MacBook Pro :: Difference Between 5400RPM Vs 7200RPM And I5 Vs I7?
Jul 29, 2010
I am looking at buying a 15" MBP next weekend. I was nearly set on the i7 model with the high res AG screen, but now I am looking at other configurations and am wondering if that is the best choice.
I'll be doing a lot of coding but I do that fine on my 1st gen macbook, so I am not worried about performance in that regard.
The main thing I am thinking of is video editing with Premier Pro CS5. If I get the i5 I can upgrade the hard drive to the 7200 RPM version which I think will get me better performance on editing HD video than the i7 will as it will be accessing the hard drive a lot for the video. Will the performance boost of the 7200 RPM beat out the i7 in video production?
Also I am wondering about battery life, I have heard that the i7 gets around 4.5 hours in normal usage. That is fine but will the i5 + 7200 get more than that or about the same? (Not while editing video, just web browsing, email, maybe photoshop)
Anyone have any thoughts on this? or any experience editing video with the i5 or i7 mbp?
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Jan 17, 2010
I've seen a few of these threads but I need more information.
5400rpm HDD is a bit slower but uses less power.
Exactly how much power is lost to upgrading? I know its not much but its important. The 7200rpm upgrade is like an extra 40 GBP or if I downgrade the spec to a 320gb its cheaper than the 5200rpm 500gb.
If I get 4 hours of battery life on a 5400rpm, how long would a 7200rpm last? Is there a loss of an hour? or a mere 15 minutes?
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Aug 4, 2010
I have a year old 15' MBP, with a 2.66GHz C2D, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB 5400RPM drive. I just purchased a 250GB Seagate 7200RPM drive which I use in an external enclosure for my Time Machine. I have no complaints for my computer being terribly slow, but I was wondering if I would get a significant boost from having the 7200RPM drive in my MBP. Before anyone recommends that I get a SSD, I do plan on buying one once prices keep dropping. Right now $1600 for a 480GB OWC SSD is a little steep for me.
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Jan 5, 2010
I'm using an early 2008 MBP (4,1) running the original 5400rpm 200gb HDD but upgrading to 500gb this week.
I'm looking at WD Scorpio 5400rpm but wondering if 7200rpm reduces the battery life relevantly.
Also, I'm running 2gb of memory but I'm debating if 4gb would be dramatically faster.
Or do you think I would be better off buying a new mbp?
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Sep 22, 2010
Do 5400RPM HD allows maximum speed over FireWire 800, or 7200RPM HD will be faster? Basically 7200RPM makes difference in speed if you using FireWire 800 or not?
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Dec 26, 2008
Now, I am in the market to replace my stock 160GB HDD in my MB, as I want a bigger hard drive in my PS3 and was thinking I could put the MB one in there, and buy a larger one for the MB.
I am debating between a 320GB 7200rpm and a 500gbrpm drive. I currently have this external drive:
[URL]
I HATE it. It takes a super long time to start up(close to 3-4 minutes) and then opening up videos takes a good 2-3 seconds. But, I have a 5400rpm drive inside the MacBook and was wondering if 7200rpm with 16mb cache would really make a significant difference in day-to-day use.
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Jun 18, 2009
The thing is I dont really need 500gb of space. But from reviews Ive read that the 500gb is faster in some cases because of its higher platter density.
Vibration /noise issues on the scorpio black 7200rpm sway me towards the scorpio blue 500gb as well.
Anyone had experience of either hard drive or both? (this will be for a 2.2Ghz MBP)
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Apr 17, 2010
I've come to the conclusion that I will be opting for the 15" i7 MBP, after originally wanting to go for the 13' (due to lack of ix processor and such).
My dilemma is that I want to purchase the MBP through Bestbuy/Futureshop, mainly so I can go on a payment plan of around $100 per month, rather than dishing out $2000+ in one shot.
The issue with this is i am unable to BTO my MBP, so I will be stuck with the 5400RPM HD. Is it really that much of a difference from the 7200RPM HD? I'm used to a 7200RPM HD on my imac, so I don't want to feel any slowdowns.
