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NOISE FACTOR: 5400rpm vs 7200rmp
- Thread starter sportsfan1234
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Mine arrived today, now I just need to wait till thursday for my MBP to arrive to install it.My experience was different. I found the stock 5400 rpm drive in my 15" to be acceptable. I replaced this with a Seagate 7200 rpm drive, and the vibration was pronounced, sufficiently so that I returned the drive. I tried a second 7200 rpm drive, and while better, it still had unacceptable vibration. I ended up going with an SSD, and my machine is dead-still and quiet now. I think each 7200 rpm drive is an individual, and some are ok, while others vibrate. This may or may-not be an issue for you. YMMV.
This dilemma sucks. I want my computer to go as fast as possible ( I hate when my computer is slow b/c of limewire, ppt, youtube, and poker open all at the same time ) but on the other hand I would find a loud computer annoying as hell. Is the speed difference between the 5400 and the 7200 THAT much ???
My 13" Pro was delivered with a 5400RPM Hitachi drive which was almost inaudible. Really quiet drive.
To get a little more speed I replaced it with a 7200RPM WD Black, which I replaced a few weeks later with a decent SSD.
The 7200RPM drive was really loud and resulted in slight vibrations of the whole laptop, the speed difference to the stock 5400RPM drive was totally neglectable. The MacBook with the fast drive was even louder than the Mac Pro under my desk.
Absolutely not worth it if you ask me.
If you want speed, get a SSD! If you don't want to jump on the SSD train yet, buy a large drive with 5400RPM, anything around 640-1TB. They are faster than any smaller 7200RPM drive and almost inaudible.
To get a little more speed I replaced it with a 7200RPM WD Black, which I replaced a few weeks later with a decent SSD.
The 7200RPM drive was really loud and resulted in slight vibrations of the whole laptop, the speed difference to the stock 5400RPM drive was totally neglectable. The MacBook with the fast drive was even louder than the Mac Pro under my desk.
Absolutely not worth it if you ask me.
If you want speed, get a SSD! If you don't want to jump on the SSD train yet, buy a large drive with 5400RPM, anything around 640-1TB. They are faster than any smaller 7200RPM drive and almost inaudible.
I don't have a 5400 to compare it to, but the 7,200 rpm on this i7 MBP is silent. I'm pretty sure you can't hear the HD spin anyway, any potential noise increase will come in the form of higher fan RPMs. For reference this computer runs between 95-115 F (fans on idle) with light usage and between 135-180 F and fans on 3500 each with heavy usage. But the noise is not substantial and certainly not something to deter someone from upgrading the HD to 7,200.
You WILL hear the 7200. If you get the Hitachi, it's not loud like empty-room loud. But if you're near it, working on it, you will hear it. Even when your fans are not running you will hear the drive spinning and accessing. The 5400 takes some effort to actually hearing it run.
IF you don't use any intensive apps, stick with a 5400.
I've upgraded several dozen macbooks, macbook pros, and mac minis with 7200rpm drives. Noise increase is almost negligible, if there is any (I can't tell the difference until it spins up all the way, even then it's not bad). Any time there was a particularly loud drive (or one that vibrated), I had it replaced. If you can feel the drive vibrating more, then the drive is either bad or there is something wrong with the installation.
I agree. That was my experience when I went from the stock toshiba 5400 to the 7k500 in the macbook. The 7k is not loud at all, but it is noticeable if you are trying to hear for it compared to the 5400.
Well, having a bunch of stuff open at once is more a matter of RAM rather than HDD speed. And 4GB should suffice there.
As for my experience, the 5400 was basically silent, with very slight vibrations. The 7200 WD I replaced it with is still very quiet, in fact I can't really hear it unless the room is silent, and it's faint even at that. So roughly the same noise level. The vibration is a bit increased (which was expected), but only really noticeable if you are resting your hands heavily on it and it is on a hard surface. Otherwise it feels the same. If you are really worried about it, grab a 500GB (or bigger) WD scorpio blue (5400 RPM). They offer nearly the same performance as the 7200 RPM drives and are very smooth drives. Personally, I am a big fan of WD stuff, and so far I really like my scorpio black
As for my experience, the 5400 was basically silent, with very slight vibrations. The 7200 WD I replaced it with is still very quiet, in fact I can't really hear it unless the room is silent, and it's faint even at that. So roughly the same noise level. The vibration is a bit increased (which was expected), but only really noticeable if you are resting your hands heavily on it and it is on a hard surface. Otherwise it feels the same. If you are really worried about it, grab a 500GB (or bigger) WD scorpio blue (5400 RPM). They offer nearly the same performance as the 7200 RPM drives and are very smooth drives. Personally, I am a big fan of WD stuff, and so far I really like my scorpio black
The 5400 stock drive currently does not seem to make any noise, so it would be a 1 in my opinion.