[robertj]

I'm thinking about buying the 15" Powerbook released today, and my main consideration is 100 GB 7200-rpm HD vs. 120 GB 5400-rpm HD. Will the 7200-rpm hard drive use more power than the 5400?

That is my inquiry, perhaps of limited interest, but there you are. Any info is appreciated.

[Fusion]

I am also in the same consideration. Any help on this would be great.

Also, is there a significant performance increase? Say the same increase in going from a 4200 to a 5400? Because I noticed that increase right away... but I have heard that jumping to a 7200 isn't as big.

I've love some information on the power consumption however.

[aristobrat]

I'm curious about the performance increase too?

I know a 7200 will be faster than a 5400, but is it "worth the $200" snappier?

[mrmister]

I posted a thread awhile back all about the 100GB 7200rpm drive, comparing it to the 5400rpm drive, and providing links to pages online that compare them.

The brief version is that the 120GB 5400 is great on battery life, and the 100GB 7200 is not so great--but both are better than the 80GB 5400 that was shipping in PB's before today.

Do a search--it's all there.

[iomatic]

I just ordered it. I'll let you know

I've also heard that it actually makes marginal difference. But, if it's <10% battery power, I'll take a 10% increase in speed and productivity (assumed numbers, obviously).

What I want to know is, can you use the 533MHz RAM that's only available through dealram and pricegrabber?

[tooki]

7200RPM drives have a higher idle power consumption, but the active power consumption is only a tiny bit higher. In both cases, it's not going to make a huge difference in real use, because the difference is so small.

tooki

[robertj]

iomatic: I hear newegg is a good place to buy RAM. Without a specific link, I can't tell if the RAM you're looking at is the same as the RAM in the Powerbook.

So the speed is slightly better, while the battery life is slightly worse. I guess that's what I expected. Can the 7200 really make a big difference? I have no idea.

[Fusion]

tooki > can you elaborate on this a bit?

Does this mean the 7200 would eat up more battery when the HD is not doing anything? That sounds really bad!

When you say the difference is small, do you mean like 1/2 hour battery difference small? Because that is large to me.

I have a 100gb 5400 drive in my powerbook right now, and I am very impressed with the performance. In ordering the new one, I was immediately thinking the 120gb. However, I'd rather have more speed since I have enough external storage for stuff BUT not at the price of battery life.

[robertj]

Originally Posted by Fusion

I have a 100gb 5400 drive in my powerbook right now, and I am very impressed with the performance. In ordering the new one, I was immediately thinking the 120gb. However, I'd rather have more speed since I have enough external storage for stuff BUT not at the price of battery life.

I'm with you, Fusion. I do recall replacing my old iMac's hard drive with a 7200-rpm drive and being amazed at the performance boost--but I think I was replacing a 4200-rpm drive, which is a bigger deal. If the speed boost was going to be that dramatic I'd definitely go for the 7200.

[Kenstee]

Originally Posted by iomatic

What I want to know is, can you use the 533MHz RAM that's only available through dealram and pricegrabber?

Yes. No problem. Although it will run at 333 on the PB.

[mduell]

The difference in power draw is tiny. Below are the power numbers for Hitachi drives, but they should be similar for other brands

Hitachi 5K100 (5400RPM):
Startup (peak, max.) 5.0W
Read (avg.) 2.0W
Write (avg.) 2.0W
Active idle (avg.) 0.85W
Low power idle (avg.) 0.60W
Standby (avg.) 0.2W
Sleep 0.1W

Hitachi 7K100 (7200RPM):
Startup (peak, max.) 5.5W
Read (avg.) 2.0W
Write (avg.) 2.0W
Active idle (avg.) 1.1W
Low power idle (avg.) 0.85W
Standby (avg.) 0.2W
Sleep 0.1W

So the power for reading/writing is the same, and the power for idling is 0.25W higher. 0.25W increased draw translates into about 3 minutes shorter battery life for a typical PowerBook.

Regarding performance, the sustained read/write performance should be nearly the same (espically when considering a bigger/slower vs smaller/faster drive), but the seek/random read/write performance should be noticeably better.

[robertj]

Wow, that's an extremely helpful post, Mark. I hope your numbers are right. But I've read your posts before and found them informative. I'm still nervous about pulling the trigger.

