[Scooterboy]

I'm just wondering if I'd see a noticeable improvment with the 5400 RPM HD option the Apple Store offers BTO. I was playing around on a 12" PB running GarageBand and a warning came up that said the Hard Drive was too slow.

I'm looking at the 15" PowerBook and I'm wondering if the the $125 HD upgrade is worth it, or would I be better off upgrading to a 7200 RPM HD later on? Or maybe a faster FW drive?

[Mobile Mod]

I have a 5400rpm drive in my pb and i think it makes a huge difference. I came from a rev a 17" so not only is the clock speed faster, but the hard drive is too. Gaming on this thing (esp load times) is really fast and im loving it! Might as well go as high end as you can, it will be really hard to upgrade the HD in this in the future.

My two cents
Justin

[PeteWK]

Check out this website. They did a comparison a while back with just that question in mind.

www.xlr8yourmac.com/IDE.html

PeteWK

[ae86_16v]

Or this too. . . http://www.barefeats.com/hard34.html

And you could also do a search and find numerous threads on this. . .

[Scooterboy]

Thanks for the info! In some cases (sustained read or write), the 5400 rpm HD is slower than the standard drive. I think I'd order the 60 GB standard drive and swap it for a 7200 RPM drive, or just go with the standard 80 GB HD and use a faster FireWire drive when I need speed.

I plan to use an M-box and Pro Tools LE, and I was hoping I could do this on an internal drive. GarageBand also seems to prefer faster Hard Drives.

[bentoon]

First off, no matter what G4 powerbook you are on Garage band seems to give off that HD too slow warning...
so dont let it freak you, it still works well...

I had similar concerns and I went the route of the hitachi 7200 (in the 17)
Faster/Less heat/Less Fan noise
I needed en external anyway and put the old in a Firewire enclosure.
If you can afford it I would suggest it

HOWEVER, keep researching...
reports differ depending on your specific powerbook how fast, how old, and since you are running the 12 I would see if anybody has specific exp. with the 7200 in a 12 !

[baglunch]

Originally posted by bentoon:
First off, no matter what G4 powerbook you are on Garage band seems to give off that HD too slow warning...
so dont let it freak you, it still works well...

I had similar concerns and I went the route of the hitachi 7200 (in the 17)
Faster/Less heat/Less Fan noise
I needed en external anyway and put the old in a Firewire enclosure.
If you can afford it I would suggest it

HOWEVER, keep researching...
reports differ depending on your specific powerbook how fast, how old, and since you are running the 12 I would see if anybody has specific exp. with the 7200 in a 12 !

did you install the 7200rpm hitachi yourself or did you have it installed for you? where?

[Scooterboy]

I've sold my iBook and will be upgrading to a 15" PowerBook. It's too bad that Apple doesn't offer faster HD's in their flagship notebooks. 5400 RPM should be standard and 7200 RPM optional. Maybe in the next update

[bentoon]

Ah, you're in NYC
I got them to do it at Tech Serve on 23d st.
(That way the PB is still covered)

~B

Originally posted by baglunch:
did you install the 7200rpm hitachi yourself or did you have it installed for you? where?