2.0Ghz/80GB-5400rpm/6cell or 1.86Ghz/60GB-7200rpm/9cell ?

[ddutta]

Hi

Suppose one has to choose between the two models of T43 with similar pricing
2.0Ghz/80GB-5400rpm/6cell/512MB/SXGA+/bluetooth
1.86Ghz/60GB-7200rpm/9cell/512MB/SXGA+

Which one should one choose?

D

[Flightvector]

Go with the 7200rpm drive, no contest there. You simply won't gain anything significant at all with 0.14 GHz increase in speed. 2.0GHz will give you something like a 1% gain in perceived speed, but 5400rpm will give you like a 20% drop in applications you actually use. System memory also has a comparitively huge effect when going from 512Mb to 1Gb.

[RonS]

I second FlightVector's comments. My first thought was that you can upgrade the battery and hard drive, but not the CPU. But the CPU's here will be virtually identical in normal use.

Unless you need bluetooth, I'd go for the 1.86 system.

[v_parthi]

Hi,

I personally choose the 7200rpm system.

For comparison between the processor speeds and increase in performace, refer tomshardware for more details. Refer both dothan vs banias and the new dothan vs sonoma cores.

http://www.tomshardware.com/mobile/20040510/index.html

There was also a comparison of HDDs. Look here:

http://www.laptoplogic.com/resources/guides/35/2/1/

regards
Parthiban

[boilermakerinatl]

The 1.86Ghz/60GB-7200rpm/9cell/512MB/SXGA+ is a lot more appealing to me.

[nrj45]

i would also go with the 7200 rpm solution (you will also have more autonomy with 9 cell battery).

[Navck]

No, I'd stick with bigger harddrive, the aerial density compensates for rotational rate.

[FTC]

the aerial density compensates for rotational rate.

No, it does not. I have a T40 w/60Gb 7200 and a T42 w/80Gb 5400 drive and for sure the 7200 drive is *a lot* faster than the other. Note that these disks (7200s) have also a faster seek time (10ms vs 12ms typical), which once added to the reduced rotational latency makes access times around 4-5ms faster that with 5400 drives ... that is a lot.

[Vindicated]

I'd pick the 1.8ghz system too. I sure couldn't notice the speed difference between the CPUs, and the 10GB's you lose in hard drive size isn't that big of a deal. 60GB is still a lot, more then what most people need & use. The 9 cell battery would definitly be a plus - after all a laptop is about mobility - and I can care less about bluetooth personally. Specually when in about a year you'll be seeing a bunch of products sporting WUSB (wireless usb) technology.

[CaptainMorgan]

I have to agree with the majority - go with the 7K60... the later argument concerning the two hard drives is superceded by the extra battery life. You're definately gaining by going with the 1.86 GHz system