5200 or 7200 HDD?

I cant decide what I want to go for....

I can either go for size and get a bigass 160gb HDD with slower RPMs or I can get a 100gig HD with more RPMs for better performance...

is the performance diff really that big? will I notice it? (I do run demanding apps such as PS, or some games like COD2)

I would really like the extra space of a 160gb (I probably could never fill it up but its nice to have) 100gb would be big enough for me honestly... but if there isnt much of a perforamnce increase, i'd like to go for the biggest I can get

I can notice a pretty big difference.

I've got a 250gb 5400rpm drive and a 160gb 7200rpm drive in my G5. There's a folder of 150 high-res images that I can contact sheet using Finder's slideshow.

Uncached, the 5400rpm drive takes about 20 seconds to thumbnail every image, but the 7200rpm drive takes about 12 seconds.

Cached, the 5400rpm drive takes about 8 seconds and the 7200 takes about 3 seconds.

I'd go for the faster drive and get a slower external for storage later on.

wow, thats a big diff... def going for 7200 then

7200 RPM in theroy is to be %33 faster then a 5400RPM drive

i went froma 5400to a 7200 60g in my dell laptop and i did notice it certainly.

the power requirements are failry similar to a 5400RPM drive so you do not need to worry about extra power much.

The new seagate drives 7200.10 with perpendicular technology will battle against 7200 RPM drives as i think they are coming in 5400 flavours first...

yeah, between added memory - at least 1gig and a 7200 rpm drive - you will notice a big improvement over factory spec.

i'm gunna get this

http://www.provantage.com/seagate-st910021as~7SEGH00L.htm

according to this, it is a very quiet drive...

http://www.wiredbynature.org/comp/mac/macbook/mods.php

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822146230 159 i think

Does anyone have any experience with the true difference between the 5400 and the 7200. There is some good info here but I'm looking for some first hand, "I had a 54 and swapped out for a 72 and oh my god it's worth the extra cash..." type feedback from yous. I'm treating myself the Xmas and am fixin on maxing out my MB!!

steven11 said:

Does anyone have any experience with the true difference between the 5400 and the 7200. There is some good info here but I'm looking for some first hand, "I had a 54 and swapped out for a 72 and oh my god it's worth the extra cash..." type feedback from yous. I'm treating myself the Xmas and am fixin on maxing out my MB!!

Click to expand...

I swapped my wifes original 5400RPM drive with a 100GB 7200RPM drive in her Macbook and she said she noticed more of a difference when i upped the RAM from 512 to 2GB. Keep in mind that she isn't doing any major processing other than internet, a few games and copying pics from our digital cam to the Mac and then sending them to family and friends.

surfwax95 said:

I can notice a pretty big difference.

I've got a 250gb 5400rpm drive and a 160gb 7200rpm drive in my G5. There's a folder of 150 high-res images that I can contact sheet using Finder's slideshow.

Uncached, the 5400rpm drive takes about 20 seconds to thumbnail every image, but the 7200rpm drive takes about 12 seconds.

Cached, the 5400rpm drive takes about 8 seconds and the 7200 takes about 3 seconds.

I'd go for the faster drive and get a slower external for storage later on.

Click to expand...

i will 2nd the performance, i grabbed a 60g 7200 as i came from a 60g 5400, and just over all everything was noticebly faster!

and the power consumption increase is minimal.

Simpletech 40 Gig external hard drive is like $40. That what i bought , if your worried about space.

Just be careful here....you said that you're getting a macbook. A 7200 RPM HD will drain the battery much faster than a 5400 RPM drive. Just keep that in mind.

djlee12 said:

Just be careful here....you said that you're getting a macbook. A 7200 RPM HD will drain the battery much faster than a 5400 RPM drive. Just keep that in mind.

Click to expand...

And that's one of the reasons I chose a 5400 RPM drive when I upgraded my MacBook.

Does doing upgrades like HD or ram Void anything in regards to the applecare?

I went from a 120gig 5400 to a 100gig 7200 and I couldnt be happier.
Also I have not noticed a decrease in battery performance, if there was any it was minimal.

steven11 said:

Does doing upgrades like HD or ram Void anything in regards to the applecare?

Click to expand...

It doesn't void your warranty, but it could open you up to problems with getting your Mac serviced, should the technicians decide to blame the memory or hard drive you installed.

I'm keeping my original drive on the side with a clean image on it in the event I need to bring my 'Book in for service.

See thats what i was thinking as well. I saw that OWC has a trade in policy. I've only got a 60g in there as is but I wanted to get a 160@5400 or a 100@7200. I was fixin on sending them my old 60 for a $30 credit but was worried about the problem you just presented. I'm not sure $30 is enough incentive for me to possibly screw up my applecare plan. OWC also trades in RAM too. Nuts!!!
and what is a clean image?

Dark said:

I went from a 120gig 5400 to a 100gig 7200 and I couldnt be happier.
Also I have not noticed a decrease in battery performance, if there was any it was minimal.

Click to expand...

What did you do with your 120 g?

In my opinion, the "rebate" OWC offers isn't worth it. I'd rather have a spare hard drive sitting around.

A "clean image" is a plain-vanilla installation of OSX. After my new hard drive ran for a couple weeks, I put the old drive back in and ran a complete setup on it from the original restore disks. That gave me a straight OSX image on the drive. Then I removed the drive and put it in a box.

Now, if I ever have to bring my MacBook to Apple for service, I can swap in that drive and not have to worry that my personal data is in someone else's hands.

steven11 said:

What did you do with your 120 g?

Click to expand...

slapped it in an external 2.5" SATA USB2.0 case.

dont bother with the 5400, seriously.