5400 rpm vs 7200 rpm on new MacBook pro?

What is the difference? Will I really notice it when video editing? Does it change battery life and longevity?

About 1800 RPM? But seriously, folks. It's a matter of speed. The 7200 RPM drive will typically be faster at i/o than the 5400 RPM drive. Any activity that requires a lot of disk i/o will benefit from a faster drive.
Battery life will be slightly but not significantly less - maybe as much as 10 or 15 minutes. There is not a huge difference in power consumption between 5400 and 7200 RPM drives.

Similar Messages

Which 200 gb 7200 rpm drive is in your new MacBook Pro?

I'm planning on getting the new MacBook Pro 2.4 ghz model. I will upgrade to a 7200 rpm drive. I'm trying to find out which brand of hard drive will be installed, because Apple is unable to tell me which brand they will install. Although it's only about $92 to upgrade the drive, however, I would prefer to know if they are installing a 200 gb Hitachi Travelstar (my preference), Seagate, or other brand. If you got a 7200 drive, which one do you have?

Well, my issue has been resolved. It turns out that the Logitech keyboard (I am using the mouse) that I gave to my son (he had the same set I do but his keyboard died) to use is picking up the signal from the little receiver up here next to my laptop! I called Apple 3 times about this issue and when I finally figured out that what my son typed and did on his Dell running Linux downstairs, was coming through to my computer! Wow! How weird is that? It was my old keyboard and it was still communicating with the receiver up here. So it was nothing to do with anything major. No hard drive issues. I am a happy girl again! Judy

7200 rpm vs. 5400 rpm for the new MacBook Pro?

Hi there,
I'm ready to buy one of the new MacBook Pros. I was going to go for the 15" 2.0 GH. There's one thing that's difficult to decide. Should I go for the 7200 rpm HD upgrade?
In principle it would seem that the default 5400 rpm HD would act as a bottleneck for the new and powerful CPUs. I heard some people say, though, that the 5400 rpm HDs are fast enough and that I would not notice any difference. Therefore, spending the extra money on a faster HD would be a waste.
There is also the concern about battery life. Would a 7200 rpm HD reduce the battery time considerably vs. a 5400 HD?
Since this would be my work computer, I would not want to sacrifice performance. So, if there is no significant difference in battery life and a considerable gain in performance, I would definitely go for the 7200 rpm option.
What is your experience and/or opinion? I'm anxiously waiting for your response so that I can go ahead and enjoy the new Mac Book Pro.
JM

Thanks for your prompt response japamac. Interesting results. I wonder whether the results for performance, battery usage and temperature for the 7200 rpm that comes as an option in the Apple store would be similar to the ones you got for the 7200 rpm HD you used in your test.
One question, since the difference is quite remarkable in the synthetic tests for "Media Center", I'm curious to know what real life applications would that relate to.
Thanks again for your help.
JM

Buying a new Macbook Pro 15" 2.2GHz model

Hi
I have a quick question about the new macbook pro 15" 2.2GHz model. If bought from Apple, you can opt to have a 500GB hard drive @ 7200 rpm, instead of the 750GB @ 5400 rpm, with no change in the price.
Can I do it too if I buy from Best Buy?
Thanks.

Sorry, bud. Ain't happening.
Disclosure: Former BBY employee.

I'm looking to buy a new Macbook Pro, and have questions about the Applecare extended warranty?

I'm looking to buy a new Macbook Pro, and have questions about the Applecare extended warranty? I want to know if the 3 year extended warranty covers what damage. Like water damage, accidental damage, lost or stolen macbook, manufactory defects, or any other kind of damage, maybe be even cosmetic damage. Can anyone help me?

If you are talking about features of the MBP itself, as long as you are not looking at the Retina models, then the memory you can upgrade yourself for a lot less than Apple charges, and that does not affect the warranty as Apple considers memory a user permitted upgrade. Great sources are Crucial and OWC, both are Mac specialists and have on-line videos on how to do the install.
If the 15" is what you are looking at, a good upgrade is the 7200 rpm hard drive, gives a little better performance over the standard 5400 rpm drive.
The Hi Res screen is good if you do a lot of graphics work.
Comparing the 13" amd 15" you will notice the 15" has a second, discrete graphic processor...helps when you get into heavy duty videos, games, graphics...but keep in mind that kicking in the second processor uses a lot of power and will run the battery down faster.
If you are looking at the Retina models, then keep in mind there are no post-purchase upgrade options...you have to buy with everything you want at the start.
Just some thoughts.

