[pwp]

Hi

I wanted to upgrade my Macbook Pro hard drive to the 1tb Western Digital 2.5" drive. I noticed that it spins at 5200rpm which is less than the current drive I have in my laptop, 5400rpm. Would I notice any real difference with my day to day use, music, watching HD TV shows from iTunes, internet etc.

Paul

[alcimedes]

Nope, you'd actually find that it's faster. Larger capacity hard drives are have a denser platter, so they read/write faster than their lower capacity counterparts.

The 200 RPM would be completely offset by the density increase.

[Swox]

The only problem would be that you're trying to put a 2.5" HDD into a MBP. It won't fit.

[Luca]

Originally Posted by Swox The only problem would be that you're trying to put a 2.5" HDD into a MBP. It won't fit.

[chucker]

2.5" would. It's the 12.5mm height that will make this impossible, unless your MacBook Pro is 17" (I believe those, or at least some of those, support 12.5mm drives).

You'll need a 9mm one, which currently go up to, I believe, 640GB.

[Swox]

Originally Posted by chucker 2.5" would. It's the 12.5mm height that will make this impossible, unless your MacBook Pro is 17" (I believe those, or at least some of those, support 12.5mm drives). You'll need a 9mm one, which currently go up to, I believe, 640GB.

That's what I thought, though I didn't know that some 17" will fit one. I also have heard recently that 640GB is currently the biggest for most laptops.

I also thought that the 2.5" referred to the height, which, now that I think of it, is very silly. I've installed one before, and it's no where close to 2.5"!

So, ya... I might have said something silly, but Mod knows it's not the first time!

At least I got a hilarious picture as the fruit of my labours!

[Luca]

Originally Posted by Swox At least I got a hilarious picture as the fruit of my labours!

It's just too bad you're not scratt.

[pwp]

Thanks for your help. This website http://www.macupgrades.co.uk/store/p...roducts_id=550 tells me that a 12.5mm drive would fit though, is it wrong? And also would this void my warranty/apple care that I currently have, I found a document on their website saying if you follow their instructions it won't but when I phoned up the man at the end of the phone told me it wouldn't.

[Swox]

I'm just going to let someone else answer this one. I obviously don't have a clue here

[Maciej]

I'm guessing you have a unibody MBP, but can you confirm? With or without SD card slot?

[remlemasi]

Originally Posted by Swox That's what I thought, though I didn't know that some 17" will fit one.

Originally Posted by pwp Thanks for your help. This website http://www.macupgrades.co.uk/store/p...roducts_id=550 tells me that a 12.5mm drive would fit though, is it wrong?

I feel like saying that none of the MBPs can use a 12.5mm HDD since they're all the same thicknesses and my 13" can only take 9mm drives... but that's just what I feel like saying...

[chucker]

I'm now seeing contradictory posts on whether, maybe, all unibody models can support 12.5mm drives.

[remlemasi]

Originally Posted by chucker I'm now seeing contradictory posts on whether, maybe, all unibody models can support 12.5mm drives.

hmmmmm... It seems like they will... See:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=754416

and

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/...m/804007380041

For some reason, however, I'm not still not 110% convinced/assured that they will fit, if only because there are so many skeptics accusing the people confirming the use of 12.5mm HDDs are LIARS and no truly "concrete"/reliable sources letting us know the facts. I'm thinking that they do fit though...

[pwp]

Originally Posted by Maciej I'm guessing you have a unibody MBP, but can you confirm? With or without SD card slot?

Unibody mac with SD card slot.

Looking at Apple's new MacBook... For $100 more, I can upgrade the 100gb 5400rpm disk to a 100gb 7200rpm disk. I am wondering what type of performance improvement i can expect. Are there any statistics out there benchmarking performance versus hard drive rpm?

[Luca]

Originally Posted by Barilaz12 Looking at Apple's new MacBook... For $100 more, I can upgrade the 100gb 5400rpm disk to a 100gb 7200rpm disk. I am wondering what type of performance improvement i can expect. Are there any statistics out there benchmarking performance versus hard drive rpm?

Uh, which model are you talking about? Apple only offers upgrades to 7200 RPM drives on their 15" and 17" MacBook Pros. The regular MacBook and 13" MacBook Pro do not have that option. Also, the hard drive is not 100 GB; the smallest you can normally get is between 160 and 250 GB.

Either way, though, you are much better off sticking to the stock configuration and then buying and installing the hard drive yourself. You will usually save money and you can keep your original hard drive, either to sell or to put in an external hard drive case for backup storage. You can get a 320 GB, 7200 RPM drive here for just $75 including shipping, which is less than Apple charges for most of their hard drive upgrades and much less than they charge for a similar 320 GB, 7200 RPM drive.

