250GB 5400 rpm or 200GB 7200 rpm for M1330?

Hi there - A 160GB is probably fine, size wise, but these are my only 2 HD options in a current promotion. Is the 200GB 7200 rpm worth an extra $50? Battery life and heat are a consideration. Thanks

 

I would go for the 7200rpm. Very fast and you can always throttle the speed down thru BIOS if you really wanted to.

 

I'd get the 7200RPM too.

 

I would personally save the 50 bucks and go with the 250gb. I use a lot of space and my gf's dell had the hard drive go out a bunch of time so I don't want anything overheating. This isnt really a gaming laptop and even still it is not that much of a difference.

fyi I have a 1330 with 250gb 5400rpm.

 

Are you referring to the current 799 off US deal ? Then it is either 160GB 7200RPM or 250GB 5400RPM, with 200GB 7200RPM for + $100 (not $50 as you mentioned). If that is the case then I'd get the 160GB 7200RPM, you can always get a 3.5" with an enclosure for more storage (I have a 500GB external, got it for around $120).

 

vote goe to 7200rpm too. it doesn't over heat, and it's not any louder, not that i can tell.

is that 50gb of space really needed when you have 200+? if it is, why not just get an external? you can add space, but never speed.

 

I concur...go for the 7200RPM or even the 160GB 7200RPM.

I guess it depends on if you really need the little bit of extra space. I have a desktop with 1.65 TB of space, so 160GB is way more than enough for my laptop.

 

definitely 7200rpm i have a 7200 and i find it slow its a bottleneck on performance and 5400rpm would be worse.

 

Hard drives are almost always the bottleneck. Go for the faster one.

speed > capacity

 

Both 7200 rpms I got from Dell clicked, ran warmer and the fan was always one... my next one will definitely be a 5400rpm

 

Thanks for your input.

I read that high capacity 5400's perform similarly to 7200's but perhaps they were referring to 320GB HDs. I'd be getting a 7500 with 3GBs of ram so I don't want a completely inadequate HD.

Fullycharged - if I went for the 7200rpm HD, I suspect I would be getting the same one that you have in your 1530 (unless dell uses multiple suppliers for similar components which they might). Any observations about heat and fan activity?

 

Your fans won't kick on from the hd. HD may contribute to the overall ambient temps but would seriously be neglegible. Probably no real difference in temps between 5400 and 7200.

 

mine never clicked. the fan was occasinally on. it was actually cooler than the 5400rpm HD in my m1210. possibly because it is newer technology.

The Fujitsu 7200rpm is quieter than the Seagate brnd, and uses less power according to tomshardware.

 

very true, after i underclocked my vcard, the whole laptop iscooler and the fan was hrdly on.

 

Don't know if there's much difference but I got my m1530 earlier this week and got 200gb 7200, the sound of the slot-load dvd player will more than swamp out the hdd whirs (no clicking or overheating after 2+ hrs of COD4 on my end). Even with the dvd player not engaged, there's really no noticeable hdd sound.