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    HD upgrade worth it on unibody macbook pro?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by Alchemist, Jul 13, 2009.

  1. Alchemist

    Alchemist Notebook Deity

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    I just picked up a new unibody macbook pro. The last rev, 2.4ghz, 200gb, 2gb ram. I couldnt pass up the $1439 clearance price at my local best buy.

    Im definitely upgrading to 4gb ram, but wavering on the HD. Is there a significant performance gain from the 7200rpm drives?
     
    Alchemist, Jul 13, 2009
    #1
  2. crazycanuk

    crazycanuk Notebook Virtuoso

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    it depends on the drive itself, some 7200's are SLOW. look at the drive spec and if it has a fast RANDOM read/write time all is good, there are many threads on which drives to use here but I cant help you much as I remove HDD's and replace with SSD Drives
     
    crazycanuk, Jul 13, 2009
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  3. fan of laptop

    fan of laptop Notebook Evangelist

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    I do not know, but I am using the 5400rpm and I feel that the system is fast enough for me.
     
    fan of laptop, Jul 13, 2009
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  4. ClearSkies

    ClearSkies Well no, I'm still here..

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    The high areal density of the current 500GB 5400's nearly makes up for the speed advantage of the 320GB 7200's. There is not a huge performance delta between them that you are likely to notice in daily use - so if you need the space you'll be just fine with the larger 5400 drives.

    Compared to the 200-250GB 5400 drives, however, the 320GB 7200 will definitely seem and perform faster.
     
    ClearSkies, Jul 13, 2009
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  5. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    Depends on your usage. If you do heavy multi tasking a fast 7200rpm will make your system more responsive.

    If you use your system for browsing and playing a move, you won't notice any difference.

    WD3200BEKT is a fast 7200rpm drive. The unibody isn't very good at absorbing noise and vibration though. You might feel and hear the upgrade.
     
    Phil, Jul 13, 2009
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