I am looking into buying a new computer, and I was wondering about hard drive RPM... I am currently leaning towards a 200GB HDD at 7200rpm, but what differences will I notice from a 160GB at 5400? Is it really worth it for everyday tasks (For me that's: iTunes, One or two IM clients, Browser, Photoshop, Word, Excel, and Powerpoint)?
Thanks in advance.
I think in every day life 5400 rpm usage is fast enough.
I've got a friend who's in a band and using his G5 to produce this tracks and he likes the speed of the 7200 rpm, but he does pay quite a bit more for the speed.
So it all depends of what your doing with your HD and the end of the day.
If you're usually just running the programs listed, I'd go for the 5400 RPM. Unless you're recording, doing 3D work or video editing, you probably won't notice a difference.
Aren't 7200 rpm drives common for desktops where as 5400 are typically used for laptops? Then of course there are 10,000 rpm drives which are faster but have risks of a shorter life expectancy. Kind of like a person that works out but still smokes a lot.
That was always my understanding, could be wrong.
I believe the "standard" is improving though where 7200 rpm drives will be more common in laptops and desktops will use 10,000rpm drives.
photoshop craves hdds with faster rpm, specially if you dont have more than 1GB of ram, because it can be used as a scratch disk, thus making rendering of images etc faster.... if you're working with larger images, then DEFINATELY get the 7200rpm drive. it really makes a difference.
Also certain pc games like it to. Often levels are loaded onto it, and it will make for smoother gameplay with a faster drive.
General day to day tasks will be noticably faster- but its not something essential in this sense.
everyone knows that the biggest bottleneck in computer speed is the hard drive. get the 7200 at the very least. bust out the credit card and get a 10000 if you can afford it.
Aren't 7200 rpm drives common for desktops where as 5400 are typically used for laptops?
Theory: The faster 7200 rpm drives tend to run hotter and require more energy so a laptop runs cooler and has more battery life with the slower rpm drives.
My experience: I replaced a 60GB 5400 with a 120GB 7200 in my MacBook and I am not noticing an increase in heat nor a decrease in battery life. I am noticing a huge increase in speed which is what I was after.
yep my 2nd drive is bigger AND faster than my first, i use it for the swap file just for that reason.
I think I'm gonna get the 7200, I don't game very much, but I want as streamlined an experience as possible after my last laptop which didn't last 3 years and had really bad problems for 75% of the time I owned it..
... bust out the credit card and get a 10000 if you can afford it.
And add some earplug to the bill, in case it does the dentist's drill rumba 
I don't think 10,000 is necessary, I don't do anything HUGE, and 7200 rpm won't be outdated for a while, will it?
i cant wait for the new hybrid flash/hard drives to become standard....
ones that have say a 20gb flash partition and the rest a hard drive... it'll mean extremely fast access speeds, faster than any spinning disk on its own. alleviating the bottleneck.
Go 7200. I have a 5400rpm drive in my macbook pro and can really feel the difference :|
No one's making a suggestion based on the type of computer?
If it's a desktop, definitely go for the 7,200. At least.
A laptop... either will work fine, so it's up to you, and how you'll use it.
No one's making a suggestion based on the type of computer?If it's a desktop, definitely go for the 7,200. At least.
A laptop... either will work fine, so it's up to you, and how you'll use it.
well the faster drive is always going to be better.... reguardless of the computer.
its like saying that having 1gb of memory over 2gb of memory is better for a notebook. Thats just wrong, if the notebook supports 2gb, go for 2gb!
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