New MacBook Pro Purchase: HDD Speed: 5400rpm & 7200rpm

Hi,
I will be ordering a MacBook Pro from the Australian Online Apple Store tomorrow, and I was doing some research about the hard disk drive speeds, and which is better. I have read so far that of course since the 7200rpm hard disk drive spins faster, it will have a faster read/write speed, but I have already read that this means it will decrease the battery life, produce more heat, as well as produce more noise.
I will be using my new MacBook Pro as an addition to my current iMac, and will therefore not be doing my photo/video editing on it, I will mainly be using my new MacBook Pro for email, word processing, iTunes, iWeb, web browsing, a bit of Photoshop, and other student activities. I do however want my laptop to run smoothly, quickly, without producing excessive heat, and have a good battery life.
So, should I choose the 5400rpm, or that 7200rpm model?
Thanks!

When you first get it the faster drive will help a bit with photoshop editing and encoding in iTunes, PFAD. For the rest the difference will be minimal.
In the longer run, size matters more than rpm. As drives get closer to full they get slower. If I had a choice between a 7200 RPM 320 Gig drive or a 5400 500 Gig, for example, I'd go with the latter every time. It might not be quite as fast when new, but it will usually beat the pants off the other "faster" drive when they both have 250 Gig of data on board and after that the advantage of the bigger, slower, drive will continue to grow, both in speed and stability.
But, then, of course drives keep on getting cheaper, so the other option is to buy the faster, smaller, one now and simply replace it when it starts to get fullish. The drives are very easy to replace on current MBPs.
"Come in Spinner!" (Dymphna Cusack once promised to proof read my first novel. Unfortunately she went and died before I finished it. Well, before I started it. Well, I must start it sometime in the next couple of years before I hit 60. I'm truly sorry, Dymphna. I have always felt I have let her down).
It is a real toss up. Maybe your wallet (and anticipated trends there-within over the next couple of years) , rather than the size or speed of the drive, really holds the best answer! Hey, you could spend the price difference on RAM or software instead!
Cheers
Rod

Transferring data from 750GB backup drive to new MacBook Pro with 256 Gb PCI-e flash storage?

Yesterday my late-2008 aluminium unibody MacBook died - absolutely and definitively. I've tried SMC reset multiple times to no avail. However, it served me well for almost six years and it's now time to move on. I've decided to buy a 13 inch MacBook Pro Retina with 256Gb PCI-e flash storage. Obviously, it will come with Mavericks installed as the operating system.
When it died, my MacBook was running OS X 10.8.5, the original hard drive had been replaced with a Western Digital 750GB, 7200 rpm drive of which I believe about 350GB was used. I keep two x 1Tb Lacie Rugged backup drives, each of which has both Time Machine and SuperDuper Bootable Clone backups.
My questions are these -
1.     How should I proceed to transfer my data from my external backup drives to my new MacBook Pro Retina, given the difference in storage capacity of my existing backup drives and my new MacBook Pro?
2.     I have over 32,000 photos in my iPhoto Library which, obviously, consume a big slab of disk space. I'm not sure how I go about 'quarantining' the iPhoto Library so that it doesn't use all the flash drive storage.
3.      One of the Lacie Rugged's has a 'triple interface' - i.e. USB 2, Firewire 400 and Firewire 800. The other has a USB 2 and 2 x Firewire 800 (IIRC).    The MacBook Pro Retina has two USB 3 ports and two Thunderbolt 2 ports. I want to continue to use the Lacies as my backup drives. Am I better off to use the USB ports or should I invest in a Thunderbolt to USB cable? Does it make any real difference in terms of backing up (which, in my case, doesn't have to be all that speedy).
4.     What else should I be thinking about? I know I'm bound to have overlooked the most obvious problems but can't think what they may be ...
Cheers
Tricia

Patricia Henwood wrote:
3.      One of the Lacie Rugged's has a 'triple interface' - i.e. USB 2, Firewire 400 and Firewire 800. The other has a USB 2 and 2 x Firewire 800 (IIRC).    The MacBook Pro Retina has two USB 3 ports and two Thunderbolt 2 ports. I want to continue to use the Lacies as my backup drives. Am I better off to use the USB ports or should I invest in a Thunderbolt to USB cable? Does it make any real difference in terms of backing up (which, in my case, doesn't have to be all that speedy).
USB3 is backwards compatible with USB2, so you can use the old USB cables. For faster data transfer rates, Firewire 800 would be available using this adapter:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD464ZM/A/apple-thunderbolt-to-firewire-adapte r
Firewire 800 is about twice as fast as USB2, theoretically.
Ciao.

