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#233642 - 16/09/2004 16:29 Recommend Laptop Hard Drive
mcomb
pooh-bah

Registered: 31/08/1999
Posts: 1649
Loc: San Carlos, CA
I'm a little out of the loop on hard drives these days, but I'd like to upgrade the drive in my PowerBook. Speed is the key requirement. 6 months ago the Hitachi 7k60 series where about the fastest laptop drives out there (and I think the only 7200 rpm laptop drives?). Are these still the fastest available drives? Is there something faster/cheaper on the immediate horizon? Any other thoughts on these drives?

Thanks,
-Mike
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#233643 - 16/09/2004 17:26 Re: Recommend Laptop Hard Drive [Re: mcomb]
drakino
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
60 gig is still the largest 7200 drive for laptops. Though soon, a 100gb 5400 drive should be out, and that will probably be what I upgrade my Powerbook to, from an 80gb 4200 drive.

Some benchmarks of different drives in a Powerbook are here.

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#233644 - 16/09/2004 18:05 Re: Recommend Laptop Hard Drive [Re: drakino]
mcomb
pooh-bah

Registered: 31/08/1999
Posts: 1649
Loc: San Carlos, CA
Quote:
Some benchmarks of different drives in a Powerbook are here.

Yeah, I've seen that data before, but its over a year old. I'm just surprised that nothing new seems to have been released in the last year?

-Mike
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#233645 - 16/09/2004 18:53 Re: Recommend Laptop Hard Drive [Re: mcomb]
drakino
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
Nothing fast and new anyhow. I've been waiting for rumored 7200 80 gig drives since I bought my Powerbook a year ago. I'm finally giving up and will just get the 100 gig 5400. I figure a speed bump and space bump will make me happy enough.

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#233646 - 16/09/2004 23:08 Re: Recommend Laptop Hard Drive [Re: drakino]
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
I'll ask Mike over at XLR8 if he plans on doing an update to the PB drive comparison.

I'd be concerned with a 7200rpm drive in the PB if it generates more heat as do the faster desktop models. The PB already gets flame-hot as it is. And I don't do anything outside the finder on it right now - though I suppose mpeg4 decoding gets the CPU going pretty good sometimes. But I notice the incredible heat even just using a browser and connected to the wireless network.

I've got the same 4200rpm 80GB drive in my machine, 1.5GHz with 512MB of RAM and the 128MB Radeon Mobility 9700.

I dropped it off at the shop today. Not that impressed with the shop. Not when I found out they don't do any component-level repair work (ie. soldering). Though maybe I should be glad about this on a warranty issue. It means they'll just swap out whole boards as they're available from Apple.

Incidentally, a new version of our graphics control panel, ATI Displays, will be released next week which now supports all OEM ATI installations. This means easy access to per-application settings for things like FSAA and Anisotropic filtering - great if you do any gaming.

Bruno

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#233647 - 17/09/2004 10:30 Re: Recommend Laptop Hard Drive [Re: drakino]
Daria
carpal tunnel

Registered: 24/01/2002
Posts: 3937
Loc: Providence, RI
Quote:
Nothing fast and new anyhow. I've been waiting for rumored 7200 80 gig drives since I bought my Powerbook a year ago. I'm finally giving up and will just get the 100 gig 5400. I figure a speed bump and space bump will make me happy enough.


I'd be fearing the heat...

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#233648 - 17/09/2004 16:30 Re: Recommend Laptop Hard Drive [Re: Daria]
drakino
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
Apple ships the Powerbook with a 5400 option, and when mine was first out, 7200 was also an option.

Most of the heat in a Powerbook is in the rear area towards the middle due to the CPU and GPU being near there. The hard drive is up front, under the trackpad.

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#233649 - 17/09/2004 16:43 Re: Recommend Laptop Hard Drive [Re: Daria]
mcomb
pooh-bah

Registered: 31/08/1999
Posts: 1649
Loc: San Carlos, CA
Quote:
I'd be fearing the heat...

The power usage specs for the 7200 rpm drives are essentially identical to Hitachi's 5400 rpm drives, and I haven't read anything implying that they give off significantly greater amounts of heat than their other drives. Doesn't seem like it's an issue.

-Mike
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#233650 - 18/09/2004 09:39 Re: Recommend Laptop Hard Drive [Re: mcomb]
Roger
carpal tunnel

Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5683
Loc: London, UK
Quote:
...haven't read anything implying that they give off significantly greater amounts of heat...


I've got a 7K60 in my Sony Vaio, and my laptop at work also has one. They're not appreciably warmer than any other recent laptop hard drive I know of. I think that this is a non-issue.

And they are nice and quick.
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