Macbook Hard Drive: 120 gb or 160 gb?

[Veritas&Equitas]

Heya all...I've got a Macbook on the way that has an 80 gb 7200 rpm hard drive. Now, I plan on getting an external enclosure and using it as an extra external hard drive for movies, etc. My problem is trying to decide between the 120 gb hard drive ($130), or the 160 ($180) for my Macbook.

Does anyone have either? I just am trying to worry if the space justifies the extra $50. I know many people will just say, "Oh dude! Just get the bigger one!" But I truthfully only had about 75 gb of stuff on my last Powerbook (not many movies though, 32 gb of music)...I don't do that much video editing/psing either, so I don't need TONS of space for raw mpeg2 or RAW/tiff files. Yet, I plan on installing Windows...so I might need more space, but how much? Do you guys think it's worth it to go for the 160? Thanks for your advice!

 

[fivetoadsloth]

Hard drives are continuing to go down in price so id say get the 120 and if you need more space later you can always get another external.

 

[plinden]

Get the largest hard drive you can afford. You are going fill it up.

I bought my iMac with only the 160GB HD because I didn't think I would need it (I had a 40GB Windows PC previously) and ended up having to get an external drive because I'm doing a lot more home videos now since it's so much easier to work with video on the Mac.

You'll find something to fill it up, even if it's just ripping DVDs.

 

[WildCowboy]

Oh dude! Just get the bigger one!

Seriously, with 75 GB on your old system, plus another ~20 GB for a Windows partition, plus the emerging movie market, you'd likely find yourself bumping up against the 120 GB ceiling pretty quickly. I'd definitely go for the 160 GB drive.

 

[seabass069]

I wouldn't pay for either of those. I would buy an enclosure case and then go to Best Buy and pick up a clearence drive for the enclosure. I just bought a WD 7200 rpm 250g drive for $79. They were on clearence.

 

[Veritas&Equitas]

I wouldn't pay for either of those. I would buy an enclosure case and then go to Best Buy and pick up a clearence drive for the enclosure. I just bought a WD 7200 rpm 250g drive for $79. They were on clearence.

Thanks for all the replies so far! Actually, seabass069, I was thinking about that, but I don't know if I'd want to always lug around a 250 gb drive when I go to class, library, moot court, etc. That's why I was thinking against that idea...

 

[hayduke]

People are gases. They fill up whatever space they are alloted. If you buy the 120GB you'll fill it up at some point and you'll begin to get creative aboue archiving stuff to DVDs or whatever. If you buy the 160GB the same thing will happen, just at a later date. The one thing you might consider is the disk RPM. A higher RPM will reduce disk access times and may make your system feel a bit snappier. I don't think the 160GB drives are available in as high an RPM as the 120GB drives.

 

[Veritas&Equitas]

A higher RPM will reduce disk access times and may make your system feel a bit snappier. I don't think the 160GB drives are available in as high an RPM as the 120GB drives.

Good points, but actually, they are both 5400 rpm. I don't think they make 2.5'' SATA 120 gb 7200 rpm drives, at least I've never seen one. Plus, I don't know if the drain on the battery life/heat would be worth it to get a 7200 rpm drive?

 

[CrackedButter]

I'm waiting for a faster higher spec drive. 120GB or 160GB 7200rpm drive in a 12" PB sounds sweet.

 

[Temujin]

I'm waiting for a faster higher spec drive. 120GB or 160GB 7200rpm drive in a 12" PB sounds sweet.

160GB 7200 rpm sounds sweet in any laptop I'm playing the waiting game too.

 

[islandman]

Definitely go for the bigger drive, AND also consider getting an enclosure as well. As everyone seems to agree, videos, music, and other media will fill up your drive very quickly. I currently have almost 1TB of storage at home, and it's almost full!

 

[Veritas&Equitas]

I do have a lot of space, I've got 1.5 TB hovering around my desktop with both it's internal and external. But based on most of your comments, it looks like I'm going for the 160?? Also, those waiting on the 7200, I think you might be waiting awhile....

 

[miles01110]

Thanks for all the replies so far! Actually, seabass069, I was thinking about that, but I don't know if I'd want to always lug around a 250 gb drive when I go to class, library, moot court, etc. That's why I was thinking against that idea...

Why would you lug around an external drive?

I think seabass' suggestion is the best one- save the money and just buy a stock hard drive in the Macbook for your essential files, and keep all of the big stuff (movies, music, pictures) on a reliable external drive like Seagate. You'll get twice as much space for your money, and it's not any less convenient if you're at your desk.

Odds are you aren't going to go to the park, sit down, and watch an entire season of LOST anyways...although that sounds like a really good idea to me at the moment...