5400 vs 7200

[antsct]

Hi everyone,

I'm really confused and need your help on choosing a new laptop hard drive.

I don't know whether to get a Seagate Momentus 2.5" 5400 120Gb for AU$125 or a Seagate Momentus 2.5" 100Gb for AU$160. Is it worth the extra $45-50 for the 7200 speed?

I do some gaming and other basic things like music, internet and email. I'd also like to record some video from my capture card (not very often) at 720x576 (but I don't need to have the video running, just recording).

I don't know if it's worth the extra $ for the 7200.

I can also get a Samsung 160Gb 5400 for $137...but I don't know much about Samsung.

I also know that 7200rpms generally run hotter and use more battery.

Any input would be great!! Thanks

 

[AmigaMan]

the 7200RPM drives aren't that bad for battery or heat and are only slightly faster than a 5400RPM. I'd get the cheaper and bigger 5400RPM drive if I were you. WD is supposedly releasing a 5400RPM 250GB HD soon. You should probably wait for that to come out and buy someone's used drive as they upgrade. I may be one of them

 

[Brainonska511]

I'd go for a 5400RPM drive since you can get them with more disk space. The higher density 5400RPM drives are pretty fast to begin with. The only reason I'd get a 7200RPM drive is if I was working with larger files and needed the extra writing/reading bandwidth offered by the 7200RPM drive, but these days, you can always get an E-SATA card and an E-SATA hard drive that could potentially read/write faster than the internal hard drive because you could use a desktop drive. And for the record, 7200RPM drives cut battery life at most by a few minutes and produce little to no more heat than a 5400RPM drive.

 

[PhlashFoto]

I like the 7200rpm drives, I have one myself. But at that price and capcity difference, I wouldnt bother getting it. Stay with the 5400rpm.

 

[Kaervak]

Another thing to consider is buffer size. Getting a 5400rpm drive with a 8mb+ buffer will be quite fast. I had a Toshiba MK6022GAX 5400rpm 16MB buffer laptop drive and it was very very fast, on par with 7200 rpm desktop drives according to a few reviews I read. Definitely check the buffer size before buying.

 

[antsct]

Thanks for the input everyone. By the way, both drives have an 8mb buffer. I'll check out the 16mb ones.

Lastly, does anyone have any info on Samsung hard drives. A 160Gb 5400rpm 8mb Samsung drive is only $10 more than the 120Gb Seagate 5400rpm 8mb.

 

[Brainonska511]

Seagate, Samsung - I really see no difference. Maybe if the warranty is longer on one over the other, but a 3 year warranty on a notebook hard drive should be more than enough for most people.

 

[antsct]

Yeah I see what you mean Brainonska511.

Any other input is welcome.

Thanks again!