AltecXP Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Hey guys, Im tosed up. Whats the real performance difference in these 2 drives? the 160 in my MacBook is getting full and I want to upgrade it. (30GB free) http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=477 http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=506 I'm not sure to go for 500gb or 7200rpm. Or go for both with this one: http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?loca...p;reqPage=Model Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMann Veteran Posted July 17, 2009 Veteran Share Posted July 17, 2009 Considering you have 160GB at the moment, I would go for the 320GB Drive and opt for the disk speed instead of capacity. 7200RPM disk, 16MB Cache seems like a winner for me. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miuku. Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 25-30% performance advantage for the 7200RPM'er. Yes, it's noticeable in use. I changed the 5400 spinner in my Summer 2007 MBP and the 'new' 7200 made it fly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajputwarrior Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 depends what you do. If you like running VM's, do photoshop and any other sort of editing go for the faster drive, but your battery life will decrease a nice noticeable chunk. If you just use it for casual use, use a 5400RPM. WD are good drives, i put a 160 WD in my macbook before going to a 320gb seagate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Helix Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 what do you use your macbook for? video editing deffinately the black, plus it has the free fall sensor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miuku. Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 but your battery life will decrease a nice noticeable chunk. Not quite true - there are 7200 drives that have almost no power consumption difference compared to their 5400 brethren. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajputwarrior Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Not quite true - there are 7200 drives that have almost no power consumption difference compared to their 5400 brethren. really? got any examples? my former prof put a 7200 in his and the battery life decrease was quite noticeable. It was one of those smart seagate ones too. The ones that power down when not being really used and speed up when needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miuku. Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 really? got any examples?my former prof put a 7200 in his and the battery life decrease was quite noticeable. It was one of those smart seagate ones too. The ones that power down when not being really used and speed up when needed. http://gizmodo.com/387878/hitachis-25+inch...h-5400rpm-power With only a 1.8 watt read/write power draw and a 0.8 watt low power idle, Hitachi claims the 7200rpm 7K320 power consumption is on par with their 5400rpm models. That's just a quick example :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary2MBz Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 The WD Scorpio Black is actually more conservative on the battery than the 5400RPM Hitachi that came stock. It is also one of the fastest notebook drives in the market. The cost is also worth it if you buy from amazon. Get my drive, not the ones ending in BEKT because those don't have the FreeFall Sensor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajputwarrior Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 daPheonix that that looks like a really good drive actually. And you can get them for a good price! hey altec, take a look at this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/notebo...ve,2006-16.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miuku. Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Very nice link Raj. I'd definitely flag for 7200 Scorpio after that one - it's a measly 0.2W higher consumption than 5400 and it's considerably speedier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltecXP Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 I use the MacBook for running VMware, Office, and World of Warcraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltecXP Posted July 18, 2009 Author Share Posted July 18, 2009 So it looks like the 320gb 7200 is the best bet, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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