[tooki]

When I said it was negligible, I meant negligible. Like 5 minutes total, if that. CPU usage is going to make a far bigger difference, as will screen brightness and wireless usage.

tooki

[robertj]

You people rock. I am going to go for the 100GB, 7200-rpm hard drive. I will be using the fastest Powerbook ever. OK, I admit that it's not that fast, but I'm still excited. Thanks for the help, gentlemen.

[Fusion]

Thank you guys so much for the informative posts!

tooki or mduell > You mentioned the speed differences were going to be noticed on seek/random read/write, but not much on read/write. Could you give some examples as to what this means? I.e., are you saying that just doing normal work, it is going to be the same speed, but searching for stuff is where we're really going to see the speed increase?

[Lundh]

I would say that browsing in finder and launcing applications would be the two things that gain most from a faster hard drive. At least that is my experience from using other computers. What I would like to know for sure before buying a 7200 2.5" drive is that it not is an Hitachi.

[iomatic]

Why?

Originally Posted by Lundh

…. What I would like to know for sure before buying a 7200 2.5" drive is that it not is an Hitachi.

[striker100]

I know Dell uses the Hitachi 7K100 100GB (HTS721010G9AT00) 7200rpm HD. I don't know how it is but I'm hoping Apple is using the Seagate Momentus 100gb 7200rpm hard drive.
Check out these benchmarks:
http://www.barefeats.com/hard56.html

[amazing]

striker100 is right, read the barefeats.com benchmarks, which are very informative. Noise levels are also listed.

If I were buying, I'd be taking the HD upgrade $$ and sticking it towards a mobile firewire enclosure (either fw-400 for a 5400 rpm drive, or fw-800 if choosing a 7200 rpm drive) and a suitably-big Seagate of whatever speed-persuasion you're devoted to.

Alternatively, my neighborhood Apple Service Provider once quoted $80 to replace an AlPB HD. You'd supply the suitable HD, pay an ASP to replace the HD (thus not voiding Applecare) and then have the original 80 GB 5400 to stick in a fw-400 enclosure.

[amazing]

Battery performance: Anyone wonder what voodoo would produce "better battery performance" when both the previous model and the present model have 50 watt-hour batteries?

Well, check out xlr8yourmac.com for the power-stepping details (warning: depressing).
Wouldn't you rather have had a bigger and better battery???

"Processor Power Management
To lower power consumption and heat generation, the 15-inch PowerBook G4 incorporates an automatic power management stepping technique. Stepping is designed to run at full, half, or quarter processor speed and voltage to meet the demands on the processor. The processor speed will switch between 1670 MHz and 833 MHz at 1.28 V for divide by 2 and between 1670 MHz and 417 MHz at .93 V for divide by 4. The memory bus speed is not shifted.
If the 15-inch PowerBook G4 detects a system temperature that is high, due to high ambient temperatures or other factors, it will immediately force the system to quarter speed mode....

Graphics Power Management
For additional power savings and reduced heat generation, the 15-inch PowerBook G4 incorporates a dynamic graphics power management technique. When required, the graphics processor runs at a reduced voltage and slower clock rate, similar to stepping on the central processor. "

[inkhead]

I have the new 15" and it gets about 45 minutes more battery life than my old 15" Powerbook. If your concerned buy an extra battery.

[Lundh]

iomatic: Look at the benchmark striker100 posted, that is the reason I don't want a Hitachi. Seagates 5400 drives are just as fast and consumes less power.

[siflippant]

Originally Posted by Lundh

iomatic: Look at the benchmark striker100 posted, that is the reason I don't want a Hitachi. Seagates 5400 drives are just as fast and consumes less power.

I've had this new 120g 5400rpm seagate drive in my powerbook for a week or so now... power consumption is considerably better than the previous toshiba 80g - snappier™ too...

But I guess Apple want to keep their profit margins high... maybe one day they will ship seagates as standard...

[amazing]

Humor warning: don't read if you're laugh-impaired.

You know how the ROKR itunes phone is getting bad reviews, how people are suggesting glueing a Shuffle or Nano to your present phone as an alternative? You get a better phone and a better player!

Well, if you need a bigger HD because of your huge music collection, why not do the same thing? Put your HD upgrade $ towards a 60 GB iPod, transfer all your music, then switch to manual ipod management, and delete your itunes music files off the laptop (after backing up your hours of digitizing onto DVDs.) You could even glue the iPod to the PB lid (just kidding.)

