Hard Drive Heat

I am planning on getting a Mac for school sometime this summer. I know people complain about their MacBooks getting hot from the hard drives, and I'd like to know really what everyone has experienced. I plan on getting the 320gb 7200rpm drive... do those get too hot? I could easily get the 128gb SSD and 500gb Time Capsule (I am going to get one of these either way). Of course I would rather not shell out the cash for a small SSD, so I just want to know how hot and loud the new aluminum MacBooks get with the 7200rpm drive. Thanks!

I have a 7200RPM HD in my MB and haven't had a problem temp wise. It is a little louder than the default 5400RPM drive but by no means is it bothersome. I also put it through decent stress as well and it still chugs along without complaining.

My advice is don't get the SSD. You probably don't need it and the cost doesn't really justify, from what I have seen, the negligible increases in speed and power savings.

The aluminum MB's and MBP's get, let's say, very warm to the touch and are not designed to be sitting on your lap while you're doing anything processor or GPU intensive.

The difference with a 7200 RPM drive is not noticeable unless you're using a measuring device to compare.

I have had the WD 320 GB 7200 in my MBP for a year now and it is virtually silent - the fans that spin constantly at 1900-2000 RPM are louder than the drive.