New harddrive?

Question

How much does a new harddrive typically cost? Is it cost effective vs. buying a new computer?

I have a Compaq Presario laptop... I want something with more room and that is faster.

Do you just buy them somewhere like Best Buy?
My husband is a big gamer and we'd liek something with more room! THANKS!

Answer 1

A laptop hard drive is pretty cheap these days. I just bought a 100 gig one for about $120 bucks. Buying a new laptop would cost anywhere from about $500 - $3000 depending on what you need to use it for. You can buy a laptop hard drive from best buy or circuit city, etc. Just make sure that the drive is 2.5 inches and not 3.5 which is used for desktops.

Answer 2

Typically, upgrading components is almost always cheaper than buying a whole new system. As far was how much a new drive will cost depends on how big a drive you need. Unfortunately, laptop drives are a little more expensive than their desktop counterparts. If you're looking to upgrade to a 120GB 2.5" drive, at Frys.com it'll cost you $110 + shipping (about $5). That's a typical price. Best Buy prices will be about the same, maybe higher. BestBuy.com also will let you check prices online. If you're not in a hurry to buy, it's often best to wait and check the Sunday Paper Ads for Best Buy, Circuit City, OfficeMax, Office Depot, and Staples. Between those stores, they usually have some type of computer hardware sale every other week or so. If you have a Frys or MicroCenter nearby, those places are often better to shop for computer components.

Regardless of the size of your hard drive, your husband's gaming ability on that laptop may be limited by it's memory and video card. Most of the older laptops don't have the graphics capability to play many of the newer games. If yours does and only needs a bigger drive, you're one of the luck ones.

Answer 3

Only way youd get more performance on a hard drive swap would be to go to a faster drive--like from a 5400rpm to a 7200rpm but you wouldn't notice that much in gaming as gaming depends on your video then ram then cpu. You'll get a little bump with more ram but if your present onboard graphics card is outdated you may want to consider a new laptop. If you have $2500 the best bang for the buck is the Toshiba X205 SLI-3 which had dual 8600M GT video cards, dual 160GB hard drives, webcam, TV Tuner, Bluetooth, wireless etc. One of the few laptops that can slam the new games in DX10 at framerates they deserve.
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/pdet.to?seg=HHO&poid=394294

Answer 4

You can expect to pay about a dollar per gigabyte: 80 GB = $80

You will need to know what type of harddrive ide vs sata and approx what speed the drive spins in rpm's. If you can pull out the current hard drive that info will listed on it.

I prefer NewEgg.com but if you are near a big name computer store you should have no problem getting a good deal.

Answer 5

well, laptop hardisk cot about US$50 for 80gb capacity, and about US$80-90 for 160 gb...

if your husband is gamer, and you oftenly use the computer at home, i suggest you get a desktop pc, although it will be costly, the performance is far better than laptop

Answer 6

Hi Higher capacity drives will give you more storage space but not necessarily more performance. If it is room you need then get the drive. If performance, upgrade. At least the RAM.