HDD vs SSD for new MacBook Pro and FCP editing performance

I will be purchasing a new MacBook Pro and I'm curious about performance as it relates to large FCP projects. I'm looking to hear from folks who can help me determine if a solid state drive (SSD) would be worth the extra cost. I edit large FCP projects and I'm curious if using a SSD would be the way to go. Will I get better editing performance with a SSD as opposed to the 7200 RPM HDD?
Thanks!

As a boot drive, SSDs have exceedingly last fast access times, and great data throughput rates. My Crucial SSD has a write read of about 200 MB/s. I can boot in under four seconds, and access apps, and web sites pretty **** fast.
However, beyond this, I don't see any real, substantial or dramatic gains in editing performance at all as a boot drive. I'd save your money on get more RAM, and best CPU and GPU you can afford.

Color fidelity and the New MacBook Pro glossy display like iMac

I'm very concerned about the new MacBook Pro display which is glossy like the iMac. Can Apple guarantee precise Color fidelity and correct calibration for Pro users? Aren't glossy glass screens more saturated, deeper Blacks and higher contrasted. Aan Apple answer to this very important question that will draw or throw thousands of Professionals off the new Pro laptop.

Sorry, your comments only confirm the post above. Below is a copy of a comment from Charles Higgins posted to Maintouch. I copied it for posting here (I hope that is legal).
Charles Higgins
To those who must work in bright, unshaded sunlight, Hoodman makes a pretty good reflection/glare 'hood' (sic) that does its job, except it's godawful ugly and bulky.
To everyone else (designers, photogs, and image editors), who must often work in less than ideal outdoor and indoor environments with their MBP's (including the dreaded airline seat), I feel your pain. I do ALL of these jobs, professionally, am an Adobe Beta Tester, have a Cisco CCNE and independently consult for folks like The University of Massachusetts (all campuses), Smith College, Middlebury College, to name a few, on everything from spec'ing Video, Graphics, and Photography labs to deployment, training, etc...
However - the MBP's screen, reflective though it may be, is my favorite laptop screen so far, and I've tried all brands for a long time. I've owned and professionally used, daily, Mac laptops/notebooks since Wall Street.
If it's a deal-breaker to have a glossy screen, you need to re-examine your techniques for use- how you work, where you work, light sources, etc.- because it's a really good indicator of how accurately you perceive color, brightness and tonality accurately... in other words, under conditions that I get unacceptable glare and reflections on my new MBP's glossy screen (CTO 2.8, 320GB 7200 RPM, new 24" on order, DP to DVI adapter out to 30" Cinema Display in home office), I would be getting unacceptable 'light pollution' onto my matte 30" Cinema Display, or any number of CRT monitors I used professionally in days past (Sony Artisans, Barco, etc.), and that's a good barometer, to me, of whether I have a 'pure' viewing environment for critical color work. Just because one can eke out a good or acceptable image view on a matte LCD MBP screen, doesn't mean you should do color critical, submit billing to client work in that already compromised situation. The matte screen often delivers a 'false sense of security' to those folks who work professionally in graphics, video and image editing. I find, or create, an environment that I can work well in with regard to screen viewing, and that's where, matte LCD screen or Glossy, I can get the best results. If I cannot get that environment, I curse my lack of resourcefulness and do work that isn't color-critical, just as I would with any matte screen Mac notebook LCD. In my long experience, and comparing them to even midlevel CRT monitor screens (Mitsu Diamond Pro 22", etc.) is absolutely no contest. Matte screens have an unacceptably low contrast and brightness, and a more primitive rendering of fine tonal gradations and shadows to blacks. My 30" Cinema Display has some of these same shortcomings, of course - but to a far lesser degree. Still, those shortcomings are there, and for the same reasons. The new, DP equipped 24" Cinema Display is a piece of pro equipment that I look forward to immediately calibrating and putting to work immediately!
The clients I've converted to MBP glossy screens because of the shortcomings of any laptop matte screen BTW, my new MBP has a noticeably better screen than the glossy one on my early 2008 MBP (LED backlit); I calibrated both with Gretag MacBeth calibration hardware. I have been able to hardware calibrate the newer MBP to a tighter tolerance.
Got glare? That's a symptom you're gonna probably get less than accurate results from any screen. Having used matte LCD screens in Mac notebooks for many years, I'll take the new LED backlit glossy MBP screens over anything available so far.
----------------------------------------------------

Just bought my new MacBook Pro and..???