Also, on my 20' early 2009 iMac, I notice that I need to turn my brightness down to about 3/16 (can't really explain it any other way. i guess this would be good with the MBP, as i'd get longer battery life, haha) or else i'll get a headache fairly easily after about 30-45 mins of use. Would the matte option help with the headaches?, as I assume the glossy screen is part of the cause for the headaches on my imac. I had originally returned the 24' imac i purchased and went for the 20' because the screen was too large.
So I am somewhat torn between going for the 15' i7 from a reseller, or just biting the bullet and ordering through the apple site.
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Sep 23, 2009
do I have to take the 15" or 17" macbook pro unibody? I mean not just screen size either, it's more like I don't know, the one plus to the 15" model is the SD card reader, but is that a reason to not buy the 17" if not considering the screen size for a moment. Either way, the processor would be the 2,8 Ghz or maybe even the 3,06 Ghz. If I buy the 15" ofcourse there is a bit more money to spend on tweaks like the bigger processor and maybe more RAM and faster HD, but that said, I still can't choose. I even have questions if not the 17" runs a bit cooler than the 15" same spec model just because it has "more space" inside... crazy thinking I know, I might just be so wrong but still, who knows. And then for the HD, is it according to speed, so much better to take the 7200 rpm 500gb over the 5400 rpm 500 gb? The 7200 rpm will use a bit more battery life ofcourse but with up to 8 hours of battery, I might just think about possibly more speed instead of battery life. Few years ago I read something about the bits in a 5400 rpm being very close to each other so the reading was as fast as an 7200 rpm, I don't know about you but this makes me wonder wether or not buying it over the standard HD.
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Nov 21, 2008
I recently bought a used MBA, I always want one when it first came out, finally wait until now because of the big price drop My first mod to my MBA is to upgrade the hard drive. I wasn't pay much attention when I purchase this replacement hard disk, didn't notice the MBA only takes 5mm height, as most 1.8" in the market are 8mm. But since it's in my hand right now, I decided to put it on see if the MBA recognizes it. Not too much surprise, leopard installation went very smoothly. After the installation, the available space is about 95gb. And because of the 5400rpm, it feels faster.
Too bad the bottom won't close because of the height of this drive. But at least this gives me an idea, and I know there's a Toshiba 1.8" 120gb 4200rpm 5mm out there, and it should fits perfectly in MBA. Anyway, I'm still debating myself rather getting this Toshiba drive or a Samsung 32gb SSD(Same drive as used in the Rev.A SSD version, but different capacity) As the price of these two drives are pretty much the same (around $150 range) I have another computer for my main work, so I'm toward getting a 32gb SSD
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Jul 20, 2010
any experience with one of these drives in a MBP?
Newegg has a 640GB one on sale for $65.98 through 7/25.
For $65, I would like to double the size of my current HDD (even though it's 7200RPM).
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Dec 15, 2010
It's been a looong time since I've posted on these forums, it's good to be back though! I have just dug out my old white MacBook- specs are as follows:1.83GHz Core Duo 1.25GB RAM 60GB 5400RPM HDD Put simply, this thing is really starting to chug! Modern websites such as eBuyer, engadget etc cause the HD to go crazy and it's generally pretty slow, even when doing 'simple' things like making powerpoint presentations.
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Sep 17, 2009
Got a MPB 13". I need a good external drive, but I'm wondering which is the data bottleneck: FW800 or 5400RPM?
The reason I ask is I have an old iMac with FW400 and an external Hitachi 7200RPM 200GB 16MB cache in an OWC case that's (suppesedly) capable of FW800. It seems to have taken the same amount of speed to restore a very large file to my iMac (FW400) vs. my new MBP (FW800).
I would like to replace this drive with something bigger, but if FW800 is the bottleneck, then I'm thinking I should just get a 5400RPM drive to both save money and get a larger drive.
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Jan 16, 2010
I had an issue with the 9600m GT Graphics card a few weeks ago where the graphics card wouldn't display anything when plugged into an external monitor. The apple store checked it out and said the logic board was faulty and that it would need to be replaced under warranty. (Late 2008 15" macbook pro).
When I received the laptop back, they not only replaced the logic board, but they also replaced the SSD with a 250gb 5400rpm hard drive. I called in and, after being upgraded to the top level supervisor, he said that all of the hard drives being replaced were sent to be refurbished or recycled and that my hard drive had a fault in it so they replaced it. He says that they restore it to the apple original condition and originally they sold it with a 250gb hard drive in it so that's what they replaced it with. Their policy is that only if they replace aftermarket ram with apple ram will they return the aftermarket parts back to you. This repair was conducted yesterday, the 15th of January by apple Tech ID #612525.
