MacBook HDD 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM

I was thinking about buying:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822145113
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148073
does it matter if they are 5400 or 7200 RPM. Which one is better for a MacBook?
Also should I buy one now. I plan to get Apple Care. Lots of people are really negative about the quality of them and it makes me want to wait should I?

From my personal experience its hard to recommend a macbook to anyone for fear of condemning them as well. apple seems to be fixing the problem, and my RSD'ing macbook has been dealt with and is now working rather well. if you get it directly from apple you should get the latest build week which should have a lesser chance of going ape on you.
anyway, i too was thinking of getting a different HD for my blackbook, and i was considering a 7,200 RPM HD from otherworldcomputing. but i also realize that i probably wont get much out of the higher spindle speed because i dont edit movies nor do i dabble around with music editing. so unless you plan on dealing with large high capacity files such as music or video then by all means go with the 7200, if all you plan on doing is downloading web browsing and other tasks that dont really pull that much on the CPU, then you may want to go with the 5400, mostly because you can get much larger storage capacity up to 160GB as opposed to getting a max of 100GB for the 7200

Similar Messages

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.

5400 rpm or 7200 rpm?

Will i be able to notice a big difference between the 5400 and 7200 rpm hard drives? If so in what area will this change be noticed?

there are lots of other threads already discussing this. search '5400 7200'

Upgrading from 5400 rpm to 7200 rpm HD

I have a dv7-4270us, am I able to change to a higher speed hd without causing heat issues? I know the battery will be used more quickly, but it is rarely used unplugged.
Will the recovery dvd work with another drive of the same size or am I 'SOL' on this?
Thanks!

You should have no problems. 7200 rpm drives really only put out a very tiny extra bit of heat and vibration and use only a tiny bit more juice. The recovery media will work fine on a larger, faster drive.

5400 rpm or 7200 rpm for new mac mini??

Is there really that big of a difference between the two speeds? I will use this computer for some online games and app development for iphone. Do you think I will need the faster hard drive? Is it possible to install a second hard drive into the mac mini after I purchase it??

It absolutely will make a difference. Of course, unless you're running the two speeds side-by-side, it's going to be hard to compare. But, ultimately, yes...you will see better performance with a higher RPM disk. you may be better off upping the amount of RAM in your system, and if you're planning on gaming a lot, get the mini with discrete graphics instead of the integrated.
To your second question, take a look at ifixit.com. They've already posted a teardown of the new mini, and there is room for a second 2.5" drive in there. You just need to find the cable that connects the drive directly to the system board.

5400 rpm vs 7200 rpm?

Ok so I have the lacie rugged 5400rpm drive which I thought was 7200 when I bought it but oh well. But I noticed when I do a aja system test I still get like 50mb/sec read / write. Isn't that good enough for video, nevermind the speed?

Yes, and maybe… no.
For video streams requiring a sustained data transfer rate of less than 50Mb per second, you’re good to go. For video streams requiring more than 50Mb per second, you’re not good to go.
For reference:
DV-NTSC requires about 3.6Mb/sec.
HDV 1080i60 a little less than 3.6Mb/sec.
HDV 1080i60 AIC requires about 9.8Mb/sec.
The rotational speed (4,800RPM, 5,400RPM, 7,200RPM,10,000RPM) is a secondary issue. It’s sustained data transfer rate that counts. However, if you were to start working with image sequences rather than movie files, you’d definitely want a drive with a faster rotational speed.
Matrox has a pretty good chart that quickly compares data rate requirements based on both megabits and megabytes here: http://www.matrox.com/video/en/support/mac/mxo2/design/storage/
You’re good to edit anything that falls under 50Mb per second (I’d set a limit of 45Mb/sec. to allow some overhead).
-Warren

Option to go from 5400 rpm HD to 7200 rpm? Apple waiting for my phone call.

Hi,
My new 15" Macbook Pro is being replaced with a new laptop due to problems. I am in discussion with Apple regarding confirmation of my current laptop specs. When the HD spec was discussed, 5400rpm 500g, I asked about upgrading to a 7200rpm. Apple indicated that would be possible.
So the question is; is it worth upgrading to the 7200 HD? I heard from a local Apple store that the 7200's can cause heat problems and quick draining of the battery. But they couldn't tell me why. I don't have a lot of confidence in what I was told by then, due to other experiences.
So, 7200 or 5400? Your opinion would be much appreciated. Upgrade cost btw is only $60. So it's not a money issue.
Thanks in advance.
Peter
Message was edited by: Petermgr

Unless its bearings are failing, the hard drive temperature sensor will typically show the lowest reading of all the sensors in a MBP, often by a wide margin. How a hard drive could "cause heat problems" is a complete mystery to me. As for power consumption, most users notice no perceptible difference in battery run time after switching from a 5400 to a 7200 RPM drive. Some manufacturers' specifications show nearly or exactly the same power demands for 7200 RPM drives as for 5400s.
It is likely that you will hear a 7200RPM drive more of the time than a 5400, though it may still be pretty quiet. And it's possible that you will feel more vibration through your hands on the keyboard and wrist rests.
I wouldn't have Apple upgrade the drive, though. I'd save $60 and have them install a 5400RPM unit, and then I'd spend the $60 and maybe a little more besides to get a bigger 7200RPM drive, install it myself, and use the 5400 RPM drive for backup or extra storage. Then I'd have two drives for $10-$30 more than just the 7200RPM drive would have cost me if Apple had installed it.

