The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Speed or Capacity?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by iph03n1xi, Jul 6, 2007.

  1. iph03n1xi

    iph03n1xi Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    6
    Messages:
    465
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I'm planning to get an HP dv9500t near August, and I had a question regarding the hard drives.


    Would it be better to get 120 GB x 2 at 5400 RPM or 100 GB x 2 at 7200 RPM?

    The former option totals to 240 GB at 5400 RPM.

    The latter option totals to 200 GB at 7200 RPM, and is $50 more expensive than the former option.


    Which option should I get? A reasoning to go with the answer would be nice.

    Thanks!
     
    iph03n1xi, Jul 6, 2007
    #1
  2. Crimsonman

    Crimsonman Ex NBR member :cry:

    Reputations:
    1,769
    Messages:
    2,650
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    What will you be using it for? The difference between 5400 and 7200 isn't really a lot. It just depends if you need the space or if you want a shorter wait time.
     
    Crimsonman, Jul 6, 2007
    #2
  3. thegsrguy

    thegsrguy Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    24
    Messages:
    812
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Speed. The performance difference is actually pretty significant in almost every area. Boot times are noticeably faster, and even simple file copies go more quickly. The impact on battery life is pretty minimal, and they're not much noisier.

    Remember, you can add more capacity later with an external drive. You'll go broke trying to upgrade to something faster later on.
     
    thegsrguy, Jul 6, 2007
    #3
  4. trooper_gs

    trooper_gs Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    138
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Speed, you will need it especially when opening rar files. 200 GB is huge for a lappy, you can always get a cheap external HD like 320 GB for a reasonable price
     
    trooper_gs, Jul 6, 2007
    #4
  5. lupin..the..3rd

    lupin..the..3rd Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    154
    Messages:
    589
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    x2, go for the speed. I just bought a dv9500t and went with the 2x 100GB 7200rpm drives. I'm quite pleased with my selection.

    Unless you need more internal capacity than that, go with the 7200 rpm drives. Remember, you can always get an external FireWire enclosure with a 500 or 750 GB disk if you really need loads of capacity.
     
    lupin..the..3rd, Jul 6, 2007
    #5
  6. R4000

    R4000 Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    736
    Messages:
    2,762
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    With XP, I always went with capacity. Since Vista seems to be pretty hard drive intensive, I use the 7200rpm drives (to speed up the prefetching/indexing). There is quite a noticeable difference in my aunt's dv2000t w/5400 and my dv6000z w/7200. Both are 120GB drives.
     
    R4000, Jul 6, 2007
    #6
  7. iph03n1xi

    iph03n1xi Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    6
    Messages:
    465
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Ok, thanks for the replies everyone!
     
    iph03n1xi, Jul 7, 2007
    #7