I don't expect to get my data back, but if anyone has any idea on how I can get my hard drive back, I'd be willing to reward $100. A new Intel SSD X25-M G2 would be around 250 so I wouldn't want to do that.
I've been on the phone all day with the apple support so I am very frustrated right now.
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Jun 21, 2010
I bought an i5 15" MBP last week and instantly through my 80GB SSD into it. I've been doing my best to keep a lot of unnecessary data off the SSD but I'm still running out of space. I'm thinking about throwing the stock 5400rpm 320GB drive into an Optibay tray and using that to hold the data. I use Photoshop and Illustrator quite a bit and I would like to use the 5400rpm drive as the scratch disk as well.
However, I'm not to familiar with read/write processes and I'm wondering if I will see a speed decrease if I use the 5400rpm drive to house the data while leaving the SSD open for the OS and all applications. Should I expect a noticeable decrease in battery life with both hard drives installed as well?
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Oct 13, 2010
So to avoid buying new hard drives one after another I decided to do something about it. I had this annoying vibrations in the palm rest area that spread to the left side also. Of course I did not want to part with the speed of 7200rpm HDD so I decided to take a step forward. I have Unibody MBP 2010. What you will need: Phillips screwdriver, elastic eraser, some paper napkin or something like that. Also a small hex screwdriver, however I could never find such a small hex screwdriver to twist those HDD mounting screws.
1. Unscrew the back panel of your MBP (Make sure you switch it Off and unplug power cord before you proceed)!
2. Remove the back cover.
3. Locate the HDD in the lower left corner ( i suppose you have you MBP flipped).
4. If you want you can take our ur HDD and make sure that your mounting screws are well screwed on the sides of the HDD.
5. Put ur HDD back in place make sure it is secured with that special black piece of wood with 2 screws.
6. Now look closely on the gaps between HDD and MBP Case from UP bottom and RIGHT (close to the battery) this is where you need to stuff something into those gaps to makes sure that HDD is well secured in it's position.
Note: Do not put anything from side of SATA Jack
7. I found that eraser is the most suitable material to absorb vibrations. So I had to cut it in pieces in fit it around the HDD.
8. Now you will most likely notice that the gap on the right is very narrow so here you would need something like paper napkin or a tissue, this place in particular was causing vibrations on my MBP 13 2010. I used a small screwdriver to stuff that place with soft material as it is too narrow to be done with hands. Obviously the eraser has to be slightly wider than gaps otherwise ur HDD will keep vibrating.
9. Make sure you screw everything back.
10. Put the back panel in place and screw it firmly in place.
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Aug 28, 2009
i'd like to know which MBP is better in terms of perfomance and speed..
The 2.66 Ghz one with a 7200rpm hd or the 2.8 Ghz one with a 5400rpm hd?
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Apr 16, 2010
Will be using my new 500GB 5400 rpm as an external and wanted feedback on the best aftermarket 7200rpm drive. Price / Speed / Battery Impact. I would appreciate some info from all you techies.
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Apr 17, 2010
this is my first post here but i am reading you since the beginning of the "arrandale waiting!"
Since i am going to buy a new 17" Macbook pro i want to know what kind of 7200rpm drive Apple will put in my mbp. It is a seagate, a WD or a hitachi?
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Mar 19, 2009
I just bought a Macbook last week. I realized after i put alot of stuff on the macbook 120GB isn't enough space. I want some suggestions for a good HD up to probally 200-300GB with 7200RPM. I Prefer less noise, heat, and less suction of battery life.
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Jun 4, 2009
I've almost sold my MBP and I'm gonna order MB early next week, so I'll need a good 7200rpm HD (320Gb) for my new baby.
What brands/models do you consider most reliable? On this forum I've read good impression about Seagate Momentus line, what do you think?
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Jan 11, 2010
I've got a 5400rpm HDD in my MacBook Pro -- see specs below. I really didn't think much of the slower speed compared to a desktop being a big deal back in the day, but now I'm thinking it is. It seems that many things across the board take a little longer to launch or load. I probably ruined my perception of speed by using my dad's brand new iMac, but I don't think my computer should trail his that much on just opening iPhoto or Safari.
