Hard Drive Speed

I was looking at the HP DV6575US on amazon.com and looks pretty much what I want to get from hp.com except for the hard drive speed. The HP DV6575us has a 4200 rpm while the d6500t series from hp directly has a 160gb with a 5400RPM . Will this make a huge difference? The HP rep I was talking to on the phone claimed the difference was huge but I didn't know. I am basically just bringing the laptop to college in the fall and might do some light gaming on it.

 

4200rpm is going to feel awful. 5400rpm is fine for basics, but 7200 is a huge difference with virtually no loss in battery life.

Avoid 4200. Upgrade if you can.

 

4200 rpm is gonna be somewhat painful...
it wont affect your in game performance though, assuming you have an adequate amount of ram. but just normal hdd intensive tasks (basically everything) will feel slow- including the loading screen in games. you might also get bad hitching problems in game if you dont have adequate ram.

for once i would mostly agree with the sales rep. the difference will be at least moderate if not huge.

 

The difference will absolutely be "huge". What is the size of the 4200 rpm HD? If it's smaller that the 5400 rpm one, then the difference is going to be even larger (data density difference).

 

The hard drive is typically the biggest bottleneck in a system, so yes, it will make a difference. How huge, IMO, depends on the price .

What is the price difference between the two models? If the amazon.com one is cheaper, consider the price of a new 5400RPM or 7200RPM drive ($100+).

 

there is about a 150 dollar difference. The HP on amazon has a t7300, 200 gb 4300rpm hard drive, 2 gb memory, and wireless n, and tv tuner. the hp.com with my app discount has a t7300, 160 gb 5400, extended 6 cell battery, 2gb, bluetooth and wireless n, no tv tuner.

 

OK, unless you are doing some monster monster apps, 7200 is a waste of money. and usually, you have to give up some of the storage room to get the speed (not cool). Stay with a 5400 rpm 160 gb hard drive youll love it.

Plenty of room and mine is aftermarket, but actually benchmarks at speeds and performance almost as high as a 7200 rpm. you will be better served with the 5400 rpm 160 gb hard drive. especially since you will have more space.

ev

 

how big of a difference is there between the 4200 rpm and the 5400 rpm? by how much approximately is boot time/shutdown time extended? i dont plan on doing much more than simply listening to music/word processing/movies/net so im not sure if i really need a 5400 rpm hd.

 

crippled is the word that comes to mind when using a 4200rpm hard drive. I can't give an exact number, but installing a program from a CD takes forever, at least on my machine. I wish I would have known how bad it was when I bought the laptop. You will be much happier with the 5400, trust me.