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Laptop Hard drives: 5400 vs 7200 pros/cons

yertle

yertle

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 13, 2010
32
0
I lean to the standard drive at 5400 rpm. Why? All my video editing is done with an external firewire drive, and I think the 7200 generates more heat than the 5400.

For web design I don't see how a 7200 speed is much of a benefit, considering the extra heat generated may negate the benefit of a faster drive. I think heat (and dust) is the bane of all electronics.

I'm fixing to order the 15" i7 and will use it for running Adobe CS5 web suite. Final Cut Pro for video- and will use a firewire drive.

So, is there any glaring error in my logic that leads me to stick with a standard speed drive? Solid State is out of the question, too pricey for me.

Your thoughts?
 
There is no con on getting a 7200 what so ever. In fact i would highly recommend getting a 7200 only.
 
Hitachi 500G 7200

No firm numbers but I recently put in a Hitachi 500G 7200 drive and it seems that my battery life has dropped off quite a bit. I used to go 4 hours or so and now am lucky if I get 2:30.

Not sure why but I wanted the speed so I'm living with it.
 
miles01110 said:
Why is heat even an issue for someone like you? Isn't the machine used primarily on a desk?
Click to expand...

Nope. Primarily it's in my lap while I sit on the couch. Actually, I like to cross my leg and rest it there. Takes a lot of yoga to work the cramps out.

Moving on, I see some people think the 7200 is a no brainer? Money isn't an issue deciding between the 5400 and 7200. So, there's no decent reason to not get the 7200?
 
For the average user 5400 is perfectly fine, you won't really notice any difference. For Pro's 7200s are very nice, but not really an absolute necessity, the gap between the two isn't as great as it used to be.
 
7200 is totally worth it

bobm said:
No firm numbers but I recently put in a Hitachi 500G 7200 drive and it seems that my battery life has dropped off quite a bit. I used to go 4 hours or so and now am lucky if I get 2:30.

Not sure why but I wanted the speed so I'm living with it.
Click to expand...

That much battery drain is not caused by the new HDD. The biggest difference in power consumption you'll see from different laptop hard drives is about 1/2 a watt - and often something more like 1/4 watt. An extra 1/2 watt of power draw would probably reduce your battery life by 15-20 minutes *at most* over an 8-hour charge, and often much less than that.

I think the 7200RPM drive is a no-brainer. The hard drive is the slowest thing in a computer today - disk performance is the bottleneck.

For web design I don't see how a 7200 speed is much of a benefit, considering the extra heat generated may negate the benefit of a faster drive. I think heat (and dust) is the bane of all electronics.
Click to expand...

For web design, are you going to be reading files off your disk? Of course you are. Plus you're going to be launching apps - which are stored on the disk - and those apps are going to use virtual memory - which is stored on the disk.

The heat does not in any way "negate" the benefit of the faster drive, except for the minimal decrease in battery life I mentioned earlier. The HDDs in Macs are operating well within their thermal capabilities.
 
I have the 7200 rpm drive (500gb) in my 17" MBP. It is quiet and does not run hot. And I still get over 8 hours of battery life. Couldn't be happier.
 
mattrothcline said:
That much battery drain is not caused by the new HDD. The biggest difference in power consumption you'll see from different laptop hard drives is about 1/2 a watt - and often something more like 1/4 watt. An extra 1/2 watt of power draw would probably reduce your battery life by 15-20 minutes *at most* over an 8-hour charge, and often much less than that....
Click to expand...

Said the same thing myself in another thread :)
 
Thanks, you guys have solved my dilemma.

I was thinking that somehow the 5400's were somehow more stable/beneficial. But now I am thinking that's just over thinking it.
 
Although some newbies find it amusing, there are some 7200 rpm drives with noticeable vibration.

As soon as you take graphic applications into consideration, getting a 7200 rpm is a must, in my opinion. There is hardly any premium, but a faster HDD insures happiness and we all want to be happy, right?

Get either a Seagate or a Scorpion (Blue/Black, doesn't matter that much). Get one with big buffer and a free-fall sensor! I have a 320GB Seagate and I paid something like $70 for it last summer, including shipping. Apparently, it only draws marginally (1%) more power than the 5400 rpm equivalent and there is no extra heat either.

I think the Pros and Cons start at considering an SSD today. But don't!
 
Thanks everyone for the input.

I will go for the 7200, considering I use CS4 a lot. CS5 once it's released.

Some of you recommend installing a 3rd party hard drive upgrade. Is this because you can achieve better performance than the 7200 that ships from Apple? Or because you can sane some money? Or both?

I'm not comfortable with opening up laptops and doing any work inside, especially with these $$$$ macbooks. Too nervous!

So, is there a compelling reason to open the machine up and start switching drives? I've always assumed whatever Apple shipped was optimized for the laptop in general. Can I not only save money but improve performance above and beyond what Apple offers if I replace/upgrade the 5400 to 7200 on my own?
 
I upgraded my HD in my MBP from a 5400 to a 7200 rpm. Program open more quickly, but there is a touch more vibration and noise. As well, my battery life decreased just a tad. I may have lost about 30 mins on my battery life.
 
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