Couple of questions regarding Robson and HD speed

Hi guys,

I'm spec'ing out a laptop (it looks like I'll be going for the Asus G1S), and was wondering about a few things.

1) How much of a performance hit can I expect if I were to go for a 200GB 4200rpm HD vs. a 160GB 5400rpm HD? I plan on doing the occasional gaming, movie-watching, net surfing, Photoshop/Illustrator editing, and web design. Given my activities, would you say that I would benefit from having the 5400rpm drive instead of the 4200rpm? (I just love the additional space..)

2) I've taken a look at the Wikipedia article on Robson, and just wanted to confirm: Robson can ONLY be used on systems running Vista? Or can XP make some use of it as well (not necessarily decreasing boot times, but.. I dunno, anything else?)

Thanks in advance!

 

The new 4200 200 gb drives are much faster then ones of yore, but the 5400 would be significantly faster. They'll be similar for large file transfers, but in terms of access time the 5400 will beat it out every time. Really though, there is generally no real benefit to most people for this unless they game a fair bit IMHO.

 

Thanks for the info Cheffy. However, do you have any numbers regarding the time difference? If we're talking a difference of a few seconds then that's no big deal, but if it's several minutes then I'd be inclined to lean towards the 5400rpm drive.

Also, any others have comments regarding Robson?

 

I would say you are saving about 15 seconds per GB, at the least. That is a boatload faster in computer terms, imagine the difference between loading each page in this forum at 5 seconds then at 20 seconds. Big Difference right? (Not that that will be what will happen between those drives, but to give you some idea of how long 15 seconds is when you use it all the time.)

Look Here

Also, Robson doesn't truthfully do anything right now, because it isn't fully supported by Vista, once it is (in about half a year probably) then it will be good to have.

 

Understood - I reckon I will go for the 160GB 5400rpm drive then - thanks!

I guess the last question I have now is on Robson, so if anyone has any info, please let me know.

Thanks!

 

Before you buy - in which country do you live? There are 250GB 5400RPM hard drives available now in the U.S.:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152094

 

Oh..man, you've just made my day
Hrrm, now to see if there's any way possible to get one of the vendors (Gentech, BtoTech, etc) to pop this in one of their G1S configurations. How flexible are vendors in this respect? I know that the alternative is to get whatever drive come by default and just buy the 250GB and swap it out, but it's worth asking about!


I am in Japan, but my family has an APO address that Newegg can ship to, and they (my family) can just forward it on to me in Japan.

 

Just checked further and Western Digital has a drive that's about $US50 cheaper!!

I guess the question is now: which manufacturer would you trust more/has a better reputation for solid HD's? (or is this a question better asked in a separate thread?)

 

I just read a review by Tom's Hardware that makes the WD sound quite promising.

On the other hand, much of what I've been turning up on the web about Robson/Intel Turbo has been depressingly blah. It does seem to be Vista-only, and what others are saying is that it really doesn't seem to do much.. (at least not yet)

I'm thinking I would still get it, if only to be prepared.. (though what for, I'm not too sure..)