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    Dell 17R SE and 7200-rpm hard drive availability

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by zakman14, Jul 30, 2012.

  1. zakman14

    zakman14 Newbie

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    I'm looking to buy a new laptop, and have my eye on the Inspiron 17R SE. However, the only thing keeping me from plunking down my credit card right now is the fact that I can't get it with a 7200 RPM hard drive (at least in the USA). Does anyone know if or when Dell will start offering 7200 rpm drives as an option for this laptop?
     
    zakman14, Jul 30, 2012
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  2. ericdabbs

    ericdabbs Notebook Consultant

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    Why does a 7200 rpm drive matter really? It doesn't really make that much of a difference 5400 rpm vs. 7200 rpm. Most people on these forums plan to use a SSD as their main Windows boot up partition anyways. Besides a 5400 rpm HDD + 32 GB mSATA SSD caching is better than just a 7200 rpm drive alone.

    What bugs me about the Inspiron 17R SE is that the battery is very small at 48WHr compared to the XPS 15 battery at 65 WHr. So anything that contributes to draining more battery life and contributes more heat is no thanks.
     
    ericdabbs, Jul 30, 2012
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  3. Androyed

    Androyed Notebook Consultant

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    It DOES make much of a difference between 5400rpm vs. 7200rpm. The good thing about those numbers is, is that they are correct. A 7200rpm is 25% faster than a 5400rpm, like you would expect.

    Besides that, ericdabbs is right. I live in the Netherlands, and I bought a 750GB 7200rpm version (without mSATA), but not for the sake of 7200rpm. Indeed, like most people, I bought a 128GB Samsung 830 SSD, and I will use the HDD for storage. I will just turn it off when I won't use it (you have the option to let it shut itself down after 1 minute or so of not using it), so it won't generate more heat, or use more juice.
     
    Androyed, Jul 30, 2012
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  4. ejl1980

    ejl1980 Notebook Evangelist

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    Why not just order (for 7/30) 128gb samsung 830 series ssd $84.99 ships free - Slickdeals.net and throw the larger 5400 rpm drive in the second HDD bay. I'd rather not pay Dell's upcharge for a faster HDD anyway.
     
    ejl1980, Jul 30, 2012
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  5. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    Likely as a preconfigured model from their site, they may not offer 7200 rpm drives. You might be able to call up Dell and pay a surcharge for a 7200 rpm drive. But what the above poster said, 7200 vs 5400 rpm is very negligible, it's still a rotational hard drive, and any SSD will hands down beat it.
     
    Tsunade_Hime, Jul 30, 2012
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