Hdd Rpm

[KGB-911]

Hello,

I am just wandering if i will notice the difference between a 100GB HD at 5400 RPM and a 160GB HD at 4200 RPM

or will the speeds not make much difference.

Bear in mind that these are laptop hard drives, not full size ones. both SATA

 

[Ian]

You probably will notice it, but the greater capacity is probably worth it unless you really need quick access. 100GB isn't much these days.

I've got a 4200RPM drive and it's fine for laptop usage - but obviously not ideal if you are after a gaming laptop and don't need the extra space.

 

[TriplexDread]

The reason drives at 4200 and 5400 were included in laptops was purely power saving. The faster the RPM the more power is consumed. However with todays technology and power saving features laptops are starting to be integrated with faster drives and bigger drives

One of the reasons drives in laptops were smaller to begin with really

Smaller size means spinups speeds werent really needed to be that fast for access. Now as i'm sure you know drives even in laptops are becoming huge due to multimedia reasons.

 

[KGB-911]

ok, thanks for your replies...

which one of these would be better for gaming (not that i really want to do it on the laptop, but it would be nice to be able to occasionally)

the 100GB drive (faster RPM) has a graphics card with 256MB SHARED memory
the 160GB drive (slower RPM) has a graphics card with 128MB DEDICATED memory

Will the dedicated memory be good enough to outweigh the downside of having a slower HD RPM?

 

[psd99]

hiya KGB welcome back
been a long time how u doing pal?

that is quite a tough question there but out of the two I would personally take the 160GB with 128mb

you will always need that little bit of extra space and with regards to RPM it wont make that much of a difference
we are talking seconds, im sure u can spare these in your life
if it were hours I would choose the first option simply for time

 

[TriplexDread]

Shared memory means its uses some of your RAM not virtual hard drive

Still, yes, as PSD99 says go for the dedicated

 

[Ian]

Do you know which type of graphics card the two types use, is it the same one?

 

[KGB-911]

100GB - NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7400 with TurboCache™ supporting 256MB*
160GB - NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7600 with 128MB dedicated VRAM

Both sony viao FE21 (100GB-FE21H, 160GB-FE21M)

 

[PotGuy]

160/7600

 

[KGB-911]

160/7600

that is what i was thinking, there is only £60 differnece

 

[psd99]

yer go for the bottom one
looks a safe option