The lateral move on storage space -- keeping 320GB but bumping to 7200rpm -- would cost me about $90. I don't think a 500GB 7200rpm drive exists. I also don't want to drop $500+ on a SSD because I really can't and I might as well buy a Mac Mini at that point.
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Jul 6, 2010
Thinking of doing an inexpensive upgrade on my mid-2009 MBP. It's got the 5400rpm 500gb drive in it. I was thinking of upgrading to a 7200rpm drive. Strictly speaking math, the rpm's are 33% higher. Will this upgrade result in a noticeable decrease in time to boot or decrease in time to load programs (bounces)?
Also, what brand/model hard drives do Apple put in MBP's?
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Oct 7, 2010
Anyone care to advise?
Would love to hear any past experiences and direct comparisons etc
Have written off the Momentus XT due to endless reviews of noise, heat and battery zapping. Is this just the way all 7200 internals are likely to perform though?
If so, should I maybe continue using my 5400 internal for apps and os, and buy a FW800 7200rpm for my media?
Oh, I'm using my MBP mainly for video editing (FCP, Motion, Shake) and some audio and graphics too.
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Feb 21, 2009
i bought high spec black macbook refurbished which came with a 5400rpm drive inside it.
Im using logic pro, and its been running fine with small projects, but when i have a medium sized project using several vst instruments and exs24s using many audio samples, all of which are running off the internal.... i get error messages, system overload messages...and i am unable to bounce to audio file (in logic pro)
im thinking its the slow hard drive which is causing the main problems.
I have 2gb ram. It also takes sometimes over 5 mins to open this logic file.
Or is this poor performance par for the course, if using just one internal drive, for both system files and audio storage....... ?
Are there possible probs which may arise from taking out the 5400 drive and fitting a faster 7200 drive in to my macbook? I hear it will heat up more....so could this mess with other macbook componets?? the excess heat...... or are macbooks bulit to handle 7200rpm drives too? dont remember is 7200 was an optional upgrade with my model or not......
2.4ghz intelcore2duo.
Anybody fitted a 7200 drive into their macbooks? all running ok??
Would i simply put the new hard drive in..... and then boot up from boot dvds and my time machine backup....to have a full up to date system, all apps and file intact as they are now? Im worried it will get messy and problems...... my current drive is packed to rafters with apps and files and work i have done......i dont want to lose a thing.....would it be a simple easy fool proof transition to faster hard drive?
And could i still use the current hard drive? With an enclosure?
Ive heard people have ripped out the opticla dvd drive and fitted ANOTHER hard drive into their macbooks, so the laptop housing two hard drives..... that sounds good...but crazy..... maybe later ill do that....as i hardly use the cd/dvd drive...... and you can always hook it up with wire if need be
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Jun 26, 2009
I'm going to swap in a 7200RPM 500GB drive tonight. I have all my stuff backed up to an external drive. However, is it possible to take my old hard drive, place it in an external case, and then access/transfer my files from that as well? I want to keep the drive as is for now until I know everything is working fine on my new drive, then convert it for use as a Time Machine drive.
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Jul 1, 2009
Does anyone have any thoughts on the pros/cons on a 7200 RPM drive over a 5400 drive? I'm looking to purchase a MBP 15" in the next couple of days.
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Oct 10, 2009
Can anyone provide advice on whether i should get the 7200rpm drive? Is there a noticeable difference in boot time between each?
Do they normally have MBPs already built with the 7200 drives or do you have to order them?
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Feb 17, 2010
Long story short my Uni is buying me a mac. I've got to order it asap so can't wait any more for an update. They are putting �1150 towards it. I intend to use it for various things including running final cut pro.
What I want to know is will the 2.5Ghz model with only the 9400m graphics card and a 7200rpm hard drive run final cut pro well, or will I notice a hell of a lot of difference from the higher spec machines with the 9600m card and bigger processors?
I worked out that I would have to put in an extra �241 for the 2.8 or �136 for the 2.66, so it's not a great deal of difference, but I am not rich and I don't want to waste my money.
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Feb 26, 2010
Anyone have any info on how battery life compares with a 7200RPM vs a 5400RPM drive with moderate use (e.g. Photoshop, Illustrator)?
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