Wanna a bigger, faster HD? Get a firewire portable HD and glue it to the lid of your PB, with a short firewire cable running to the port.

Voila!

[striker100]

Originally Posted by Lundh

iomatic: Look at the benchmark striker100 posted, that is the reason I don't want a Hitachi. Seagates 5400 drives are just as fast and consumes less power.

And extremely quiet, an important feature

[iomatic]

I read that report. However, they don't have the 100GB 7200rpm Hitachi tested, nor do we know which drives will be shipping with the new PowerBooks-- actually I think some of stock PowerBook owners do know, they just have to pipe up. I'll let you all know what ships with the 15" 7200rpm when I get it.

It's currently at Preparing Shipment.

Originally Posted by Lundh

iomatic: Look at the benchmark striker100 posted, that is the reason I don't want a Hitachi. Seagates 5400 drives are just as fast and consumes less power.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Fusion

Thank you guys so much for the informative posts!

tooki or mduell > You mentioned the speed differences were going to be noticed on seek/random read/write, but not much on read/write. Could you give some examples as to what this means? I.e., are you saying that just doing normal work, it is going to be the same speed, but searching for stuff is where we're really going to see the speed increase?

Consider two drives: A is 120GB @ 5400PM, B is 80GB @ 7200RPM.

For reading or writing a contiguous file (like copying a 5GB movie file), the data throughput is going to be about the same. B spins faster but A has higher areal density, and those two factors more-or-less balance each other out.

For reading or writing random small files (like creating the thumbnails for your iPhoto gallery), B is going to be faster than A. In this case the drive head will be jumping all over the place, so the lower seek time of B is significant. Both drives can read a given image at the same speed, but B has less useless time between images waiting for the data to come around.

In general use (booting, moving around the finder, etc) a computer with B will feel "snappier" than a computer with A.

(The assumptions made in this post are generally valid. There are cases where the assumptions are not valid, although they are relatively rare.)

[gangster]

Originally Posted by robertj

I'm thinking about buying the 15" Powerbook released today, and my main consideration is 100 GB 7200-rpm HD vs. 120 GB 5400-rpm HD. Will the 7200-rpm hard drive use more power than the 5400?

That is my inquiry, perhaps of limited interest, but there you are. Any info is appreciated.

I had a 5400rpm/30g drive fail in my dell 700m, dell offered me a 4200rpm/60g as they were delayed in replacing the 30g and i just liked extra storage. i saw ZERO increase in battery life but a little extra loading time in the few games i played. i only had 512mb ram with 32mb shared video.

this isnt exactly your situation but it is similar. maybe the extra time it takes to load the programs offsets the greater torque required to speed up a faster drive...?

[Fusion]

Originally Posted by mduell

Consider two drives: A is 120GB @ 5400PM, B is 80GB @ 7200RPM.

For reading or writing a contiguous file (like copying a 5GB movie file), the data throughput is going to be about the same. B spins faster but A has higher areal density, and those two factors more-or-less balance each other out.

For reading or writing random small files (like creating the thumbnails for your iPhoto gallery), B is going to be faster than A. In this case the drive head will be jumping all over the place, so the lower seek time of B is significant. Both drives can read a given image at the same speed, but B has less useless time between images waiting for the data to come around.

In general use (booting, moving around the finder, etc) a computer with B will feel "snappier" than a computer with A.

(The assumptions made in this post are generally valid. There are cases where the assumptions are not valid, although they are relatively rare.)

Thank you! This is the exact explanation I was looking for. I really appreciate your post.

[bcaslis]

I got a new 17" tonight. It's got the ST9120821A so I guess they are shipping these drives. It does seem really fast.

Originally Posted by siflippant

I've had this new 120g 5400rpm seagate drive in my powerbook for a week or so now... power consumption is considerably better than the previous toshiba 80g - snappier™ too...

But I guess Apple want to keep their profit margins high... maybe one day they will ship seagates as standard...

[siflippant]

Originally Posted by bcaslis

I got a new 17" tonight. It's got the ST9120821A so I guess they are shipping these drives. It does seem really fast.

That's good to know...

[Fusion]

I'm on my way to the Apple store tonight to pick up a 15 with a 7200 drive so I'll let you guys know what drive that one comes with.

