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General discussion

Harddrive speed and RAM

by scottb Nov 15, 2005 12:14PM PST

Hi. I am looking for some advice. My notebook (Intel Pentium M Centrino @ 1.7GHz with WinXP Pro) has a 60GB 4200RPM harddrive and 512MB of RAM. Would I notice more of an improvement in system speed by installing more RAM or a 7200RPM HD? I know that RAM definitely matters. Since the HD is only 60GB (relatively small), is there a great difference in the speed of this size HD (4200 vs. 7200)? Also, will the faster HD require significantly more battery power? What do you guys recommend?

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2 Posts

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I'd say get the HDD, I've read a technical paper...

by togus Nov 15, 2005 12:42PM PST

that says data retreaval is 33 percent faster with a 5400 than with a 4200, which means the difference would be much greater with the upgrade you suggest. Actually, I think I'd get a 5400 AND the ram... should be not much more than the cost of the 7200.

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HD made a big difference for me

by Dutchmants Nov 15, 2005 11:28PM PST

I have a several year old HP laptop 2.0 GHz P4 processor 512 MB RAM that I replaced toe original 40GB 4,200 RPM HD with a 60GB 7,200 RPM one and it was like having a brand new computer. I've considered uping the ram but in my case at least that means replacing the rRAM and since I replaced the HD it has seemed so much faster I have decided I have other bills that should get paid first. Can't really comment on battery life impact since 90% or more of my use with this laptop is off of AC power.

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