I hope this is not a redundant issue; I didn't see it in the search results.
I just bought a new MacBook Pro today from my Apple Store, that was supposed to have a 160 GB hard drive with Leopard already installed.
When I started it up, I noticed that I had Tiger 10.4.7 installed, and that the 160 GB HD was showing a capacity of 148 GB, with the OS taking up an extra 12 GB after that.
I do have the Leopard disks, but I'm hesitant to do anything until I get an answer on this HD question. Did somebody make a mistake?
Some context: I'm a loyal Mac user since 1990, but my last purchase was a PB G4 in 2001. So you can imagine how delighted I was to find a HD of that size on a Mac, but now I see that in true form, the system software is now enormous?
Can anybody help someone like me -who has obviously been out of the loop in terms of keeping up with the upgrades- understand what is going on with this stuff?
This stuff being:
-the actual amount of HD space I can expect to get from "160" GB
-the amount of space Leopard takes up
-and, are we talking in relative terms about a very low amount of HD space once I get things like the Master version of Creative Suite loaded on?
Excuse my naïvete, but how and why did these programmes get so bloody big?
Message was edited by: honour

No hard drive on the planet gives you the full number of gigs as they say. 200 gig drives give you 180 something, 160 gigs give you 148. That's just the way it is. I won't bore you with technical reasons. What you got is 100% normal. OSX itself doesn't take 12 gigs, but the iLife suite comes with a TON of content like audio loops, video files for iDVD, and all the other crap that goes with it. That's about half of the gigs right there. And yes, the size of installed programs has grown and grown and grown.
My CS3 Design Premium suite takes up about 5 gigs total. The Master collection will be more, I'm guessing 7 gigs maybe?
Bottom line, 160 gig harddrives are puny really. I just bought a 17" MBPro 2 days ago, paid a cool $3,000 for it with tax. For that kind of cash, Apple should really be putting 200 or 250 gig drives in as standard. They retail for only a few bucks more than the 160s...
I have a 7200 RPM 200 gig drive ready to go whenever I feel like re-installing all my apps and such.
In closing, you have a perfectly normal machine, and those numbers are spot on correct.

Getting a new MacBook Pro: HDD or SSD question

Hey everyone!
I'm about to get a new MacBook Pro, and there'sone problem I need a little help solving.
I could either get a 500gb 7200rpm HDD at noextra charge, OR I could get a 128gb SSD for an additional $90. I'm slightlyleaning towards the SSD for the general reasons you've all probably heard aboutby now.
Now let me just explain my reasoning here a bit. Ishould say beforehand that I already plan on getting a 1TB external USB drive,regardless of which internal drive I get. So space isn't really the issue.
From what I understand, if I were to buy the MBPwith the 500gb HDD and just buy an SSD separately, that would total me around$220 (the price of a 128gb SSD nowadays). However, if I were to buy the laptopwith the SSD and then buy a 500 gb HDD at 7200 rpm, it would cost me $90 + $70= $160. So I'd be saving money by buying the SSD with the MBP it seems, noteven counting the fact that I could sell the SSD for a higher price than what Iactually bought it for!
I know it sounds like I might already have myanswers, but I basically have three questions:
1) Does that argument make sense to you? As in,is there anything I'm missing or not considering?
2) Does anyone know what brand of SSD Apple shipsin MBP nowadays?
3) I was planning on using my SSD for theOS/applications, and using the 1TB HDD for files/music/movies etc. Is that anideal setup or is there something I'm missing about that as well?
I'd appreciate any helpful answers. Thanks!

1 - Everyone has their own way of looking at it...
2 - Toshiba but it can always change...
3 - seems ok, iTunes might not really like to have all the files in an external drive but it seems ok...
P.s.- 1TB will not be enough... LOL... try something bigger like a 3TB drive (think future friendly)

How quick to export HD footage on new Macbook Pro?

I have a mid 2007 Macbook Pro (2.4 ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 gig memory, 7200 rpm hard drive) and will be editing HD footage soon. I've been told I should avoid it with my laptop though it seems to work fine on the whole.
What it does seem slow on is exporting and was wondering if someone could help me judge this....
I exported a Quicktime Movie of 2 mins 59 secs of XDCam EX footage shot at 35 mbs and it took 10 mins 51 secs. (I put a couple of lower thirds on it and few video tracks.) Just how does this hold up against a new Macbook Pro? Is this good or bad?
Thanks

do some searching here. My experience has been to set up my xdcam sequences to render as prores. I thought this sped things up as I think every bit of an xdcam sequence has to be rendered even if you're exporting with current settings, but I seem to remember a recent thread saying this wasn't true.

