7200rpm 100GB Drive in PB worth it?

e3mw

This weekend I'm planning on buying a 15" powerbook (I've sold my 12" iBook and some other stuff to get up the $ for it.)

While I was configuring the PB online I saw that for $200 extra you can get a 100GB drive that spins at 7200, I want an opinion from you guys, is that extra Rpm worth the extra $200 in a Powerbook with 1GB of Ram?

I'm going to be doing lots of stuff with the PB
- moving all my Garageband work to it
- video editing
- games (possibly)
- all the regular computing tasks, internet, e-mail, music, pictures, video etc.

What do you guys think?

/e3mw
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g5g5 · Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 6:38 pm Post subject:

I personally don't think the extra 20GB is worth $200. I would also be a little concerned with the extra heat and noise a 7,200RPM drive is bound to make. I'd think about putting that $200 towards a Cinema display, more memory, or AppleCare.
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e3mw · Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 6:42 pm Post subject:

I found out that my student discount takes a nice chunk out of the price increase for this upgrade... so money's not much of an issue anymore, but I'd still like to hear more of your opinions.
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Me with Woz!
Aftershift Music Project | My Music! Feel free to download!
1.42Ghz Mini | 15" 1.67Ghz Hi-Res PowerBook G4
30GB 5th Gen iPod | 512MB Shuffle

xyzzy · Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:28 pm Post subject:

Given that the hard drive is the weakest link in most of today's hardware configs, it's typically money well spent. In fact, we are evaluating new notebook standards for our company and we are considering making 7200 RPM drives our standard. That said, if you were a bit enterprising you could greatly reduce the cost of going 7200 RPM by purchasing one separately and selling the included 5400 RPM for a decent chunk of change. I think 80GB 7200 RPM drives are going for around $180 from newegg.com.

So my take is that the performance gain is worth having, but as usual, not at Apple prices. How's that for a confusing opinion? Laughing

xyzzy · Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:40 pm Post subject:

I also have a question that might factor into this: Which 1GB memory option did you take? The reason that I ask is that if you are working within a budget and the choice is either to take the 2x215 option and upgrade the HD vs. take the 1x1GB module and not be able to do the HD upgrade, I would do the 1x1GB option with no HD upgrade. The reasoning is that it would be nice to keep the other SO-DIMM slot for adding even more memory later.

devo · Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2005 12:22 pm Post subject:

I tend to agree with G5G5. I would probably be happy enough with the standard 80GB 5400rpm drive. My friend has a 7200rpm drive in his T42 Thinkpad. He is always complaining about how hot the palm rest gets. I'm not saying the PowerBook will act the same way. The PowerBook's hard drive is underneath the trackpad. I could probably stand a little more noise for the gain in performance.

e3mw · Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 7:18 pm Post subject:

Well I went up to the Apple Store today (Earlier than I had expected Wink

) and bought their "ultimate" powerbook. It features everything I mentioned above except with a 100GB 5400rpm drive - since this was the only type HD they had in stock I wasn't going to be picky.

So far I am in love with the Powerbook, it's amazing!
_________________
Me with Woz!
Aftershift Music Project | My Music! Feel free to download!
1.42Ghz Mini | 15" 1.67Ghz Hi-Res PowerBook G4
30GB 5th Gen iPod | 512MB Shuffle

Ranter · Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 7:52 pm Post subject:

I bought a 15" PowerBook about a month ago, and I'm very pleased with mine also.

I went for the 120gb 5400 RPM drive because I wanted to maximize storage over speed. It's great.
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devo · Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 8:39 pm Post subject:

I hate you guys! Wink

e3mw will this speed up the completion of the Devo tracks you're mixing for me? Laughing

For real, Garageband should look really good on the PowerBook's new higher resolution display. I haven't had the chance to see the new models person.

xyzzy · Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 8:32 am Post subject:

Congrats on the new addition!! Now you can truly fit in when you have a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Laughing


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