[iomatic]

Cool. I'll pipe in on the CTO (what does that stand for?) 7200rpm drive version. It left Shanghai at 2AM PST this morning (22nd). Gotta go rake the leaves.


btw, bcaslis has the Seagate Momentus 5400rpm drive, according to the model number. See you at Stumptown!

Originally Posted by Fusion

I'm on my way to the Apple store tonight to pick up a 15 with a 7200 drive so I'll let you guys know what drive that one comes with.

[Lundh]

Originally Posted by Fusion

I'm on my way to the Apple store tonight to pick up a 15 with a 7200 drive so I'll let you guys know what drive that one comes with.

That would be great and hope you like your new PB!

[inkhead]

the new 15" powerbook has better battery life than the 15" powerbook I bought last year, and it feels much faster, maybe it's the hard drive, but the specs are basically identical as last years model.

[hallvard]

Originally Posted by inkhead

the new 15" powerbook has better battery life than the 15" powerbook I bought last year, and it feels much faster, maybe it's the hard drive, but the specs are basically identical as last years model.

Does your new Mac have a 5400 or 7200 RPM drive?
How's the noise level by the way?

[striker100]

Originally Posted by inkhead

the new 15" powerbook has better battery life than the 15" powerbook I bought last year, and it feels much faster, maybe it's the hard drive, but the specs are basically identical as last years model.

Placebo effect?!

[Fusion]

Alrighty guys, I'll chime in.

I picked up my 15" ultimate version from the Apple store last night and it has been pretty good.

First couple things to note:

1. The 100gb 7200rpm drive is a Hitatchi, not the Seagate. If you want to know the actual model number, let me know and I will look it up.

2. The screen is beautiful, but different. I had the previous generation 15" 1.67, and that screen actually seemed brighter. I hate to break everyone's heart, but I don't think this screen is any brighter at all. Also, it is a different screen, meaning the default calibration looks very different. There are just certain small elements that really stand out as to the calibration differences.

3. The 7200rpm drive is much noisier than my 5400rpm 100gb in my previous PowerBook. Not to where I notice it too much, but before I NEVER heard the HD, and now, if it is copying or waking up or some other activity, I can hear just a slight click. Not even close to being loud enough to be annoying though.

4. The resolution on the screen is absolutly stunning. OS X was made for high DPI. Wow!

5. Oh yeah, and the ultimate version came with 1gb RAM, but unlike my last ultimate version which had 2x512, this time they got smart and made it 1x1gb, so upgrading to 2gb RAM is going to be even cheaper for me!

Anything else just ask.

[robertj]

Originally Posted by Fusion

1. The 100gb 7200rpm drive is a Hitatchi, not the Seagate. If you want to know the actual model number, let me know and I will look it up.

Could you please? Too bad it's the hitachi... Congratulations on your purchase! Mine left Shanghai on Saturday and is on its way.

[iomatic]

Thanks for the info. Similarly to MacBoudille (the shots there aren't terribly good), a shot of a previous 15" side by side, or your iBook as well, if possible, would be great. If not, perhaps just a larger photo of the resolution. I'll be getting mine from Shanghai*, and personally would know by then, but perhaps others could virtually see how it actually looks comparatively.

Originally Posted by Fusion

Alrighty guys, I'll chime in.

…

2. The screen is beautiful, but different. I had the previous generation 15" 1.67, and that screen actually seemed brighter. I hate to break everyone's heart, but I don't think this screen is any brighter at all. Also, it is a different screen, meaning the default calibration looks very different. There are just certain small elements that really stand out as to the calibration differences.

…

Anything else just ask.

*Some day when it leaves Shanghai.

[striker100]

Originally Posted by Fusion

Alrighty guys, I'll chime in.

I picked up my 15" ultimate version from the Apple store last night and it has been pretty good.

First couple things to note:

1. The 100gb 7200rpm drive is a Hitatchi, not the Seagate. If you want to know the actual model number, let me know and I will look it up.

2. The screen is beautiful, but different. I had the previous generation 15" 1.67, and that screen actually seemed brighter. I hate to break everyone's heart, but I don't think this screen is any brighter at all. Also, it is a different screen, meaning the default calibration looks very different. There are just certain small elements that really stand out as to the calibration differences.

3. The 7200rpm drive is much noisier than my 5400rpm 100gb in my previous PowerBook. Not to where I notice it too much, but before I NEVER heard the HD, and now, if it is copying or waking up or some other activity, I can hear just a slight click. Not even close to being loud enough to be annoying though.

