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mrmister · Sep 21, 2005, 10:23 PM

Looks like it is finally hitting the streets:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...uctCode=101599

tigas · Sep 23, 2005, 12:18 AM

yes they are, but they cost an arm and a leg: that was expected, but not as seriously!

mrmister · Sep 23, 2005, 11:37 AM

I'm not surprised by the price; I'm just glad they are finally, actually in stock. Took six months!

power142 · Sep 23, 2005, 11:57 AM

Question is, is it really worth the extra money over the 5400rpm 100GB Momentus?

tooki · Sep 23, 2005, 02:52 PM

No, they're sold out now!

But $299 isn't really that bad. That's in line with previous top-of-the-line notebook drives.

tooki

mrmister · Sep 23, 2005, 04:15 PM

Damn! I got the leg up on it, saw it was there...but the price slowed me down.

Ah well.

lunaticbunny · Sep 23, 2005, 08:11 PM

I think the 120GB 5400rpm is a better deal. It's cheaper, you'll have 20GB extra space and the overall speed compared to the 7200rpm is only a fraction slower. I think I read a review at Tom's Hardware Guide about this...

I'll be picking one up myself pretty soon.

mrmister · 01:39 AM

Found the article: here it is for the edification of all:

http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20050822/index.html

It's interesting--due to increasing data density, a 5400 rpm drive with more GB (in the 120 range) can be as fast as a 7200 rpm drive that has a lower density. Food for thought...and I'm tempted now, of course, to hold out for the 5400.3 drives, expected this winter, which will go up to 160 GB...*double* what my current rig does.

tastethepain · Sep 26, 2005, 01:45 PM

I'll be waiting for the Seagate 160gb this winter.

Rev2Liv · Sep 26, 2005, 11:57 PM

I'm interested to see how the 7200rpm Travelstar 7k100 stacks up against the Momentus 7200.1. Right now, the stock drive in my PB is an 80GB 5400rpm Toshiba drive w/16megs RAM.

tigas · Sep 28, 2005, 03:45 PM

Originally Posted by tooki

No, they're sold out now!

But $299 isn't really that bad. That's in line with previous top-of-the-line notebook drives.

tooki

The Toshiba 40GB 5400rpm 16meg cache HD I'm using on my Pismo was top of the line when I bought it (two years ago), and it was about $180.

And Seagate is not six months overdue. They're more that one year late regarding the first press release's expected lauch date.

Oh, I think I'll wait for the 160GB for some time. Unless it's SATA only, which almost happened to the Momentus 7200.1

legionare · Sep 28, 2005, 04:04 PM

Originally Posted by tastethepain

I'll be waiting for the Seagate 160gb this winter.

I wouldn't be so sure any shipping PB's IDE controller can handle more than 137GB.

mrmister · Sep 30, 2005, 01:30 PM

BareFeats has posted results for the Seagate 7200rpm 100GB drive.

http://barefeats.com/hard56.html

Damn fast...I'm still tempted to go with the 120GB 5400rpm drive, for size and battery life. Hmmmm.

lunaticbunny · Sep 30, 2005, 05:51 PM

Originally Posted by mrmister

BareFeats has posted results for the Seagate 7200rpm 100GB drive.

http://barefeats.com/hard56.html

Damn fast...I'm still tempted to go with the 120GB 5400rpm drive, for size and battery life. Hmmmm.

Too bad they didn't inlcude the 120GB Momentus drive in their benchmarks...

tooki · Sep 30, 2005, 06:44 PM

Originally Posted by tigas

The Toshiba 40GB 5400rpm 16meg cache HD I'm using on my Pismo was top of the line when I bought it (two years ago), and it was about $180.

Hardly. The top of the line drives at the time were 5400RPM 80GB drives -- I know this because it was two years ago that I got my AlBook, and that was one of the available options.

tooki

mrmister · Sep 30, 2005, 07:32 PM

Yeah, I wish they'd had a 120gb as well...I've been comparing the two sites in this thread, but w/o knowing testing methodologies it is hard to make an assessment.

Is anyone else making this decision? I'm leaning a little toward the 120 because

A)It's in stock now,
B)$50 or so cheaper,
C)Extra 20 GB
D)Lower power requirements.

But OTOH, it would be pretty sweet to really see my PowerBook speed up right to the edge of what can be done in notebook technologies–I always notice disk speed more than anything else when using it.

Anyone have an opinion?

rotorwash · Sep 30, 2005, 09:34 PM

I just installed the Seagate 120Gb, 5400rpm drive in my pb after the original toshiba died. It is pretty zippy and the pb feels a bit faster than when the original was installed. It is a lot quieter than the original drive, also. These alu powerbooks are a pain to get apart though

mrmister · 10:08 PM

Did you have an 80GB 5400 rpm 16 meg cache drive in there before--one of the Toshibas?

Having exhaustively compared the Tom's Hardware and Bare Feats numbers, I'm pretty sure that getting the 120GB 5400rpm drive would be 20 percent faster than the Toshiba MK8026GAX I have in there now, and the 100GB 7200rpm drive would be 35 percent faster.

Decisions, decisions.

rotorwash · Sep 30, 2005, 10:46 PM

Originally Posted by mrmister

Did you have an 80GB 5400 rpm 16 meg cache drive in there before--one of the Toshibas?

