For the 6400; logic behind this chip pricing?

I definitely recommend doing a DIY upgrade on the HDD. That way you get to choose exactly which make / model of HDD you have to live with. I chose the 160GB 5400rpm HDD option which was only slightly more expensive than the cheapest option but has a useful capacity. However, after cloning the original HDD I have put it away where I can always clone it again or just use it should I encounter a problem.

I've been using the WD5000BEVT for over 4 months. It is very power efficient and provides performance in the 7200rpm league although it is only 5400rpm. However, I have just received a Seagate 5400.6 500GB so that I can use IRRT. Initial benchmarks show that the Seagate is fractionally faster than the WD, but I also need to check out the noise and power consumption. The Seagate 7200.4 500GB has just arrived and is the current top 2.5" HDD, but costs a little more and may create more heat and noise.

John

 

John Ratsey is right ... lower TDP is also different for P series reaching only 15 -17W. It is good to mention that in some cases working on AC will in effect result in "always 100% MHz mode" .. even I noticed slight overclocking of my P8600 due to one core load (not multithreaded intensive work). Funny was that in Device Manager there was: "Intel P9500 processor" , meanwhile in Computer>Properties I had P8600 !

Not really. I have momentus 7200.3 250 GB ASG (and this one is also with 2 platters, the new one 250GB is only one platter!) and it is like that: internal 250GB 5400 WDC - 36/37C ... 250GB Momentus7200.3 - 38/40C. I didn't notice temps that would be considered 'much higher'.