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    160GB 7200rpm or 160GB 5400rpm?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by bmnotpls, Jul 27, 2007.

  1. bmnotpls

    bmnotpls Notebook Deity

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    Is the difference in battery life that much different between the two? And does the speed increase warrant the loss of battery life? Which should I get? Money isn't a factor. Thanks.
     
    bmnotpls, Jul 27, 2007
    #1
  2. notebooknewbie411

    notebooknewbie411 Notebook Guru

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    People have been saying that the discrepancies between battery life are minimal nowadays
     
    notebooknewbie411, Jul 27, 2007
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  3. phios

    phios Notebook Enthusiast

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    Battery life was tested on a review site, and they found like a 4 minute difference between a 7200 vs. a 4200 rpm HD. The real difference maker is the access speeds. A new seagate 7200.2 is about 20% faster in reading and 40% faster in writing then the 4200 rpm HD.

    Comparing a 7200 rpm drive to a 5400 rpm drive yields smaller differences, but every drop counts when you are talking about the bottleneck in the system.

    I wouldn't buy a notebook today with anything but a 7200 rpm drive unless I need more then 160 GB of space.
     
    phios, Jul 27, 2007
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  4. AiA

    AiA Notebook Consultant

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    On the dell website it said there was a difference between 2-4 milliseconds between reading speeds.
     
    AiA, Jul 27, 2007
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  5. bizekiel

    bizekiel Notebook Consultant

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    I got the 5400rpm, and although the install times for programs is a little bit slower than a 7200rpm, everything else zips along pretty speedily.
     
    bizekiel, Jul 27, 2007
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  6. HCW

    HCW Notebook Deity

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    160GB 7200rpm it's a must have
     
    HCW, Jul 27, 2007
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  7. paulmadejong

    paulmadejong Notebook Enthusiast

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    Got my 1520 with the 7200 rpm. My previous laptop had a 4200 rpm drive in it and shifting files from my desktop to my laptop or vs. took ages.....
     
    paulmadejong, Jul 27, 2007
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  8. 008

    008 Notebook Geek

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    Very little difference, probably a few minutes difference for typical use. It really depends on the design of the drives. Some 2nd gen 7200rpm is almost as efficient as certain 5400rpm, and the newer 5400rpm is as fast as the 1st gen 7200rpm. See my HDD comment on below thread...

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=2227991#post2227991
     
    008, Jul 27, 2007
    #8