m1530 Hard Drive Choice

I'm going to order a new Dell m1530, I don't have much experience with laptops but my hard drive choices are:

320GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive [Included in Price]
Speed: 320GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) with Free Fall Sensor [add $100 or $3/month1]

In the reviews for the m1530's it said that the hard drive was noisy, has this problem been fixed since these reviews or is it only some brands or speeds of hard drives? Is it worth spending the $100 for the speed upgrade, I only plan on casual gaming (off and on)? (also note I don't plan on dropping my laptop anytime soon )

 

If you're strictly going for performance, sure. But in real world applications, there is no possible way you're going to notice a difference. Is 5 milliseconds of your time worth $100?

 

I don't think you'll need it but if you have $100 spare its a good investment.. About the noise issues I haven't got a clue!

 

Chances are you won't notice the difference but you want cutting-edge then go for it

 

Not worth it, so much more you can do with $100, especially for such a small performance increase.

 

dido..........

 

Trust me, you want 320GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) with Free Fall Sensor.

It will be worth it in the long run. Unless you intend to replace your laptop within a year.

 

I guess the free fall sensor is a nice bonus, but I don't know if it is worth 100 dollars. And as everyone said, there is little probability you will notice the speed difference. Mainly I would say the extra specs are good for bragging rights. Other than that, i doubt you'll see much performance enhancement form the investment. And my hard drive isn't noisy at all, but I have the 5400 RPM'er.

 

Dusty, can I ask how/where you are getting the configuration option of the 320GB 5400rpm HDD? Are you ordering off the Dell Canada website?

Thats the config I wanted but it doesn't seem to be avialble on the xps1530, only the Studio 15....unless I'm blind

 

lol @ free sensor

Hey, if you're dropping your $1500 laptop, you're doing it wrong.

 

7200rpm will definitely improve startup time. But it all depends if you are willing to pay. If you want real high performance (even the very slightest) then 7200rpm. Otherwise, 5400rpm isn't too bad. All up to your willingness to pay for that performance.

 

how does a 7200rpm drive affect the battery life? does it drain it more, or does it save it.. lol.

 

See, I don't get this argument. What exactly is accomplished by improving startup time? Other than flaunting a 2 second improvement over others... how will it help me? I guess if your computer is stuck in restart mode, it'll "increase productivity per battery charge."

And before anyone tells me, "LOL JUS CUS U DUN HAV IT", I'm a 250 @ 7200 user.

 

Logically, when motor spins faster, it takes more power. Reading at higher speed also takes more power. So obviously it will decrease battery life. But you gain from faster load times rather than waiting for certain things to load (some differences are notable, some are not).

 

Lots of things can happen no matter how careful you try to be.

 

Well, for me , 7200rpm seem to improve start up time alot. So I can boot up the laptop quickly while on the go (50 seconds to fully boot Vista). While on the other hand, my 5400rpm (perhaps it's really old) takes about 3 minutes to fully boot up (No kidding, really that long). But I do not have a solid proof of the actual time difference.

 

Really... because my laptop boots in ~35 seconds. My friend's 5400 boots in ~40, but he has more processes upon start up which, more or less, neglects my 5 second advantage.

Again, all important files should be regularly backed up. And should you drop your laptop from a decent height, your games/programs should be the last thing on your mind. You just dropped your $1500 investment. Finally, I doubt anyone is willing to "test" the actual effectiveness of the Free Fall Sensor.

 

That may be the case to backup, but that costs more money too. It is more of a convenience device. Also such devices have been tested many times.

 

Wow, that's really fast. I will look around for more comparisons between 7200rpm and 5400rpm cause I will be getting an XPS M1530 when a good deal is available. Thanks for that information though, I could probably save some money if there is really no difference.

 

I'm sure that everyone here has a flash drive, so that "more money" argument doesn't really apply here. Most "important" files are text/pictures files, term papers, invoices, pictures of tests, etc. Pirated games and movies don't really count... yeah, I believe we're off topic.

There are differences, but I just don't think it's enough to justify the price increase. Access times seem to be faster by 5-10 ms, meaning if you access your hard drive 200 times, you've effectively saved yourself 1 second.

 

Keep in mind this is Dell Canada (hence the Canadian Flag on the thread) but also, I got a coupon from Dell in my email (mystery savings thing) and it was 20% and the choice for the m1530 hard drives were 320 GB. And to note: The slower 320 GB hard drive is only available under the m1530 that has just the starting price (no sale price in the list) and the faster one is under the one with the $220 Sale price.

I already ordered the 5400 rpm hard drive. I didn't want to spend an extra $100 anyways, after ordering an LED LCD and more RAM and the better cpu.

 

I think the 5400rpm drive is fine unless you have a specific need for the added performance. Personally I wish I had gotten the 7200rpm drive now, but I run multiple databases and application servers with fairly transactional I/O patterns so the 7200rpm would be a big bonus for it. (It wasn't available when I placed the order.) That said, the 5400rpm drive has excellent sustained transfer speed.

 

Yeah, i saw the Canadian flag in your post, i'm also canadian.

haha, and it turns out, I got that coupon too..I was SO close to deleting that email cause I that it was junk mail.

I see where the 320GB HDD is now. Thanks!

 

No problem. And if I ever run databases (mysql) or any server or recording applications I have a desktop with about 5x as much storage (and faster drives) for that kind of stuff anyways. 320 GB just happened to be what the deal forced you into.