[tungtied07]

Well, the iBook's 20GB hard drive is now too small. Since the AppleCare Extended Warranty ends in a couple months, I decided to order the TravelStar 60GB 7200RPM Hard Drive (7K60) and got it from dell for only $68.00 after discounts...
I understand that the original hard drive that it came in my iBook 600Mhz Dual USB 8MB VRAM laptop is kinda crappy. I think it spins at 4200 or so, and has a 1mb cache on the hard drive.
Since this is a faster hard drive, will this do wonders for the iBook? I mean, how much of an improvement of speed will I see? Will the slow processor tie down the hard drive, or is the hard drive still slower than the processor?
iBook Specs:
600Mhz G3
640MB RAM
Combo Drive, Airport
20GB Hard Drive (soon to upgrade to the 60GB 7200travelstar)

Thanks, Paul

[drive-thru]

I put a 5k80 into my iBook 800 recently and haven't noticed too much difference. The whole OS seems a bit snappier but I'm not really sure how much improvement there is. I know that HDD access is faster with this drive so it does provide better performance in certain areas.
My main reason for the upgrade was space. With nearing 15GB of music, my 30GB drive was full.

I think the main issue for your machine (I owned the same before this iBook) is the 8MB graphics card, meaning that Quartz Extreme cannot run. I believe this means that your computer can't take advantage of certain performance gains through QE.

If you need the extra space then get a bigger drive. A faster (rpm) drive with a larger cache cannot do anything but speed up disk access (FWIW I have not noticed any loss in battery life), but I don't think it will turn your 600 into an iBook G4.
If you think 60GB will be enough storage space for you and you can get a good price on the 7k60 then go for it, you can always use it in a FireWire enclosure or put it in a new notebook if you choose to upgrade in the future.

[tungtied07]

Hey,
Thanks for the reply. I already xBenched it before the hard drive upgrade. The drive should be arriving sometime this week, so I'll be able to compare before and after.
thanks again,
Paul

[amazing]

Originally posted by tungtied07:
I decided to order the TravelStar 60GB 7200RPM Hard Drive (7K60) and got it from dell for only $68.00 after discounts...

Thanks, Paul

Paul: That's such a good price on the 7K60, please tell us how you got it so cheaply? I checked Dell's website and the drive is listed at $166...

Just be sure to wait until the Applecare is totally expired, because you may really want to have some repairs done in the last month.

You'll see improvements in speed, but mostly it'll be the tons of extra space.

[tungtied07]

Originally posted by amazing:
Paul: That's such a good price on the 7K60, please tell us how you got it so cheaply? I checked Dell's website and the drive is listed at $166...

Just be sure to wait until the Applecare is totally expired, because you may really want to have some repairs done in the last month.

You'll see improvements in speed, but mostly it'll be the tons of extra space.

Yeah, what was nice is that it was 10% off (166) then I had a $100 coupon and free shipping and no tax, so a total of $66. Dell gave me that $100 coupon because of their major screw up.. long story... But if there was such a nice price for everyone, I'd be happy to share it with my fellow mac users