick up the 500GB Scorpio Blue. I'm sure you'll need the space down the road. Or spend 70 and get a 7200 RPM 320GB drive.

It makes NO sense to upgrade using Apple.

eV

 

[asianjello]

It does make a huge difference if you're comparing smaller drive sizes. For example, a 7200 RPM 320GB WILL outperform a 5400 RPM 320GB drive.

It gets a little trickier when you look at the larger ones. I'm too lazy to find you the links but there were some studies done where they compared a 500 GB 5400 RPm to a 320GB 7200 RPM drive. Performance was similar, and in some cases, better.

It's got something to do with the larger platters on the bigger drives being compressed into a smaller space. Someone else can explain it.

What it comes down to is that yes, drive speed makes a difference but not at the larger sizes.

That is why I recommended a 500GB Scorpio BLUE. It's about 10 bucks more than a 320GB Scorpio Black. Same performance (because its larger) with less noise, vibration and more battery life.

eV

here you go ... same discussion from last night

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/734273/

Someone needs to make a sticky on this topic!

Thanks for the link! I'll get the 4GB Crucial and the Scorpio Blue when Newegg is nice enough to unfreeze my funds.

 

[antskip]

I won't need 500 GB, and I won't be doing anything advanced with my MBP, but I'm still debating whether I should buy the 500 GB Scorpio or just have a 320 GB come with the MBP and be done with it. Btw the difference between these are SATA and ATA, what's the difference, and would getting the 7200rpm 500 GB SATA create any problems with the MBP (I've heard of people hearing things from the HD and whatnot).

I would try the 320GB drive that comes with the machine first. You may actually like it! I received a 160GB 7200rpm drive with my machine, and thought I would prefer a 500GB WD Scorpio Blue 5400rpm drive. But found after trying both that I much preferred the 7200rpm. Found it quieter and a lower pitch (how often do reviewers review pitch?). So made the Scorpio Blue my backup HDD. Made sense - you want your backup drive to be the bigger of the two. Then I installed a OCZ Summit SSD, and there is far more similarity between the 5400 and the 7200 than between a HDD and a SSD. A distinct, revolutionary, qualitative change rather than a relative, quantitative one....

 

[thetrystero]

EFI 1.7 issues

Since you've bought your macbook pro (as have i), after the EFI firmware update, does that mean that third party harddrives are not gonna work ? There's lots of talk on the boards about how the new EFI update breaks drives, especially the WD500 blue.