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    E1705 Hard Drives - 5400 RPM vs 7200 RPM

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by Swingman, Mar 7, 2007.

  1. Swingman

    Swingman Notebook Consultant

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    Is there a big difference in performance between the 2 to warrant $150 (or $109)?

    Also, I noticed that it costs $150 to upgrade from 120 GB 5400 RPM to 100 GB 7200 RPM but you can buy a 100 GB 7200 RPM from Dell Parts and Supplies for $109.

    I guess if you don't mind installing a hard drive, you can save $40 bucks and have 2 hard drives.
     
    Swingman, Mar 7, 2007
    #1
  2. jetstar

    jetstar Notebook Deity

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    Using a 7200rpm HD will result in programs loading faster and Windows booting quicker.
     
    jetstar, Mar 7, 2007
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  3. Swingman

    Swingman Notebook Consultant

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    I knew that but was wondering how much faster and quicker. Trying to figure out if the performance boost is cost effective ;).

    Either way, it looks like buying it with the 5400 is better since I can buy the 7200 RPM for cheaper as a spare part than it costs to upgrade.
     
    Swingman, Mar 7, 2007
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  4. kegobeer

    kegobeer 1 hr late but moving fast

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    It is much faster. I recently upgraded from 5400 to 7200 and the speed increase is noticeable across the board. I don't have any comparison times, sorry.
     
    kegobeer, Mar 7, 2007
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  5. Swingman

    Swingman Notebook Consultant

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    thanks for the input kego.
     
    Swingman, Mar 7, 2007
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  6. bluskye

    bluskye Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hold out on that purchase. The hybrid models are coming out. Hybrid = Traditional HD + Flash drive supplement. The flash drive is quite small initially (<1GB flash) but the performance (boot mainly initially) + battery increase is significant. They will charge a hefty premium at first for new tech (even though 1GB of fairly quick flash is dirt cheap) but the price of the hybrid drives should drop within a year. These drives are truely something new with real world advantages across the board.

    The drives will need larger then 1GB flash to show improvements for application re-loading later though.
     
    bluskye, Mar 8, 2007
    #6