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    5400 vs 7200

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by ihavenofate, Jun 2, 2007.

  1. ihavenofate

    ihavenofate Notebook Evangelist

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    Hey I was just curious, but does an upgrade from 5400rpm to 7200rpm make a big difference? I want to be able to game on my laptop and store a lot of media, but I also want good battery life since I will be taking my notebook to class.
     
    ihavenofate, Jun 2, 2007
    #1
  2. LFC

    LFC Ex-NBR

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    Read post 5 and 6
     
    LFC, Jun 2, 2007
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  3. Csalbertcs

    Csalbertcs Notebook Geek

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    Loading Times for games will be shorter on the 7200 rpm.
     
    Csalbertcs, Jun 2, 2007
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  4. ihavenofate

    ihavenofate Notebook Evangelist

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    will 7200rpm drives eat up more battery life?
     
    ihavenofate, Jun 2, 2007
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  5. limeeater

    limeeater Notebook Consultant

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    I'm not 100% sure, but I would think so because it spins much faster than the 5400.
     
    limeeater, Jun 2, 2007
    #5
  6. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    Performance and power consumption have been analysed by Tom's hardware and digit life (see Table 2 near the end for power consumption numbers).

    If you want a balance between good performance and low power consumption I would suggest the 160GB (or bigger) HDDs from either Fujitsu or Samsung. These HDDs also are relatively quiet. Some Hitachi and Toshiba HDDs can be relatively noisy.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jun 2, 2007
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  7. ihavenofate

    ihavenofate Notebook Evangelist

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    160GB 5400 rpm HDDs?
     
    ihavenofate, Jun 2, 2007
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  8. fabarati

    fabarati Frorum Obfuscator

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    Have nearly the same performance of a 100GB 7200 HDD. However 120GB adn 160GB 7200 drives are even better performers.
     
    fabarati, Jun 3, 2007
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  9. Best Foot Forward

    Best Foot Forward Notebook Evangelist

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    A 160GB 5400rpm HDD has much faster load times in games than an 80GB HDD of the same speed.
     
    Best Foot Forward, Jun 3, 2007
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  10. maunakea

    maunakea Notebook Consultant

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    You will notice the difference between 7200 rpm and 5400 rpm every time you boot, launch a large program (esp. a game), and STD (hibernate).
     
    maunakea, Jun 4, 2007
    #10