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Luca
ಠ_ರೃ
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2006-01-22, 13:37

Don't necessarily take my word for it, but I have heard several things regarding laptop hard drives. First of all, supposedly there's a bigger difference moving from 4200 RPM to 5400 RPM than there is moving from 5400 RPM to 7200 RPM. Also, I've heard the increased heat and power consumption from 5400 RPM and 7200 RPM hard drives is negligible.

Furthermore, going for the highest option is usually kind of a rip off. It's generally true with all things (RAM, processors, hard drives, and so on), but when Apple's the one controlling the price, it's even worse. Right now, typical OEM prices for laptop hard drives are as follows:

80 GB 5400 RPM - $120
100 GB 5400 RPM - $150
120 GB 5400 RPM - $250
100 GB 7200 RPM - $280

On the $1999 model, Apple supplies an 80 GB hard drive and charges $100 to upgrade to 100 GB, even though the drive is only worth $30 more. The higher-end options are significantly more expensive (see the above statement about the highest-end things costing more than they're worth), but again, since Apple controls the price you end up paying $200 extra when they only cost $100-$150 extra in reality.

Apple rips you off on hard drives just as badly as they rip you off with RAM. Unfortunately, they also make it excruciatingly difficult to replace the hard drives in their machines, therefore forcing you to pay tons extra for hard drive upgrades (since you can't perform them yourself, at least without voiding your warranty).
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