5400rpm vs. 7200rpm?

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Hey,

I'm making a MBP purchase and was wondering what sort of differences I would notice between these two speeds.

Thanks.
 
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You would notice a significant performance increase from the 7200rpm drive. There is no battery life penalty and the drive does not run hotter (at least not enough that it is of any significance). Get the 7200rpm drive.
 
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You would notice a significant performance increase from the 7200rpm drive. There is no battery life penalty and the drive does not run hotter (at least not enough that it is of any significance). Get the 7200rpm drive.

Thanks for the reply.

If I want to save some money should I buy my MBP without the 7200rpm and install it later? Can any 160GB SATA HD @ 7200rpm work for it? Can I install it myself?
 

nZa


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It's a speed difference you'll definately notice.

I can't seem to locate it now, but when I was looking to get my MBP, I located a review on www.tomshardware.com on notebook hard drives, and concluded that (among the same brands) 7200rpm drives used more power AND ran hotter.

However, for example, a Hitachi 7200rpm hard drive might use less power and run cooler than a WesternDigital 5400rpm hard drive. There's really no way to know which will be true between two different brands of hard drives. Everything you read where the HD companies are claiming that there's no difference, 95% of the time they're comparing the newest 7200 drives to the older model 5400 drives.
 
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Thanks for the reply.

If I want to save some money should I buy my MBP without the 7200rpm and install it later? Can any 160GB SATA HD @ 7200rpm work for it? Can I install it myself?

Yes, yes, and yes, BUT: Apple does not consider the hard drive in the macbook pro a user-serviceable part. If you upgrade the drive yourself, you will void the warranty on the laptop. Totally void it. As in, no more warranty at all. None. Gone forever.

In other words: cough up the $ to have Apple put the drive in.

Also cough up the $ for AppleCare. It's money well spent.

nZa; Tom's has all the credibility of your average politician with me. You might take a look at my post here, I talked about power consumption and heat in it :)
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=492979#post492979
 
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Are you sure I don't just void the warranty on the hard drive?

And why do they have to know that I switched hard drives? I'm not going to send them an email saying "Hey guys, just so you know, I got a new hard drive and voided your warranty, so you can just cancel it."

If I ever need to service it will they check the HD or something? I'll just replace it with the original before sending it in. Is there an ink tab that bursts when I remove the original hard drive??

Thanks for the reply!
 
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I'm positive you void the warranty on the computer. I've checked with a total of 4 employees in 2 apple stores. Yes, they will notice that the drive is not an Apple drive if you have to send it in and you leave your upgrade in it. No, there is no ink tab or anything like that. HOWEVER, the MBP is not the easiest notebook to get into in the world (though it's not the hardest either), and if you've never had a notebook apart before you could leave evidence of you opening it (say, a bit of damage to the head of a screw).

Furthermore, there are a number of flexible circuit boards that are taped to the drive. If they have it open (which presumably they will, if it's sent in), and they notice that the tape has been disturbed (and chances are good that they will), guess what? No more warranty.

I mean, look at it this way; the MBP-like most notebooks-has a pretty poor track record for reliability. You can also see common issues here: http://www.appledefects.com/wiki/index.php?title=MacBook_Pro Personally, I've had a logic board and a hard drive fail in one, a screen fail in another, and this one that I'm using now has backlight issues. With the poor reliability in mind, consider that you're trying to save all of $150. Also consider that a screen replacement or a logic board replacement, out of warranty, will cost you the better part of $1000-if not more.

I do not trust Apple's service department. At all. I've heard far too many stories of them causing a LOT of problems for customers. I've built more PCs than I can count... I've even built a number of Macs out of combinations of modified Apple and PC parts. The Dell laptop I've got has been apart 5 times in the past 6 months alone. The MBP is the only computer I own that I will not take apart until it is out of warranty. I understand your desire to save money, but in this case I think it is extremely ill-advised.
 
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Yes, yes, and yes, BUT: Apple does not consider the hard drive in the macbook pro a user-serviceable part. If you upgrade the drive yourself, you will void the warranty on the laptop. Totally void it. As in, no more warranty at all. None. Gone forever.

In other words: cough up the $ to have Apple put the drive in.

Also cough up the $ for AppleCare. It's money well spent.

nZa; Tom's has all the credibility of your average politician with me. You might take a look at my post here, I talked about power consumption and heat in it :)
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=492979#post492979


Oh hey...thanks. EXACTLY what I needed to know.

My macbook's warranty has been gone since May 2007, and I was dumb enough not to buy Applecare. :( At least I can try to do some creative stuff now. :)
 
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It does affect battery life. I have first hand experience with 3 mac notebooks so please be weary of this.
 
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kentuckyfried: yes, the MBP and the MB both take 2.5" SATA drives.


It does affect battery life. I have first hand experience with 3 mac notebooks so please be weary of this.

I'd love to see some objective evidence that backs that up, because as far as I can see, the data in Seagate's own white papers on their drives indicates that it doesn't have any significant impact at all.
 
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i have the HITACHI 200gb 7200 in my new Macbook. got it from best b uy for 140$!!! it was mismarked as a 5400!!!

anyways, there is 0 difference in battery life. the HD may use slightly more power, but you would not lose 30min off your time, like some people want u to think
 

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