W5 Series Owners...and everyone...

Have any W5 owners installed/upgraded to a 7200RPM hard drive? I'd really like to know If anyone has, or is considering it...and what they think (or know) about the impact of heat and noise will be?

I'd love to slap a Seagate drive in there, possibly the 100GB 7200RPM drive. I'm just concerned it might be extreme overkill in such a small system. Mostly I'm worried about the increase in noise and heat...I have no idea what to expect. If anyone can list their thoughts, experiences or opinions I'd greatly appreciate it. The stock 4200RPM drive is proving way too slow for my tastes.

If I don't go with the 7200RPM drive, It's going to be a 5400RPM Seagate drive, in either 80,100, or 120GB Capacities. Let me know what you think.

Also, Western Digital claims that their notebook hard drives are the quietest available on the market...can anyone back that up or give reasons why I might choose Western Digital over a Seagate...aside from price. Again, since the performace increase is a given, I prize silence and low heat above all.
Thanks

 

Portableone routinely offers the 7200 Hitachi drives in their UX, which is a modified 12" Asus (Z33a), so I am assuming if it works for one it would be fine in the W5 series as well. The drive works fine. The drive is quiet. We got it in the unit, so I don't know how it affects the heat, but it isn't bad. HTH

 

After many tests what i found that it is a common misconception to think that a seagate 7200rpm drive will generate more heat then a fuji 5400. I have seen time and time again both drives from hitachi fuji seagate reach a maximum of 60C after a few hours or a short time of full load with ambient temp being a small factor and the notebook it self. I would bet my bottom dollar that the w5f will take a 7200rom drive just as well as a 5400 rpm drive. You may experience a slightly shorter battery life barely noticeable. Really its not a big deal

 

Hitachi 7200rpm drives are not the smartest things to put in a Z33...... we always offered them, but only after customers understood their implications on heat and battery life. A 12" notebooks really doesn't have much of a need for the performance of those drives, but in certain situations, people do need them. If I were to suggest a 7200rpm in a 12" notebook...... it would certianly be a Seagate for their power consumption and therefore battery life and heat production...

A W5 handles a 7200rpm better than the Z33 did, just because of how the hard drive is situated....... and even though this question wasn't asked... a 100gb/7200rpm Seagate is going in my W7 right off the bat...... honestly, that's the smallest system that I think not only can handle the performance of a 7200rpm, but the one that would benefit the most from it....... granted that the consumer is into hardcore 3D work on the road......

..... I would not put a Hitachi 7200rpm in another under a 15"..... some people even considered the Hitachi 5400rpm "hot" in their 14" W3v's.... so understand that.

 

We integrated 7200 rpm drives into the z33ae countless times. Though not as popular as the z63 to this day the rma rate is below the z63a. z33 w5 and any other 12 inch made by asus do take these drives and do work just fine. What's the difference between a hitachi 7200rpm which can get up to 60C and a seagate 5400 w2hich hits the same mark and a fuji 5400? Its not heat. Voltage maybee. Noise very little. Not heat. if you are concerned about heat only wd drives will alleviate it for you

 

Thanks guys...I was pretty much sold on a Seagate drive before I posted, so I guess It's going to be a seagate no matter what now. Is there a big jump in performance from Seagates 5400RPM Drives to their 7200RPM drives? I know people say that Seagates 5400RPM drives stack up to other manufacturers 7200RPM drives...but how do they fair against their own?

I think I'll also most likely be buying a W7J as well. If I buy a 7200PRM drive and It proves too much for the W5, (which you guys are basically saying it shouldn't) I can always use it in the W7J or V6V...and pop either of those stock 5400RPM units into the W5.

This might sound like a dumb question...but would I be able to swap hard drives between the W7J and W5a without any other configuration...in other words, before the W7J is even booted up for the first time, could I take it's hard drive out, put it into the W5a and boot up like normal...like It would have if I had just booted up the W7 for the first time...and vice versa...or are there driver issues and other hardware or software related conflicts that wouldn't allow that to happen? I'm just curious if it can be done that easily...or If I'd have to reformat the drive first and re-install everything from scratch. Like I said, I'm not too familiar with the process, so could it work or is there more to it?

Thanks again for your other responses

 

Just thought I'd bump this back up...I'd really appreciate some feedback on the whole straight up hard drive swap between models. Thanks

 

I dont know about laptop, but it doesnt work for desktop. The settings/bios are different for w5 and w7. Different parts, so if you swap hd....the laptop will be like "wt..." and shouldnt recognize anything. I could be wrong though.