Worth it to upgrade to a 5400RPM HD from a 4200RPM?

[NFS4]

I've got a 1.3GHz/1MBCeleron laptop with 1GB of RAM. Would it make a noticeable difference for me to upgrade my 40GB hard drive to a 5400RPM unit? It doesn't have to be a large drive as 40-60GB would be just enough.

Also, how is the battery drain on 5400 drives in comparison to the 4200's?

Any HD suggestions?

 

[ShellGuy]

As has been stated b4 you would notice a better improvement going from 4200 to 7200. But anything is better than nothing.


Will G

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: ShellGuy
As has been stated b4 you would notice a better improvement going from 4200 to 7200. But anything is better than nothing.


Will G

Better improvement to 7200, yes. But much increased heat and battery drain as well. I was thinking that the 5400 would be a nice in-between compromise...

 

[Plester]

very noticeable performance boost going to a 5400rpm drive. also very affordable.

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: NFS4
Better improvement to 7200, yes. But much increased heat and battery drain as well. I was thinking that the 5400 would be a nice in-between compromise...

Well, it sounds like you've already got it all figured out. :roll:

The reality is that 7200RPM drives really don't use any more power than 5400RPM drives (at least the Hitachi ones don't), and 5400RPM drives only use about 10% more than 4200RPM drives. Pretty much every modern 2.5" drive uses somewhere between 2.0W and 2.5W when in use.

Say you have a laptop that uses 15W average, running 5 hr 20 min on a 9-cell 80 WH battery. Upgrading from a 4200 to a 7200RPM drive could not reduce your battery life by more than 10 min. In reality, it wouldn't reduce it nearly that much because if the hard drive was in constant operation you wouldn't be getting 5 hr to begin with. Proportionally speaking, though, I don't think it would be possible for upgrading your hard drive to affect battery life more than 5%.


The Hitachi 7K60 7200RPM 60GB drive:

read/write = 2.5 W
active idle = 1.3 W
standby = 0.25 W

The Hitachi 5K80 5400RPM 80GB drive:

read/write = 2.5 W
active idle = 1.3 W
standby = 0.25 W

The Hitachi 4K80 4200RPM 80GB drive:

read/write = 2.0 W
active idle = 0.90 W
standby = 0.15 W

Toshiba MK8025GAS 5400RPM 80GB drive:

read/write = 2.5 W
idle = 1.05 W
standby = 0.25 W

Toshiba MK4025GAS 4200RPM 40GB drive:

read/write = 2.3 W
idle = 0.9 W
standby = 0.25 W

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: NFS4
I've got a 1.3GHz/1MBCeleron laptop with 1GB of RAM. Would it make a noticeable difference for me to upgrade my 40GB hard drive to a 5400RPM unit? It doesn't have to be a large drive as 40-60GB would be just enough.

Also, how is the battery drain on 5400 drives in comparison to the 4200's?

Any HD suggestions?

The answer to all of your questions: RPM Guide

And yes, 5400RPM is the best bang for the buck.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: TostadaWell, it sounds like you've already got it all figured out. :roll:

Well, 7200RPM drives are not even really an option for me. I stated in my title that I was looking at 5400RPM drives (b/c 7200RPM drives are priced out of my budget). I can get a 16MB cache 5400RPM drive for nearly $100 less.

It doesn't make sense to spend $160+ on a 7200RPM hard drive for a Celeron laptop if you ask me. But I could swallow $65-70

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: NFS4
Well, 7200RPM drives are not even really an option for me. I stated in my title that I was looking at 5400RPM drives (b/c 7200RPM drives are priced out of my budget). I can get a 16MB cache 5400RPM drive for nearly $100 less.

It doesn't make since to spend $160+ on a 7200RPM hard drive for a Celeron laptop if you ask me.

You are correct sir

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: NFS4
Better improvement to 7200, yes. But much increased heat and battery drain as well. I was thinking that the 5400 would be a nice in-between compromise...

Originally posted by: NFS4
Well, 7200RPM drives are not even really an option for me. I stated in my title that I was looking at 5400RPM drives (b/c 7200RPM drives are priced out of my budget). I can get a 16MB cache 5400RPM drive for nearly $100 less.

That's certainly valid. You should've just said that, instead of saying you wanted a 5400 RPM drive because 7200 RPM ones had "much increased heat and battery drain," because that's not true at all.

 

[AmigaMan]

you might also want to take into account that since you're loading data faster, you'll be using the harddrive less. That may negate any power drain seen by upgrading to a faster drive.