4. The resolution on the screen is absolutly stunning. OS X was made for high DPI. Wow!

5. Oh yeah, and the ultimate version came with 1gb RAM, but unlike my last ultimate version which had 2x512, this time they got smart and made it 1x1gb, so upgrading to 2gb RAM is going to be even cheaper for me!

Anything else just ask.

Are you saying the "Ultimate" version comes standard with the 7200rpm hard drive? The reason I ask is I called an Apple Store and was told the Ultimate 15" Powerbook comes with the 5400rpm hard drive.

[hallvard]

Interesting thread!
I'm trying to decide which drive to order my 15" Powerbook with.
The conclusion so far is, based upon what I've read here and other places (please correct me if I'm wrong, or comment):

a) According to HardMac's new Powerbook review, the 7200 drives are a lot faster than the 5400 models. It's not entirely clear however if they're comparing an internal 2.5" 5400 RPM drive with an external 3.5" 7200 RPM drive, or if they've bought a new Powerbook with a 5400 RPM drive which they later exchanged for a 7200 RPM drive. Does anyone else understand it better than me?

b) According to a PDF document from Hitachi, the 2.5" laptop 7200 RPM drives don't consume more power than their 5400 RPM counterparts! I couldn't find anything about heat issues though as it's been discussed that 7200 RPM drives generate more heat than 5400 drives, which would cause the fan of the Powerbook to be in use more and possibly also shorten the life of the drive, although I believe these are just speculations.
Note that the document is dated 2003, so the information may be irrelevant today for all I know. Also, I don't know if the information applies to all laptop hard drives, or just the ones from Hitachi.

c) From what I hear, Apple doesn't stick to one brand/model of hard drives. I assume they follow the market prices to find whatever is the best deal at the time. However, from what I've read here and in other forums, the 5400 RPM drives delivered with the new Powerbooks are Seagate (I'm unsure about the model numbers), and according to Fusion a little earlier in this thread, the 7200 RPM drive(s) are by Hitachi (yes, I'm interested in the model number as well).

It would be interesting and helpful if everybody who's bought a new Powerbook could post here what kind of drive they got in their machine. Maybe we can see if there's a pattern or if Apple randomly use different drives.

[striker100]

One thing I'll say, the Seagate 100GB 5400rpm hard drive in my Powerbook is extremely quiet, I don't even hear anything when it's writing. I had an IBM T43p that had a 60gb 7200rpm hard drive, I don't remember the brand but it was noisy as all get out. I'd rather have a quiet 5400rpm hard drive over a noisy 7200rpm one.

[Athens]

you gotta ask yourself, how much time is it going to be pluged in and how much time is it going to be on battery, if its mostly going to be pluged in get the better preformer.

[hallvard]

Yeah, I agree with striker100: I'd go for a slower but quieter drive any day.

By the way, striker100, did that 100 Gbyte Seagate drive you have come in a new G4 Powerbook, or the old one?

Does anyone know what drive model/brand the new 15" G4 Powerbook comes with? I'm given this matter a little thought, and I'm considering just going for the "default" configuration which means that 80 GB 5400 drive. I'll save a little money that way, and in a year or two I'm sure we'll have drives with three times that capacity for less, so I could easily and cheaper replace one myself.
Besides, since I'm going to use the powerbook for video and audio I need an external drive anyway, so the internal drive will just be used for software and "normal" files. To the experienced users out there: would an internal 7200 RPM drive make much difference in my case? Will I regret going for the standard 5400 RPM drive?
What it all boils down to isn't specs, but if it's "good enough" I guess.

Another thing: how much disk space will the operating system and all the stuff that comes with a new Powerbook (iLife etc.) take up?

[striker100]

Originally Posted by hallvard

Yeah, I agree with striker100: I'd go for a slower but quieter drive any day.

By the way, striker100, did that 100 Gbyte Seagate drive you have come in a new G4 Powerbook, or the old one?

Does anyone know what drive model/brand the new 15" G4 Powerbook comes with? I'm given this matter a little thought, and I'm considering just going for the "default" configuration which means that 80 GB 5400 drive. I'll save a little money that way, and in a year or two I'm sure we'll have drives with three times that capacity for less, so I could easily and cheaper replace one myself.
Besides, since I'm going to use the powerbook for video and audio I need an external drive anyway, so the internal drive will just be used for software and "normal" files. To the experienced users out there: would an internal 7200 RPM drive make much difference in my case? Will I regret going for the standard 5400 RPM drive?
What it all boils down to isn't specs, but if it's "good enough" I guess.

