[TJ1982]

Hi guys,

Just a quick question you may be able to help me with. I’m going to buy one of the new 15” Powerbook’s - probably from the Apple Store (for Education) here in the UK, since I can get a reasonable discount by doing so.

My question is this; what’s the difference between the 100GB Ultra ATA (7200rpm) hard drive and the 120GB Ultra ATA (5400rpm) hard drive? I understand that one spins faster and the other is larger, but how does that affect the speed at which the machine/software runs and responds?

Also, I am intending to bump the RAM up to 2 gig - will this impinge on the battery life much, if at all?

Thanks, TJ.

[GuyWithACamera]

The 7200rpm drive will allow you/the computer to access the data/files faster, - saving, writing to, copying, etc. If it were me, I'd go for the faster drive, myself. I don't keep a lot of files on the Powerbook HD.

I don't think that more RAM will affect battery life but someone smarter than could correct me on that.

[bradoesch]

More RAM will use extra power but it will also prevent the computer from swapping from RAM to disk and back as much. That savings will more than make up for the tiny bit of power the extra RAM will use.

I'm not certain about battery life with the 7200 rpm drive, but I would think it would come a bit more power since it spins faster. Whether that's true or even significant I'm not sure.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by TJ1982

My question is this; what’s the difference between the 100GB Ultra ATA (7200rpm) hard drive and the 120GB Ultra ATA (5400rpm) hard drive? I understand that one spins faster and the other is larger, but how does that affect the speed at which the machine/software runs and responds?

Also, I am intending to bump the RAM up to 2 gig - will this impinge on the battery life much, if at all?

The two drives will be about the same speed for bulk sequential transfers (i.e. copying a 4GB movie from a DVD). However the 7200RPM drive will be faster for random read/writes (e.g. creating thumbnails in iPhoto, skipping around in a movie). The 7200RPM drive should make the computer feel more "snappy" and I think it's a good tradeoff to get the speed instead of the extra 20GB.

I ran through the calculation in another thread; the battery life reduction is on the order of tens of minutes (varies by what other stuff you have turned on).
If you'd like to see DDR2 SDRAM power calculations in gruesome detail, take a look at this presentation.

[TJ1982]

Thanks - I’ll go for the smaller but faster HD. One other thing - sorry if it’s been discussed before or I’m posting in the wrong thread:

To purchase 3 years of Applecare with the Powerbook - extending the standard 90 days of complimentary support and one-year warranty - it’ll cost an additional £231.48.

From what I’ve read here, apart from cases in which human intervention causes problems, it seems to be ‘luck of the draw’ as to whether a machine has or develops faults or not, thus some people who buy Applecare will undoubtedly rely the service much more than others.

In general, however, what do you guys think about purchasing the 3 year Applecare cover - is it worth it, based on the odds?

[SpaceMonkey]

Personally I would go with the larger hard drive. I'm not skilled enough to feel comfortable opening up a Powerbook myself, so I like having as much storage capacity in there as I can at the outset (100 GB was as large a hard drive as I could get when I got my Powerbook). But if you're more comfortable with tinkering, then that becomes less of an issue.

Applecare is definitely worth it for laptops. Even if you need just one repair, it pays for itself. If you are financially secure enough that you won't notice the extra money three years down the line, then go for it.

[mrmister]

The 7200rpm hard drive uses the same amount of power as the 5400rpm one--I checked all the usage rates for the different manufacturers, as I'm upgrading.

No need for Applecare until later in your first year--but definitely get it before the year is up.

[jamil5454]

FYI - The average cost of one out-of-warranty repair on a PowerBook is usually 2-3 times the price of AppleCare itself. But it doesn't cover accidental damage.

Just make sure you don't drop your PB or spill anything on it and you'll pretty much be covered by AppleCare if anything else goes wrong.

[romeosc]

Originally Posted by jamil5454

FYI - The average cost of one out-of-warranty repair on a PowerBook is usually 2-3 times the price of AppleCare itself. But it doesn't cover accidental damage.

Just make sure you don't drop your PB or spill anything on it and you'll pretty much be covered by AppleCare if anything else goes wrong.

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