I haven't read any of the other posts. I'm sure most of them given the good advice of getting a 7200rpm drive. They're far snappier and overall better performing than the 5200.
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MacBook Pro 5200 vs 7200rpm drives
- Thread starter peejack
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Ok so now that we established that 7200rpm is the way to go, which is the better option; buying the BTO apple 7200rpm or buying the cheapest 5400rpm and seperately purchasing a WD 7200rpm Black drive?
I'm asking this based purely on performance gains, money is not a concern.
I'm asking this based purely on performance gains, money is not a concern.
Ok so now that we established that 7200rpm is the way to go, which is the better option; buying the BTO apple 7200rpm or buying the cheapest 5400rpm and seperately purchasing a WD 7200rpm Black drive?
I'm asking this based purely on performance gains, money is not a concern.
If money is no object, and you're willing to open up your (new) laptop, get a hard drive from someone other than Apple. Apple most likely will put a quality drive in their Macbook Pro as it's a pro machine, but you can be sure if you buy the hard drive yourself.
Ok so now that we established that 7200rpm is the way to go, which is the better option; buying the BTO apple 7200rpm or buying the cheapest 5400rpm and seperately purchasing a WD 7200rpm Black drive?
I'm asking this based purely on performance gains, money is not a concern.
Better off not buying the BTO from Apple. First, I don't think they offer a 500 GB 7200 RPM option, second, because you wouldn't get to pick the drive manufacturer, and third, because it's more expensive.
Buy the smallest hard drive possible from Apple, and separately purchase a 7200 RPM 500 GB drive. FWIW, I'm pretty sure the Seagate 7200.4's outperform the WD Black's.
The bonus is you slap the old HD in an external enclosure, and you've got a time machine drive! All for less than the BTO would have cost you.
the new 7200rpm drives are silent and cool. The only noise I hear on the new UMBP comes from the optical drive when in use.
I think if you opt to buy a 500 GB 7200 rpm drive, you won't get to pick the manufacturer either... it'll have to be a Seagate - at least so far
Seagate's 7200rpm 500gig drive will outperform a WD Scorpio Black 7200 drive mainly because it's a 500gig drive vs. a 320gig or smaller WD drive. Even WD's 500gig Scorpio Blue (5400rpm) performs on par, and in some parameters even better than their own 7200rpm 320gig drive. The denser platters add speed, especially when the drive is less than half-full. If and when WD releases a 500gig Scorpio Black model, it'll probably be very competitive with the Seagate.
The only issue with taking a small internal drive and removing it to use as a Time Machine drive when you plug a 500 gig drive into your MBP is that it won't last long as a TM... I tried it, and quickly realized when I had all the extra space that I started filling it up. Now a 320gig external drive is reaching it's limits as a TM backup and I still have 200 gig left to fill on my internal drive.