I don't know about benchmark performance, but a faster hard drive WILL make general use of your computer faster. It's not a dramatic improvement but it is enough for you to notice without having to run benchmarks.

EDIT: Of course, if you're not from the USA, it can be much more expensive to upgrade the hard drive yourself. It's a lot harder to find reasonably priced hardware merchants in other countries.

[WrestleEwe]

Originally Posted by Luca You can get a 320 GB, 7200 RPM drive here for just $75 including shipping, which is less than Apple charges for most of their hard drive upgrades and much less than they charge for a similar 320 GB, 7200 RPM drive. I don't know about benchmark performance, but a faster hard drive WILL make general use of your computer faster. It's not a dramatic improvement but it is enough for you to notice without having to run benchmarks. EDIT: Of course, if you're not from the USA, it can be much more expensive to upgrade the hard drive yourself. It's a lot harder to find reasonably priced hardware merchants in other countries.

I recently bought that exact HDD. €60 ex VAT for my old white MB. Add €3.50 for the torx 8 screwdriver, 5 minutes work and the little laptop is noticeably faster. I just test-copied a 4.4GB iso from an external FW400 drive, it took 127 sec, or 34MB/sec sustained. Amazing, truly amazing.

[psmith2.0]

I've asked this elsewhere, but is it "safe" to put a 7200rpm hard drive into the 13" models (MacBook or MacBook Pro). I realize there might be a slight battery performance hit(?), but are there any sort of heating issues to be aware of? I ask, only because Apple themselves don't offer a 7200rpm option on any of their 13" 'Books.



What's the official word on that?

[PB PM]

It was safe in the smaller 12" iBook and PowerBook from the PPC days, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be safe to do so in the current 13" models. 7200rpm drives don't run that much warmer than 4200rpm drives, the issue is more about noise levels and slightly reduced battery life.

[psmith2.0]

The 12" iBook and PowerBook G4 didn't come with 7200rpm drives stock. Did they?

I believe they came with even slower 4200rpm drives.

Or did I miss something in your answer...are you saying it was common for people to put 7200rpm drives in these machines after-the-fact? I know they didn't come from Apple that way.

[PB PM]

The latter point, should have made that more clear, tons of people upgraded their machines to 7200rpm drives without them melting down, which was my point.

[Dorian Gray]

The amount of heat produced by a hard drive is directly proportional to its power consumption. Some 7200 rpm drives actually use less power than many 5400 rpm drives: they therefore produce less heat. You can find the details in the manufacturer's data-sheets. In any case, the amount of power consumed by a 2.5-inch hard disk drive is very low compared to the machine's total power draw, so even large percentage changes won't affect the heat output (or battery life) by much at all. Thus it doesn't matter. If it did matter Apple would be careful to specify power-draw limits for user-upgraded hard drives. They make no mention of such things to the best of my knowledge.

[psmith2.0]

Interesting. I didn't all that part of it.

Then why doesn't Apple offer 7200rpm BTO options for their 13" models, I wonder? They could make a killing (people who want the faster, "better" drive but who don't want the hassle of doing it themselves, or might not be savvy enough for the task).

[Luca]

To increase the incentive to move up to a 15" model. Their BTO hard drive options have a big profit margin, but the 15" MBPs have an even bigger one.

To me, it seems like a case of the "Pro" being just a fancy label, since the 13" MBPs lack many of the "Pro" features of the 15" and 17" models. Basically just like the 12" PowerBook vs. the 12" iBook of several years ago. At least this time, the price difference is only $200 rather than $500, which is more in line with reality.

[Dorian Gray]

Originally Posted by Luca To increase the incentive to move up to a 15" model. Their BTO hard drive options have a big profit margin, but the 15" MBPs have an even bigger one.

Yeah, I suspect that's the reason.

In truth, a hard drive's spindle speed isn't the only thing that affects its performance. One of the fastest drives on the market, on a mixed workload, is the 500 GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue. It's a 5400 rpm drive, but it has a high platter density (partly made possible by the lower spindle speed, which is why you can never find the largest drives in 7200 rpm versions), very smart Native Command Queuing, and a low seek time.

Originally Posted by Luca To me, it seems like a case of the "Pro" being just a fancy label, since the 13" MBPs lack many of the "Pro" features of the 15" and 17" models. Basically just like the 12" PowerBook vs. the 12" iBook of several years ago. At least this time, the price difference is only $200 rather than $500, which is more in line with reality.

What reality?

I think the 13-inch MacBook Pro is likely the best laptop ever made by anyone. This opinion is widely shared by notebook enthusiasts on Ars Technica, the Notebook Review forums, etc. It's a near-perfect blend of robustness, design, performance, portability, and price.