Another thing: how much disk space will the operating system and all the stuff that comes with a new Powerbook (iLife etc.) take up?

It's the last 1.67GHz revision. I checked at the Apple Store yesterday and the new 15" Powerbook's standard hard drive is also a Seagate, at least this one was.

[Fusion]

Originally Posted by robertj

Could you please? Too bad it's the hitachi... Congratulations on your purchase! Mine left Shanghai on Saturday and is on its way.

It's the Hitachi Travelstar 7k100. Here's a link about the specific drive.

Originally Posted by striker100

Are you saying the "Ultimate" version comes standard with the 7200rpm hard drive? The reason I ask is I called an Apple Store and was told the Ultimate 15" Powerbook comes with the 5400rpm hard drive.

Yes, it comes with the 7200rpm 100gb drive. Are you sure they were talking about the Ultimate version and not just the 15" SD Powerbook? I have 4 Apple stores in my area, 2 of them didn't even know what an "Ultimate" version was, 1 didn't get any from Apple and the other one had a ton of them in stock.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Fusion

4. The resolution on the screen is absolutly stunning. OS X was made for high DPI. Wow!

Apple has now dropped the 100ppi claim from their US site, saying only that they've found the "optimum resolution". Funny, if they really are using this one optimum resolution, why aren't all their products the same resolution?
The UK site still claims 100ppi is optimum.

Originally Posted by hallvard

b) According to a PDF document from Hitachi, the 2.5" laptop 7200 RPM drives don't consume more power than their 5400 RPM counterparts! I couldn't find anything about heat issues though as it's been discussed that 7200 RPM drives generate more heat than 5400 drives, which would cause the fan of the Powerbook to be in use more and possibly also shorten the life of the drive, although I believe these are just speculations.
Note that the document is dated 2003, so the information may be irrelevant today for all I know. Also, I don't know if the information applies to all laptop hard drives, or just the ones from Hitachi.

c) From what I hear, Apple doesn't stick to one brand/model of hard drives. I assume they follow the market prices to find whatever is the best deal at the time. However, from what I've read here and in other forums, the 5400 RPM drives delivered with the new Powerbooks are Seagate (I'm unsure about the model numbers), and according to Fusion a little earlier in this thread, the 7200 RPM drive(s) are by Hitachi (yes, I'm interested in the model number as well).

b) If the power consumption is the same, then the heat output is the same. Conservation of energy.

c) As you say, Compal and Quanta probably just use whichever drive they have available when a BTO comes through.

Originally Posted by Athens

you gotta ask yourself, how much time is it going to be pluged in and how much time is it going to be on battery, if its mostly going to be pluged in get the better preformer.

The difference in battery life is on the order of 2-3 minutes. You can affect a larger change in battery life by turning the screen brightness down a notch.

[iomatic]

My reading is that:

1) The 2.5" internally-installed 7200rpm Hitachi drive is around 50% faster than the stock Seagate 5400rpm drive. From the site: "Replace the HD will take twenty minutes to someone used to the task."
2) The Hitachi drive is apparently quieter than the Seagate drive.

All in all, good things. I don't know if the model they got is different from the one that'll be CTO/Ultimate; I doubt it.

Originally Posted by hallvard

Interesting thread!
…
a) According to HardMac's new Powerbook review, the 7200 drives are a lot faster than the 5400 models. It's not entirely clear however if they're comparing an internal 2.5" 5400 RPM drive with an external 3.5" 7200 RPM drive, or if they've bought a new Powerbook with a 5400 RPM drive which they later exchanged for a 7200 RPM drive. Does anyone else understand it better than me?
…

[striker100]

Originally Posted by iomatic

My reading is that:

1) The 2.5" internally-installed 7200rpm Hitachi drive is around 50% faster than the stock Seagate 5400rpm drive. From the site: "Replace the HD will take twenty minutes to someone used to the task."
2) The Hitachi drive is apparently quieter than the Seagate drive.

All in all, good things. I don't know if the model they got is different from the one that'll be CTO/Ultimate; I doubt it.

The Hitachi hard drive is not quieter than the Seagate hard drive. It couldn't be since the Seagate is for all intensive purposes silent.