Macbook 4200 or 5200 HD?
Hey all,
Gonna pull the trigger and get me a black macbook. But before I do, wanted to get alittle feedback about the HD speeds.
I always try to get the largest HD I can to help future proof my laptop. You can never have enough space right? :-)
Anyway, I am torn between bumping it up from 120 gigs to the 160gig(5200rpm drive) or the 200gig(4200rpm drive).
What differences in speed can I expect at the expense of more space if I go with the 200 gig HD? Will a 4200rpm HD give me longer battery life as well as more space? But will it be significantly slower then the 5200rpm HD?
Thanks for any feedback...
Gonna pull the trigger and get me a black macbook. But before I do, wanted to get alittle feedback about the HD speeds.
I always try to get the largest HD I can to help future proof my laptop. You can never have enough space right? :-)
Anyway, I am torn between bumping it up from 120 gigs to the 160gig(5200rpm drive) or the 200gig(4200rpm drive).
What differences in speed can I expect at the expense of more space if I go with the 200 gig HD? Will a 4200rpm HD give me longer battery life as well as more space? But will it be significantly slower then the 5200rpm HD?
Thanks for any feedback...
Comments
Go with the faster one unless you have a plan for the extra space.
I know this is not the 4200 vs. 5400 comparison you are looking for – but I thought it still might be informational since it using the same computer with the variable being hard drive speed.
To answer your question about battery life – it depends on the drive(s) that you are comparing.
Here is the foundation of my experience. My old laptop, an Acer C303 Tablet PC (Acer = crap service BTW), came with a 4200 RPM drive. After five HD replacements over two years, from makes such as Fujustu, Hitachi, and Toshiba – I can tell you that all 4200 RPM drives are not created equal. I found the better battery life with the Futjsu then the others, but that was an anecdotal observation. I then bought a 7200 RPM drive two months ago, the current 80 GB from IBM, for the laptop – and found that my battery life with the 7200 RPM is slightly longer or on par relative to the current 4200 RPM Toshiba HD.
The 7200 RPM drive does give a better experience in start up of programs and initial OS start up, which is obvious. Also, the GUI seemed snapper – which is also nice. With non HD intense task, I really don’t notice a difference.
For me – the extra speed is worth it. You can always get an external drive for more space.