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Is this a good hard drive upgrade?

Depends if you value performance or capacity more. I would personally never go back to a 5400rpm drive but then again I don't store heaps of movies or anything on my laptop.
The real question is do you need 500GB? If you don't then he smaller 7200rpm drives are cheaper and faster. Seagate have a 320GB 7200rpm drive out, not sure about WD's offerings.
 
okay. Yeah i suppose i could settle for a 320gb. what do you recommend for the 320 size?

If i were to go 320 and get the 7200rpm is there a considerable difference in speed?
 
i would get the wd 500gb. i heard the 7200rpm produces more heat, noise and vibration compared to 5400rmp. i want my macbook to be noise and heat free.

getting my macbook 2.4 this weekend and upgrade my HD to the WD 500gb.
 
YOKOJP said:
i would get the wd 500gb. i heard the 7200rpm produces more heat, noise and vibration compared to 5400rmp. i want my macbook to be noise and heat free.

getting my macbook 2.4 this weekend and upgrade my HD to the WD 500gb.
Click to expand...

I have a Seagate 7200.2 in my notebook and you can't hear or feel anything unless you put your ear right up to the palm rest where the hdd is. As for heat well I can't feel any difference and the fan doesn't seem to spin up any more than when I have had 5400 drives. I think the whole noisier/hotter thing is just rumour mostly... and if you look at the specs you will notice the power consumption of the Seagate 7200 is actually less than the WD 5400.

And to the OP, yes that drive you linked is the same one. The Seagate 7200.3 series.
 
Kane.Elson said:
I have a Seagate 7200.2 in my notebook and you can't hear or feel anything unless you put your ear right up to the palm rest where the hdd is. As for heat well I can't feel any difference and the fan doesn't seem to spin up any more than when I have had 5400 drives. I think the whole noisier/hotter thing is just rumour mostly... and if you look at the specs you will notice the power consumption of the Seagate 7200 is actually less than the WD 5400.

And to the OP, yes that drive you linked is the same one. The Seagate 7200.3 series.
Click to expand...

thanks for the info. i heard from the other post that the seagate 7200 produces way too much noise that he had to replace it with the stock HD (5400rpm).
 
wd scorpio black 320 gig 7200

Bought the above drive from best buy for way too much money (damn brick and mortar stores and their instant gratification). Relatively quick and painless installation. Boot time and application launch times noticeably quicker. First launch of opera only takes 1 1/2 to to bounces. Will run x bench and give further data later on.
 
So what should it be.

The fast 320 or Big 500?

is the 7200 a huge difference? I can see the results but day to day use is it considerably noticeable?
 
The WD5000BEVT comes close to the Seagate 7200.3 transfer rates because it has a higher data density (250GB per platter). The Seagate 7200.3 has faster acces times.

In heavy multitasking the 7200.3 will probably be faster. Unfortunately there are only HDTune becnhmarks available on the WD5000bevt performance.

Power consumption will be similar. The WD will be quieter.
 
l3ebs said:
So what should it be.

The fast 320 or Big 500?

is the 7200 a huge difference? I can see the results but day to day use is it considerably noticeable?
Click to expand...

Well, you tell us... what do you need more - speed or space?

I'd personally go space, but that's because I have waay too many photos :)
 
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