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SATA in Dell Inspiron? And does DVI matter?

M

MogyBear

Senior member
I just got an Inspiron 6000 through that sweet $700 off Small Business deal. I got it with hte 80GB HDD, but I am selling that immediately and replacing it with a Hitachi 60GB 7200RPM HDD that I got for $141 shipped from Dell! The stock HDD is ATA-100, and so is the new Hitachi. I assume Dell didn't integrate any way to utilize SATA, but someone please let me know if I'm mistaken. Thanks!

EDIT: I know this is a stupid question-- but I was also wondering if the lack fo DVI will really make any difference. I am planning on getting a 2405FP for college next year... plug my Xbox in the component inputs and the 6000D in the VGA input. So will the picture quality be pretty much the same if I'm using VGA instead of DVI? Thanks!

ALSO, I can't find info about this anywhere-- how do I allow the 6000 to output in DVI (while still using the X300 video)? I know there is a port replicator going on eBay for $120 or so, but it doesn't say it fits the 6000. Does anyone know if one exists, or will exist in the near future? Thanks!
 
I doubt it has SATA capability. I have a brand new, high end T43 which does not use SATA despite Intel including support in the chipset.
BTW, if you don't want to drop the capacity of your HDD and still keep 7200RPM, Seagate will be releasing their 80-100GB 7200RPM drives soon
Link

In regards to DVI, it definitely makes a big diff (from what I'm told). Clarity, color reproduction, and even response time (?) are better. Personally I wouldn't want to hook up a 2405 :Q to analog
 
I've got a 2001fp and the difference between VGA and DVI is very noticible. The resolution of 20" LCDs is so high that VGA signal quality starts to degrade.
 
The Hitachi 60 GB 7200 RPM 2.5" drive is not a good item. I have two of them, and they cause problems in many laptops. I just got a new H-P Pavilion, (dv1000) and they will not even sell that drive with their product. They prefer the 5400 RPM Seagate Momentus and Toshiba (16 MB cache).

The 7200 RPM drive is a power hog and a huge heat producer.
 
Thanks for the responses! Bah, why the hell doesn't Dell just put in DVI support?!? If someone really needs to hook up to a CRT monitor, they can just use a DVI-VGA adapter. Corkyg, that is interesting news. Everything I've heard about that drive has been excellent. I heard that it takes up NO additional power over the standard 4200RPM drives... hm... weird.
 
And CorkyG, what about the Hitachi 5400RPM? A lot of users are reporting getting the 5400RPM shipped stock with their Inspiron 6000s... do you think this will perform better than the 7200RPM? And if you do any audio production, how does 5400RPM stand up? Thanks!
 
I have a T42 w/Seagate 40GB 5400RPM & T43 w/Hitachi 60GB 7200RPM. I have to say the Hitachi is definitely louder, quite noticeable in fact. heat I cannot speak to as of yet. Regardless, 7200RPM performance is undeniable.
And HP doesn't offer a 7200RPM drive w/the dv1000 because it is a budget notebook. The majority of the people who buy a dv1000 don't know what a 7200RPM hard drive is. Those who do, will add their own. Same with ANY other notebook. If companies don't offer the Hitachi 7K60, its because of their intended audience. There is nothing wrong w/the drive.
 
Originally posted by: MogyBear
And CorkyG, what about the Hitachi 5400RPM? A lot of users are reporting getting the 5400RPM shipped stock with their Inspiron 6000s... do you think this will perform better than the 7200RPM? And if you do any audio production, how does 5400RPM stand up? Thanks!
Click to expand...

I do quite a lot of audio production involving conversion of analog (tapes and LPs) to digital formats. I just got a new notebook (multimedia) from H-P - the dv1000 w/Centrino system. IIt came with a Seagate Momentus 80 GB, 5400 RPM HDD. I asked if I could get a Hitachi 7200 RPM - I already was using two of them. They said, "No!" I asked why - they said because it was counter productive to the Centrino system in that it wasted all the power savings and caused excessive heat buildup.

OK - then this week, another person posted that Dell was no longer selling the Hitachi 7200 RPM 60 GB drive either.

Dell

I used the Hitachi 60 GB 7200 RPM drive in my Gateway Solo 9300CX, and it worked OK - but there were some system errors with the CD ROM drive when transferring extended amounts of data - it would quit. Turned out to be heat and power issues.

Anyway, I replaced the Seagate 80 GB 5400 drive in the dv1000 with the Toshiba 80 GB 5400 drive - mainly because of the 16 MB cache on board.

BTW - I would not call a dv1000 notebook a budget notebook at $1800 with all the upgrades. 🙂
 
The Momentus is a good drive. I put it higher on the current food chain than the Hitachi. Right now, I am using it as a complete system backup drive for the laptop. I keep most of my data, such as audio and images, on external Firewire drives. Makes it easy to move lots of stuff between systems.
 
When Dell doesn't sell the Hitachi 7200rpm drive though, it is because it is out of stock... in fact, they're out of stock everywhere until the end of May, good product in high demand.

I'm using a Dell 9300 with a go6800 card and it has DVI out and it is a feature I'm using a lot... in my studio, I hook it to a Dell 2005fpw panel, and my Home Theater has DVI in, so I use the laptop to there, too, an important feature for me.
 
the 9300 is one BIG laptop

btw.... are you sure its 5400rpm from Dell... i checked there site and it says only 4200rpm vs 7200rpm available in the 6000 line

is there any software that can tell you how many rpm's ur hdd is running at?
 
Does the 6000 have a docking station? If so, order the docking station, all of the newer Latitudes docking stations have a DVI port (I would assume the inspirons would also) and you won't have to sorry about unplugging and replugging all the cords everytime you take your laptop somewhere.
 
Yeah thanks, I had been planning on getting a docking station, and figured it would work since the 6000 is essentially the 8600's replacement (and the 8600 DOES have a docking station port). But as ActuaryTm says, it does not support a docking station :-(.

EDIT: Joshua, just go to the device manager and see the specs of your hard drive. Right click on my computer/ hardware/ device manager. Just google the information you see there and you should be able to get specs for it. Yes, mine is the WD Scorpio 5400RPM.
 
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