Will I notice a difference between a hard drive with 7200 rpm versus a 5400 rpm. Computer is used mainly for music downloading/playing and web browsing. I have a 1 ghz G4 ibook.
2007-06-25 09:39:45 · 11 answers · asked by Brendan 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Laptops & Notebooks
I beg to differ on the previous two answers. The performance will be MINIMAL at the most. Remember, a faster RPM drive is only one of many components needed to boost performance. Faster RPM also means more heat and wear and tear.
Spending the extra money for this on a 1ghz processor won't give you noticeable performance
2007-06-25 09:45:17 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
If you are using your laptop in a single threaded mode (not technically accurate, but for the sake of arguement) where you tend to only do one disk intensive thing at a time, the difference will probably not be too apparent. The Transfer rate off of a 5200 vs 7200 drive is not generally going to impact performance, too much, when dealing with sequential traffic. It is the random I/O that will see the biggest benefit of the increased speed.
What that means is that unless you are using your laptop as a file server, or performing any concurrent disk intensive tasks, or using VMWare, you will not see a big boost from a 7200 rpm drive. I would be more concerned with the extra power a 7200 rpm drive will chew up, and the resultant increased heat.
2007-06-25 09:48:21 · answer #2 · answered by Amanda H 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Simple answer is yes, but the difference will vary on the amount of RAM you have. If you don't have enough RAM your HDD is used more so the raw speed of the HDD is more noticeable.
The raw speed of the HDD is measured in two ways. Sustained data speed and random access speed. Sustained data speed is dependent on the rpm and the data density. Larger sized HDD tend to have higher data density so a 80GB drive at 7200rpm maybe the same speed as a 160GB drive at 5400rpm. The random access speed tend to be higher on higher rpm drives but if the HDD has a large cache but slower rpm it can be just as fast depending on the application.
Assuming you have same sized HDD and about 1GB of RAM you will notice the speed difference when your anti-virus kicks in scanning your entire HDD or when you first start your applications. When you are actually using your the applications you won't notice the difference because the information will be loaded in RAM.
2007-06-25 18:30:33 · answer #3 · answered by Poo Rock 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is a difference, period because it is a faster hard drive. Now as for noticeable, that is a different story. If you have a stopwatch out, you will probably be able to see a difference, but otherwise, won't be anything huge. Do keep in mind however that the 7200 will also use more power, so you will get slightly poorer battery life.
2007-06-25 10:24:44 · answer #4 · answered by mysticman44 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No you won't.
Why?
You only notice the real difference when you're moving around giant files. If you download movies and like to transfer them around a lot, then perhaps, but otherwise 5400 will be fine.
Something to consider though, it's nice to have the speed when you need it, and there are a lot of good drives out there at good prices with the 7200 rpm speed.
2007-06-25 09:44:08 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
Yes, you will notice a difference. One measurable way to tell is to compare the average boot time with the old hard drive with the average boot time with the new hard drive.
I've changed a 5400 hd with a 7200 hd before and I noticed a nice speed difference. I'm sure there will be some guy who claims to be a *computer expert* who will say that it doesn't make a difference though.
2007-06-25 09:43:05 · answer #6 · answered by Jimmy 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Do the maths the access time read and writte to the 7200rpm hard drive will be faster then 2 the 5200rpm hard drive! why do u think servers use 15000rpm scsi hard drives cause they r faster then normal 7200rpm
2007-06-25 09:48:08 · answer #7 · answered by N4P5T3R 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Yes you will. The more RPMs your HDD has, the faster you will be able to access stuff on your HDD. 7200RPMs is used for casual PCs while 5200RPMs is strictly used for storage and archiving (like a library).
2007-06-25 09:46:31 · answer #8 · answered by ? 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
yes, but only when saving or copying files to the drive and reading files from the drive.
RPM only tells you how fast a drive can read or write.
2007-06-25 14:43:05 · answer #9 · answered by Ne0 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes you will......you can experience faster access to your music on your 7200 rpm HDD than 5400 rpm.........its is like you are driving 72 mph, imagine it compare to 54 mph.....but of course, consider its disadvantages........like.....speed kills....sometimes......
2007-06-25 09:42:16 · answer #10 · answered by Green T 3 · 2⤊ 4⤋