5400 versus 7200 rpm firewire disk: does it matter?

I'm in the market for an external firewire drive. The model I'm considering (LaCie Rugged Hard Disk) comes in 5400 rpm and 7200 rpm versions. I will be using my iMac G5's FireWire 400 connection. Given the transfer speed limitations of FireWire 400, will I see a difference between the 5400 rpm and the 7200 rpm models?
I will typically use Retrospect to backup my entire hard disk, and Synchronize Pro to synchronize folders between the external and internal disks.
Thanks.

Probably not with 400 transfer, however if you want to upgrade your computer later to an intel with 800 Firewire, you might be glad of the greater speed.

FireWire / MacBook Pro / External 7200 rpm Drive / External Power Supply / Daisychaining

I would like to use FireWire from my MacBook Pro to an external 7200 rpm drive (Fantom GreenDrive Quad with FireWire capability) that uses an external power supply. Are there any issues with using the external power supply? I read in an archived Mac forum regarding Thunderbolt that there might be (for Thunderbolt, which I'm not using). The archived info wasn't entirely clear to me as to whether it meant not to power up (turn on or plug in) an external power supply for a daisychained device while the MacBook was on or the daisychain had devices in use, say, or whether it meant don't use (daisychain) any devices that use external power supplies.
Once that question is resolved (about FireWire relative to the external power supply for the external hard drive), my next question is, Can I safely daisychain also? If so, what protocol would I use for that, relative to the power supply for each daisychained hard drive?

I have had no issues using daisychained FireWire 800 external drives with leaving the drives turned on, power supplies on, and restarting my MBP. The MBP starts up and sees the drives and runs fine.

7200 rpm verification?

I ordered my 17-inch MacBook Pro with a 7200 rpm drive because I will use it to edit with FCP.
How do I verify that my new MacBook is indeed 7200 rpm? I looked in the System Profiler under Serial- ATA but it does not list either 5400 rpm nor 7200 rpm.

Hi cjd1234: While in System Profiler, note your Hard Drive model number and do a google search on the number. This will reveal all sorts of info about the drive.
Hope this helps
Stedman

Is it possible to install a 7200 rpm drive into a Macbook running a 5400?

Is it possible to install a 7200 rpm drive into a Macbook running a 5400 rpm drive? And if so does anyone know what brand of drive is stock in the Macbook? What is a good brand? Seagate? Hitachi? Western?

And if so does anyone know what brand of drive is stock in the Macbook?
The 250GB drive in my new aluminum MacBook was a Fujitsu. I replaced it with a 500GB Samsung since I was more interested in space than speed.
-Doug

Does 7200 Rpm HDD's work on the new MacBook?

Hi, I was wondering does 7200 rpm harddrives work on the new MB?
Such like this one:
HDD Scorpio/320GB 2.5" SATA 7200rpm 16MB

You don't have to install OSX on the new hard drive if you have an external enclosure to put he new hard drive in. I used Carbon Copy Cloner to mirror my internal 60GB to the 200GB external and then swapped the drives out. The reason Apple doesn't offer the 7200rpm drives in the MacBook is to differentiate product lines. Nothing more. Some drives are thicker than others though. I'm not sure if the new MacBook has the same or more internal space for a replacement drive.

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

7200 RPM drives in the Macbook Pro...

Does the Macbook Pro with a 7200 RPM HD have any physical differences when compared to the 5400 RPM version of the computer? Specifically, I am looking for any differences related to cooling. For example, a different hard drive mount (with heat sinks) or an additional fan etc.
Thanks!

No. Externally, they are the same, and no other design features differ. The difference in heat generated by the 7200 rpm vs the 5400 rpm is minor, and well within the cooling capacity of the MBP (if you use something like iStat Pro, you'll be able to see the HDD temp, and note that it's always much cooler than the CPU/GPU chips, even with a 7200 rpm drive, which I have).

7200 rpm disk in MacBook?

Hi,
at AppleStore it says that you can invidualize your MacBook with a faster hard drive for better performance, but there are no option to choose anything faster than 5400 rpm, only different sizes or solid state. Is it or isn't it possible to get a MacBook with a 7200 rpm disk? Or do I have to get the slower one and then replace it afterwards?
Thanks...

Paneer wrote:
Can you give me an idea what difference it makes in terms of battery life compared to the standard 5400 rpm HDDs?
Not likely to be that much different. The power draw from plugging in a USB flash drive is likely to be more than the difference between most 7200 and 5400 hard drives. It is highly dependent on the particular drive though. There are always manufacturing variations that can affect heat and power consumption. Some hard drives are also notorious for having great datasheet specs for power consumption, but in the real world they draw more power.
I haven't had any heat problems with my Hitachi Travelstar 7K200. I have heard of some issues with the newer Travelstar 7K320 though. It's supposed to have lower power consumption and heat draw, but perhaps that's a case where the datasheet is rather optimistic. I'd think the speed is probably top of the line with that drive.
If you want something that draws almost no power, try a solid-state drive. Pricey, but something like an Intel X25-M only draws 0.15 watt in full operation. That's less than a 5400 RPM drive in idle.

MacBook HDD 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for