Hard drive upgrade for E1505

hey guys, any recommendation for a HDD upgrade from the stock sata 60gb 5400rpm on the E1505? My laptop hasnt arrived from Dell yet, but after getting used to running a pair of raptors in Raid0 on my main comp for the last year, im afraid this 5400rpm/2MB would be too much to bare..so im thinking 7200rpm, 8MB+.. newegg got a few but no user reviews... any comment is much appreciated!

 

Hello and welcome.

What are you going to do with your notebook?

JC

 

id say 80% websurfing, 10% gaming, 10% everything else (dvd, photoshop).. i know my usage wont be HDD intensive, but after using my sister's m140 with the same drive, i know i need the upgrade to make it snappier and take advantage of core duo..

i didnt go Dell's 'upgrade' route 'cos they wanted $140 for a 80gb 7200rpm.. geez for that price i figure i can just get ANOTHER drive at that price and swap the 60gb 5400rpm out and pop it in an enclosure to use as backup..

now that ive done a bit more research, seems the 16mb are out now..but cant seem to find one with sata as is needed for the e1505... any help?

 

$80 isnt as unreasonable as you might think. Laptop HD's are much more expensive than regular hard drives. It's very possible to find a good deal on ebay - but 7200 is fast for laptops. It isn't as standard in laptops as it is in desktops.

 

It doesn't really matter whether you get a hard drive with an 8MB cache or a 16MB. The RPM is what matters most, and as long as the drive has an 8MB cache, you'll be perfectly fine.

The cheapest 7200RPM hard drive is about $115, so those are out of your price range. Here's a search with 80GB and larger SATA150 hard drives:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...alue=360:7801&Submit=Property&SubCategory=380
Looks like you are going to have to spend more than $80 to get a bigger drive than $60, minimum price is $85 for a Samsung.

 

guys thanks for the inputs. i got my laptop 2 days ago, and the 5400rpm 2mb is just too slow for my liking. btw, i never said my price range was $60. im actually looking for something in the ~$140-$180 range for a decent 7200rpm 80gb. large storage is not a concern since im planning on using one of my 300gb sata2 external for storage purposes.

this 80gb HITACHI looks to be what im looking for. but the reviews mentioned heat issues. since i'll be using this in my car the majority of the time, i probablly need something not quite as hot..

 

The heat the hard drive produces actually depends on the notebook. I upgraded my hard drive from an 80GB 5400RPM Samsung to a 100GB 7200RPM Hitachi - there is very little difference in heat. The E1505 runs fairly cool from what I have heard, so I don't think you'll have any problems as far as heat goes.

When I reviewed the Alienware M7700, it had an 80GB 7200RPM Hitachi. Very nice drive, one of the reasons why I bought a Hitachi for mine over a Seagate. The Seagate will run quieter at the cost of slightly reduced performance.

 

thanks ChazMan.. i will get the HITACHI 80gb.