[David Aames]

Hi guys,

This being my first post, I just want to say that this forum has been an immense help to me in my PB purchase, and a wonderful information resource!

Anyways, I just recently bought my new 12" powerbook, and I just have a question in regards to the hard drives. I'm not too technically astute as to the exact details, but could someone fill me in on the benefits of a larger, faster hard drive (the 80GB drive) as opposed to the smaller, slower 60GB one.

I purchased the 80GB drive for more space obviously, but I was wondering if someone could explain how the rpm and size affect the powerbook. Does the larger drive mean a hotter laptop, etc..?

Thanks!

[milkmanchris]

Originally posted by David Aames:
Hi guys,

This being my first post, I just want to say that this forum has been an immense help to me in my PB purchase, and a wonderful information resource!

Anyways, I just recently bought my new 12" powerbook, and I just have a question in regards to the hard drives. I'm not too technically astute as to the exact details, but could someone fill me in on the benefits of a larger, faster hard drive (the 80GB drive) as opposed to the smaller, slower 60GB one.

I purchased the 80GB drive for more space obviously, but I was wondering if someone could explain how the rpm and size affect the powerbook. Does the larger drive mean a hotter laptop, etc..?

Thanks!

Cant answer that question for you David, I have just got the same PB you have, 3 weeks ago to be exact.

Maybe you can answer this though for me, how much free space do you have on your 80GB drive?, mine shows up as only a 74GB drive to start with.

[urrl78]

About 74 Gig is the norm. I don't think there will be that much difference in HD heat but I am not sure.

[Stradlater]

5400rpm will make a world of difference. 4200 slows basic computer-using activity to an unfortunate drag.

[MrForgetable]

Originally posted by milkmanchris:
Cant answer that question for you David, I have just got the same PB you have, 3 weeks ago to be exact.

Maybe you can answer this though for me, how much free space do you have on your 80GB drive?, mine shows up as only a 74GB drive to start with.

you get about 92-93% of your harddrive to work with.

[bstone]

Howdy and welcome to the forums on MacNN! I come here every day to chat, exchange information and ideas. I work as a professional computer support person and am a Mac expert. In regards to your question, think of a faster hard drive rpm as driving faster. You get to your destination quicker. The same is for hard drives. Information is stored on different parts of it, so the faster it spins the quicker it gets things done. For my 4 1/2 year old Powerboo G3/400 (Pismo) I just ordered a 7200rpm 60gb hard drive. It will be replacing the 10gb 4200rpm hard drive. I expect it to make a world of a difference!

This article might help to put better to words what I am trying to say:

http://www.helpwithpcs.com/courses/h...ive-basics.htm

I do wish you luck with your new Powerbook. Post back here with any questions you might have.

Stone

[Randman]

But, if you use the driving analogy, you can use more gas if you drive faster. Your battery time might be a little shorter, but in the long run, the faster drive and extra storage will outweigh most other shortcomings.

[SQLDba]

One other little known fact about the 5400 spin drives is that (at least the Toshibas that are in the new 15" PBs) they ship with 16 MB cache. A check of the model number from System Profiler revealed this.

Not sure what the cache is on the 4200 but I can tell you that I saw noticable improvements on my PC desktop when I upped from a 2 MB to an 8MB cached drive (same rpm - was a warranty repair).

I suspect that this 16mb cached drive has similar performance to a 8 mb 7200 rpm drive (typically the fasted PC notebook drive) but will use less juice which on a laptop is key.

I'm just surprised that more isn't made of the cache. I would guess that users who are savvy enough to be aware of the importance of RPMs would also appreciate the difference in cache.

[rareflares]

is the 60 GB 4200 RPM drive really THAT slow? I ordered a stock 15" 1.33 Ghz (upgrading 512 RAM from crucial) and now I feel like I'm going to really regret not upgrading to the 80 GB. I figured if I needed the extra space I could just buy a really fast external one later on when i needed it.

But i didn't think the 4200 drive would be so slow (at least based on what you guys are saying, i haven't actually got my computer yet).

[MrForgetable]

My 800 dollar PC came with a 7200rpm 20 GB drive 4 years ago. Wonder how slow a 4200rpm drive would be compared to it

[iBorg]

Originally posted by David Aames:
Hi guys,

This being my first post, I just want to say that this forum has been an immense help to me in my PB purchase, and a wonderful information resource!

Anyways, I just recently bought my new 12" powerbook, and I just have a question in regards to the hard drives. I'm not too technically astute as to the exact details, but could someone fill me in on the benefits of a larger, faster hard drive (the 80GB drive) as opposed to the smaller, slower 60GB one.

I purchased the 80GB drive for more space obviously, but I was wondering if someone could explain how the rpm and size affect the powerbook. Does the larger drive mean a hotter laptop, etc..?

Thanks!

This week, I swapped out the stock 60 GB 4200 Fujitsu drive from my 1 GHz TiBook for an 80 GB 5400rpm Toshiba with 16MB cache, and the increase in speed is very noticeable! Wish I'd done benchmarks before and after .....

The faster speed of this drive, combined with a bigger cache is worth the price, plus I needed the space! It feels like a new computer now!

BTW, if you're looking for one of these at a very reasonable price, I found it cheapest at ZipZoomFly for $188 with free 2nd day shipping. (I have no association with them, but I've bought several items from them, and their prices are low with fast delivery)



iBorg