[uicandrew]

who makes the new mbp 200gb hard drives? the 120gb and 160gb are relatively new. but 200gb?

granted, the 200gb runs at 4200rpm, while the 160gb and 120gb are running at 5400rpm, but speed is relative.

this article:

http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q1...s/index.x?pg=1

(whose url i have posted many many many times on these forums because no one uses the search feature before asking about hard drive upgrades) shows that the 5400rpm seagate 2.5 sata drives outperform the 7200rpm hitachi 2.5 sata drives.

i would get it if seagate makes the drive because their quality has been top notch, but if it is a hitachi or fujitsu, then i'll stick with a 160gb.

and i just want to add that i'll get this laptop after MacWorld 2007, only because if i wait, then i'll be able to get the newest iLife suite. and maybe the iWork suite, especially if it includes an MS Excel-type program.

[uicandrew]

200 GB, 2.5", SATA: Fujitsu's MHV2200BT | Tom's Hardware

i decided not to be lazy and answered my own question

answer? Fujitsu.

Bottom line: they increased the drive thickness from 9.5mm to 12.5mm, so they can squeeze in extra platters, averaging 67gb per platter on 3 platters.

Compared to Seagate, who have gotten 80gb per platter on 2 platters, while still at 9.5mm. Meaning, seagate, if they chose to increase the physical size of their hard drive, they could have a 240gb hard drive.

Also, the speed of the 4200rpm 200gb hdd is similar to other 4200rpm hard drives. Upside? slower speed means decreased power usage. Downside? slower performance.

[onlyone-jc]

I'd go for the 100GB 7200RPM option myself (I think that may only be available on the 17" verison, though). Performance is much more important than capacity. Afterall, you can always use an external drive.

onlyone-jc.

[tooki]

Originally Posted by uicandrew 

200 GB, 2.5", SATA: Fujitsu's MHV2200BT | Tom's Hardware

i decided not to be lazy and answered my own question

answer? Fujitsu.

1. Bottom line: they increased the drive thickness from 9.5mm to 12.5mm, so they can squeeze in extra platters, averaging 67gb per platter on 3 platters.

2. Compared to Seagate, who have gotten 80gb per platter on 2 platters, while still at 9.5mm. Meaning, seagate, if they chose to increase the physical size of their hard drive, they could have a 240gb hard drive.

3. Also, the speed of the 4200rpm 200gb hdd is similar to other 4200rpm hard drives. Upside? slower speed means decreased power usage. Downside? slower performance.

1. Well, "reverted to" is more like it. 12.5mm used to be the standard before 9.5mm, and up until the TiBook, the PowerBooks were designed to accept drives that thick. The aluminum PowerBooks and all iBooks accept only 9.5mm. I'd frankly be surprised that they made the space for a 12.5mm drive in the MacBook Pro, since it's not exactly thick enough to have lots of spare room.

More likely, the drive in question is the Toshiba MK2035GSS http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/en/n...m+Toshiba.html .

2. Perhaps, but no notebooks for years have accepted 12.5mm drives. It's much more likely that the Fujitsu drive is expected to be used in blade servers.

3. Yes and no. A slower rotational speed means lower seek performance (e.g. edge to edge seeks). But it does not necessarily mean lower throughput. As the disk platter's areal density increases, so does the amount of data on a single track, and therefore also the throughput. So, for example, a one-platter disk with 40GB capacity will be much slower than a one-platter disk with 120GB capacity.

tooki

[tigas]

I haven't seen a 12.5mm drive ever since I took the old 20GB Travelstar from my Pismo.

[pcguy1]

Originally Posted by onlyone-jc 

I'd go for the 100GB 7200RPM option myself (I think that may only be available on the 17" verison, though). Performance is much more important than capacity. Afterall, you can always use an external drive.

onlyone-jc.

I go for 200G if I were u, performance is more important then capacity only if you have enough capacity to start out with,(my iPod have 80G), external drive is a pain to carry around,(small one is slow and low capacity and big drive is heavy and required seperate ps)