Which new MacBook Pro for Logic 9 bigger sessions?

Hello!
I'm fixin to buy a new MacBook Pro to make records while on the run. I generally work in Logic 9.1.7 with many layers of VSL, Guitar Rig, and Battery and such and have hit the limit at times on my old machine. Can anybody weigh in on which new model to buy? retina or not? specs?
you rock.
Grabbin'

Ram & HD speed will make the most difference with audio recording, although you could always use an external drive to record on. You could buy the On-the-Go USB3 2.5 external drive and it will fit in your hand and allow for a lot of tracks. Buy a 2.5 drive with 7200 RPM for that external drive. You could also load the MBP with an SSD HD and 16 Gigs of RAM and have all the speed in the world.
However, I would recommend the (mid) 2012 MBP 2.3Ghz 15.4", which will allow for upgradable RAM & HD. Upgrade to a SSD drive and 8 Gigs of RAM. You won't need the Retina, if fact you're better off without it, for now.
Happy Recording!!

Does the new Macbook Pro 13 2011 work with the Intel SSD?

I've been trying to upgrade my macbook pro to an ssd (using stock original 5400 rpm 320 gb HDD) but so far I've been reading for like 2-3 hrs and came to a conclusion. Intel is the most reliable and most highly recommended. However, Intel SSD doesn't work with the new Macbook Pro 13" & 17" because of some cabling SATA III issues. Does the issue still remain or has it been fixed? If it hasn't been fixed, what is the current most highly recommended and reliable and best in terms of speed, reliability, and just...best SSD available that works best with the 2011 MBP? Can anyone help me out? Ive been reading that OCZ and others are faster than Intel but less reliable (higher failure rates) and MBP can't take advantage of faster 6/Gbps RAID III or something. help me!!! Should I just wait?

If you search the web, you will predominately read about problems, not good experiences.
I don't believe Intel is any less subject to issues, than the Sandforce SSD drives.
Buy from a reliable source with a good return policy and warranty.
OWC is well regarded.

Any perfect audio hardware setup with the new Macbook Pro?

I'm still not sure if to go for the new Macbook Pro 2.8 ghz, or the 6 months earlier 2.5 ghz model (march 2008).
I love to go for the new Macbook Pro, but I'm not sure about my setup. Now I have:
- extern 7200 rpm bus powered LaCie firewire 800 hard drive
- Saffire with firewire 400 (thinking about moving to Apogee Duet)
Will the express card really help? I've read that if you connect a firewire 400 device to the express card, the firewire 800 won't work at 800 speed, but at 400? Also that a bus powered hard drive doesn't work, and that it needs it's own power to run with the express card?
Bottom line:
What would be the perfect audio hardware setup with the new Macbook Pro? I gladly invest in a different audio interface (or anything else) if it really fits and works as pro audio setup!

I've read that if you connect a firewire 400 device to the express card, the firewire 800 won't work at 800 speed, but at 400?
I don't think this is right. As I understand it, the advantage of having one of your devices on an express card slot is specifically so it is on its own bus.
Then both devices will operate on their own speed.
However, this is true for the older model Macbook Pros when you use both FW ports that are built in, because even though the machine has two ports, they each feed one firewire bus. So if you have a device plugged into each port, the one plugged into the 800 will only run at 400 speed because they're both on the same bus. Using an express card means both devices can operate at their own speed.
If you want the newer machine I think you should get it. Then you can buy a firewire 400 express card, plug your interface into that, and plug your FW 800 drive into the main firewire port. This will give you better performance from your peripherals than an older machine with both devices plugged into the built in FW ports.
Good Luck!

Who has a brand spanking new MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo? Comments?

Hi,
Ok, it's been almost 3 months since I posted a similar post asking for experiences with the new MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo.
Please let me know how things are working, whether you went 5400 or 7200 internal (my main concern), pros and cons, size of screen (15" or 17"), etc...
Got my eyes on a 17", but don't know which internal to do.
Thanks!
PS - I may go iMac 24" (because it has Firewire 800) and keep this ol' PB G4 1 gightz for portability... thoughts?

