16mb vs 8mb cache in 5400rpm laptop hd

[dementedlemur]

I want to know if there is a noticeable difference in performance between a 16mb cache 5400rpm laptop HD and one with an 8mb cache.
This is for relatively basic usage such as office apps, internet surfing, and accessing stored movies and music.

 

[kitkat22]

I think you will notice a bigger difference with a 5400rpm HD than a 7200rpm HD. That's pure speculation, but in essence you will see a difference though it may not be substantial. I would go for it.

 

[Zap]

IIRC the 16MB cache drives are made by Toshiba. It works fine, but is outperformed by some of the newer drives from WD and Seagate.

 

[imported_Dimicron]

If you are replacing a 4200rpm drive you will notice a LOT of difference. If you are replacing a 5400rpm/8MB cache drive you won't notice much.

Most of the difference will be windows starting up faster, games/programs loading faster. I'd suggest you max out your RAM to 1GB or even 2GB if you can afford it before upgrading the HD since a laptop HD is always slower than a desktop one.

 

[The Linuxator]

Ok I upgraded my IBM R50e from a 4200 rpm 2 mb cache to a 5400 RPM 16 MB toshiba one, and the difference is striking, but when I was out for a harddrive for my laptop I found out that there was no difference in price between the Toshiba ones and the ones made by WD and seagate so I opted for the Toshiba one since I am getting an extra 8mb of cache for no extra cost, I seriously see no reason for ppl to opt for an 8 MB cache drive while at the same price they can get a 16mb cache one.

Now since there is no price difference and there is a good potential to see some improvements here and there so then why not go with a Toshiba ?

 

[pkme2]

We have 2 7K60s in our Dell Inspiron 600M. The 7K60s are Hitachi 60GB 7200RPM 8MB cache. We like the slower 5400 RPM units for storage and transferring of files like music, video etc. If there were any 7200RPM 16MB cache HDD available, we would switch immediately. If you're doing video, rpms are very important, but otherwise the slower units are excellent for storage.