Having exhaustively compared the Tom's Hardware and Bare Feats numbers, I'm pretty sure that getting the 120GB 5400rpm drive would be 20 percent faster than the Toshiba MK8026GAX I have in there now, and the 100GB 7200rpm drive would be 35 percent faster.

Decisions, decisions.

It is a Toshiba MK8026GAX. I do not know the specs... Also, while doing some multi-gigabyte transfers I noticed that it is significantly faster than the Toshiba

tigas · Oct 1, 2005, 10:39 PM

Well, Toshibas seem to always be a bit slower than their specifications would imply. I remember that other 5400rpm drives always spanked Toshibas, but my MK4019GAX was the only one I was able to buy at the time - I could afford faster, but just couldn't find them. The Hitachi (IBM) 60gig 7200rpm only became an option more than nine months after I had bought mine. Anyway, what I most wanted was peace to my ears - the Travelstar that was inside the Pismo made the horrible grinding noise we used to now as "ball bearing motor". Yuch!

I've decided to spend the money that I was saving for the Seagate into a G4/550 upgrade. Maybe next year, and I'll wait to see if Seagate's prices drop after the new 100GB 7200rpm Hitachi appear in stores.

And true, I also don't think that the Pismo supports hard disk of more than 120GB.

rotorwash · Oct 2, 2005, 12:10 AM

One other thing I noticed about this Seagate drive is that it is completely silent. I cannot hear any noise from the drive unlike the toshiba which you could hear seek and recalibrate.
Shweet.

tigas · Oct 2, 2005, 05:20 AM

Originally Posted by tooki

Hardly. The top of the line drives at the time were 5400RPM 80GB drives -- I know this because it was two years ago that I got my AlBook, and that was one of the available options.

tooki

Two whole years since the first AlBook? Are you sure?

I must be getting old. When I got my Toshiba MK4019GAX there were no AlBooks yet. Not even the 17", if I recall correctly.

bbales · Oct 3, 2005, 10:37 AM

Originally Posted by tigas

Two whole years since the first AlBook? Are you sure?

I must be getting old. When I got my Toshiba MK4019GAX there were no AlBooks yet. Not even the 17", if I recall correctly.

My first-generation 12-inch AL book was ordered in January 2003 and arrived in February '03. It's more than 2 1/2 years old. Still works great -- though a faster, larger hard drive would be nice.

I always thought replacing PB hard drives was dicey. Apparently not? People have had good luck?

tooki · Oct 3, 2005, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by tigas

Two whole years since the first AlBook? Are you sure?

I must be getting old. When I got my Toshiba MK4019GAX there were no AlBooks yet. Not even the 17", if I recall correctly.

It's been two years since the 15" AlBook came out (September 2003), and nearly 3 since the 17" and 12" AlBooks came out (January 2003).

tooki

tooki · Oct 3, 2005, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by bbales

My first-generation 12-inch AL book was ordered in January 2003 and arrived in February '03. It's more than 2 1/2 years old. Still works great -- though a faster, larger hard drive would be nice.

I always thought replacing PB hard drives was dicey. Apparently not? People have had good luck?

It's not "dicey" as in hit-or-miss. The drive upgrades will work. It's just a HUGE pain in the ass to do, because it involves removing dozens and dozens of tiny screws, in a specific order, because they hold in different "layers" and then replacing them in the exact specific order. Whereas almost anyone can swap a hard disk in a Power Mac or iMac G5, the iBooks' and AlBooks' drive installation far exceeds the skills of the average tinkerer. Pay a pro to do it.

tooki

bbales · Oct 5, 2005, 09:14 AM

Tooki -- I'm so glad you recommended the pro. I swapped my desktop G4 drive last winter without any problems. This just seemed way beyond my abilities. ON the other hand, I'm keeping this computer for a while more, so it might be time to look into the new drive.

amazing · Oct 5, 2005, 10:46 AM

Tooki's right--especially since getting an ASP (Apple Service Provider) to do it will preserve your Applecare (except for the HD, natch.) My local ASP quoted $80 at one point, but that was awhile ago.

mrmister · Oct 5, 2005, 10:50 AM

Yeah...I'm ordering the 120GB drive because its so hard to install—I decided I can't afford the downtime if I get the 100GB drive, and then in a year or so start running out of room again.

lunaticbunny · Oct 6, 2005, 04:58 AM

Anyone with the new Seagate drives mind doing some benchmarking?

I'm intrested in knowing what speed improvements are achieved with various apps, such as Adobe products and gaming benchmarks...

SEkker · Oct 6, 2005, 09:00 AM

Originally Posted by tooki

It's just a HUGE pain in the ass to do, because it involves removing dozens and dozens of tiny screws, in a specific order, because they hold in different "layers" and then replacing them in the exact specific order. Whereas almost anyone can swap a hard disk in a Power Mac or iMac G5, the iBooks' and AlBooks' drive installation far exceeds the skills of the average tinkerer. Pay a pro to do it.

tooki

That's what I thought until I absolutely had to replace the HD in this revA PB17. There is no question it's harder to do than a Pismo, but it's not nearly as hard as, say, a G3 white iBook. It did not take me more than an hour to very carefully do the hardware swap. I spent most of that time duplicating the files, etc., from my dysfunctional drive I had to replace. The only tricky part is a ribbon cable you don't want to break.

Locally in Minneapolis, the apple certified shop charged me $40 to replace the PB17 HD, while they charge $150 for the same service on a G3 white iBook.