If you want to use Logic, then 15 inch screen is a must. There is not enough > space on the 13 inch to view Logic, especially when you open the soft synths.
well yes... or, in my case, the 15 inch screen was still not enough so I went for the 17. it has exactly the same res as the 20" cinema display which I was already used to with logic, so I'm happy. plus I never use this machine as my laptop to carry around (I kept my powerbook for that) so I didn't need to compromise on getting something that was still not too big to be a comfortable laptop. but I think if you do want to work with logic effectively and still have a laptop that's a practical size to use as a general laptop, the 15" is the right choice.
what internal speed drive did you go with? 5400 or 7200
I went for the 7200rpm drive. have you read all the information out there on the net about the new PMR technology that's used on the 160/5400 and 200/4200 drive options in the MBPs? there are some very comprehensive benchmarks that have been run which show that there's not as much of a dramatic difference anymore between the 7200 and the 5400. for some operations under certain conditions, the 5400 actually appeared to be faster.
you're not planning to use the internal drive for audio though, are you?
my reasoning for getting the 7200 drive is the following. OSX permanenty and automatically uses disk-based virtual memory just in regular operation. it is constantly creating and reading swap files, as well as just referencing little bits of whatever data that the apps and the system need to run. this VM use becomes heavier the more your actual physical RAM starts being used up. now seeing as I know that I'm going to be running heavy logic sessions, using up as much RAM as I can get with samples and just general everything.. I decided I needed to have the snappiest system drive I could get. even given the benchmarks for the PMR drives, I still felt that fast read/write access speeds and the fastest seek time possible is what I needed to have optimal performance. sure a 5400rpm PMR drive might have great specs for a lot of things. but when the system needs to be able to find whatever swap files or system resource as quickly as possible, I still think you can't beat a disk that is just physically spinning faster.
the other thing I've done is this. when I first got the machine, I reformatted it and did my own custom install of OSX. traditional drives perform best when they are less than half full. from what I've read, anything down to 30% full is still on an improving curve, and maybe it gets better still even less full. so I scaled back the install to as lean a system as I could. I've installed only the most important apps that I need, and I definitely did not install the iwork and office trial software. after that, I used software called monolingual to remove even more language localizations (which are added with app support) on top of what I had already left out in my custom install. this got me back almost another GB of space. also, my itunes library is not on my MBP.. I've kept it on my powerbook. the only times I ever want to listen to music from my itunes library on the MBP is when the powerbook is nearby anyway, seeing as the powerbook is the only machine that I ever take anywhere. so, the library just appears in itunes on the MBP as shared music. my iphoto library is locally stored on my MBP though, because iphoto runs so much faster on this machine.. but this is the only concession to include personal files that I've made on the MBP. so, out of a 100GB system drive, I still have 62GB of free space left, and I'll keep it as close to that as I can.
as for my project audio and my sound library, it's all on an external FW800 drive. but I'm also considering getting an e-SATA card and getting a drive for that, because it will be even faster and will free up the FW bus to have full-bandwidth use of something like liquid mix. we'll see.
anyway, so far so good. like I said in my first post, logic is running like a demon. in general, this machine is running real fast for everything, like a fast desktop.
but I think the problem with your question is.. it's going to be hard for anyone to be able to tell you how it would have been had they gotten a different drive. I have no idea if my system would be running logic any less fast if I'd gone with the 5400. my instincts tell me that maybe it'd have slightly less of an edge, but I can't really say. it's probably true that if I was using my 7200 drive less cautiously than I am, and that it was getting close to full, then it would probably slow down a bit more dramatically than a 5400 would have, if I had one of those and it was getting full. this is to do with the fact that higher data density on the same sized platter can mean faster seek times only when they are starting to get fuller, and also to do with aspects of how PMR disks work. but I think that a well managed and lean 7200 drive that is much more than half full will still give you a slightly perkier system than a 5400 PMR drive used at its best. there's not really any way I can know this for sure though.
end of the day, I don't honestly think logic would run like a dog with a 5400rpm PMR drive. but if you want the absolute best performance you can get, you're better off keeping a lean system drive, trying to keep it at least only half full or better.. and then using a fast external for your projects and sound library. in that case, I don't see the point of getting a 160GB internal drive, just so that you have more space to keep empty.
but if you want to use the machine for multiple purposes and you could really use that extra disk space, then I still think logic will run more than fine. compared to your powerbook, there's no way you'll be dissapointed.. it's like having a dual 2.5ghz G5, if not faster, only in a less than one inch thick case that you can carry in your bag.

5400 rpm vs 7200 rpm on new MacBook pro?

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