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    HD Temps + Wattages

    Discussion in 'HP' started by wordsworth03, Jul 21, 2005.

  1. wordsworth03

    wordsworth03 Notebook Guru

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    Well, I'm an L2000 owner and I have had some issues with heat, but nothing too serious. I decided to do a little research anyway and found the following info (all are 5400rpm):

    Seagate Momentus 5400.3
    Max: 5W
    Seek: 2W
    Avg Read/Write: 1.8W
    Low Power Idle: 0.80W

    Samsung MP0603H (one brand HD shipped with HP)
    Max: 5W
    Seek: 2.4W
    Avg Read/Write: 2.4W
    Low Power Idle: 0.85W

    Hitachi 5K100
    Max: 5W
    Seek: not listed
    Avg Read/Write: 2.0W
    Low Power Idle: 0.60W

    Fujitsu (another brand shipped with HP)
    Max: 5W
    Seek: not listed
    Avg Read/Write: 2.3W
    Low Power Idle: 0.85W

    Toshiba MK6026GAX (the one HP shipped to me)
    Max: 5W
    Seek: 2.9W
    Avg Read/Write: 2.5W
    Low Power Idle: 0.85W

    Well it looks like I got the worst one...HD temps hover around 50oC when doing casual stuff, but I just burned a DVD and it went up to 59oC (which is above it's rated operating temp)!! It was on a flat surface and not ventilated underneath, but still, I consider that poor design since laptops are meant to be on flat surfaces. (edit: forgot to add that my ambient temps are pretty high right now...no a/c :( )

    Overall, it looks like the Seagate Momentus 5400.3 would be the best bet, with the Hitachi 5K100 in a close second. However, this is assuming that small changes in wattage significantly change the amount of heat output by the hard drives. Seagate also advertises this HD as a low-power 5400 rpm drive that uses the power of a 4200 rpm drive...so maybe it's true, but who knows. I tried to find the 5400.3 on Newegg, but they only had the 5400.2.

    I think the only downside is that the Toshiba sent to me has a 16mb cache, while the rest only have 8mb cache (I think...correct me if I'm wrong). I might end up trying out the 5400.3 if I can find it and sell the Toshiba on eBay...what do you guys think?
     
    wordsworth03, Jul 21, 2005
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  2. brianstretch

    brianstretch Notebook Virtuoso

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    Nice summary. Seagate tends to announce new drives months ahead of availability (their 7200RPM model is still not buyable AFAIK), so I'd go ahead and buy Hitachi's 5400RPM 100GB drive.

    I'd blame bad purchasing by HP more than bad design, though better design would have helped. Someone didn't bother to test every component option. The higher wattage drives might be tolerable in a DTR but in a thin-and-light you don't mess around. Hitachi and Seagate are my two favorite brands.
     
    brianstretch, Jul 22, 2005
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  3. blksnake

    blksnake Notebook Consultant

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    Good work wordsworth03.
     
    blksnake, Jul 22, 2005
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