I was wondering about how much better performance a 7200 RPM drive would do than a 5400 RPM hard drive. Im going to be using the laptop that I buy for gaming and school work, so the faster drive seems like a better idea for gaming, but would it be worth the extra heat and wear and tear on the laptop?
7200 vs. 5400
- Thread starter Xeio
- Start date
On your portable units it would depend more on the eide controller and what that supports since the drives used are matched for the unit itself. Some boards in portable units won't support the 7,200rpm drive if they still the older style ide controller. Yet most 7,200rpm drives are are backward compatible to work on older systems. You just won't see any gain in speed if that is the case there. For gaming it takes more then drive speed alone to speed that up since game maps and other data are loaded into memory.
Ok, well for example, here is a laptop im looking at the hp dv8000t (link directly to model).
I know that laptops are not best used (or cheapest) for gaming, but since I'm off to college this fall, I'd prefer portability over power.
I know that laptops are not best used (or cheapest) for gaming, but since I'm off to college this fall, I'd prefer portability over power.
One look at that model suggests some type of SATA not ide drive setup fitted to unit. The clear mention of a dual drive setup not just one implies proprietary configurations which may not allow a simple swapout of drives. This is the type of question that you may to ask HP tech support directly on before making any changes there and void a warranty. Prebuilt portables generally have their limitations in a good number of ways.
The_Other_One
VIP Member
My laptop actually boots fairly quickly with only a 4200RPM drive. And the good stuff about slower drives, they don't take as much battery to run.
It will also depend on how well the portable is powered where the draw from running a faster doesn't pull battery life down quickly. HP has had some good units over the years with brands like Toshiba catching up fast. A model with two drives at any speed would still need a stronger battery setup in order to run well for those few hours of time you see before recharging. Generally the faster drive made for portable use shouldn't see that much more of a draw if it was matched for the unit itself.
It's when you modify by adding a faster drive that the power demand increases in many cases. With a laptop sitting on your desk substituting for a good atx case you would want to look at models with a regular docking station to keep the battery at full until you travel. The units with slide out drives would allow running a faster model when docked with the slower used when on battery. The demand on battery life is mainly seen when using a larger drive where you want a faster model for faster data access. This is generally you see laptops with only 40, 60, or upto 80gb drives at times as the size limit to keep the battery level up. You wouldn't run two 250gb drives in a portable like those pair of 7,200rpm drives used here and expect to use it for very long. HP has to have something worked out with the model at that link.
It's when you modify by adding a faster drive that the power demand increases in many cases. With a laptop sitting on your desk substituting for a good atx case you would want to look at models with a regular docking station to keep the battery at full until you travel. The units with slide out drives would allow running a faster model when docked with the slower used when on battery. The demand on battery life is mainly seen when using a larger drive where you want a faster model for faster data access. This is generally you see laptops with only 40, 60, or upto 80gb drives at times as the size limit to keep the battery level up. You wouldn't run two 250gb drives in a portable like those pair of 7,200rpm drives used here and expect to use it for very long. HP has to have something worked out with the model at that link.
AMD gs player
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u got a nice video card in there i didnt know they had the 7600 go yet anyway i say stay with the 5400 rpm it will stay cooler and as they said erlier less baterypower and its a pain to charg a laptop
The option to buy a docking station eliminates the need to constantly charge a portable unit since you are keeping the battery charged while running off of the supply there. That is powered by ac directly just like any psu seen in an atx case. If you are only using the unit for portable application while traveling or where no ac is present then looking at power consumption is one thing only. A MUST! You have to stay with what works best since portables have their limits. If it comes with a 7,200rpm drive then you know the unit is designed to run drives at that speed and consumption.