Hard drive speed VS processor speed

[studentuser]

Hi,

I am unable to decide between 2 configurations of T43, would appreciate if I can get some help.

Option 1: T43 with 2 GHZ, and 5400 hard drive speed.
Option 2: T43 with 1.8 GHZ, and 7200 hard drive speed.

Performance wise which option is better?

Thanks,
A

[jonnnny]

I would say the 7200 hd would be better. You'll really notice an increase in access time whereas with speedstep you'll probably be running at around 600mhz most of the time anyway (assuming you dont do a lot of intensive work all the time)

[2cool4u]

but replacing the hard drive is cheaper than replacing the cpu, so I would go for the faster cpu and replace the hdd if you're not happy with it.

[STS06]

Right, but he/she will be paying for the CPU's extra speed here.

Depending on your work, you will either see no difference between the two CPUs or you may be a small, but noticable, advantage with the 2.1.

Peformance wise, the 2.0 Ghz is better. The hard drive speed will do little in helping your comp crunch numbers and etc. You probably wont be able to see the hard drive speed diff. until your hard drive is maxed out.

If the 1.8 Ghz is cheaper though, I'd stick with that. If you're askign this question, my bet is that you don't do extremely computer extensive stuff...which means tthere's be little difference between the 1.8 and 2.0, if any, for you.

[RonS]

Performance-wise, the 1.8GHz with the 7200RPM will be better for most every-day work.

[kaplanfx]

While I haven't used a 2Ghz Dothan, I must say that the 1.8 with a 7200RPM is really nice, I bought this system as a companion to my desktop (3Ghz HT northwood, 6600GT, 1Gig ram, etc. basically its pretty loaded) and I find that I actually prefer the laptop in most cases (except gaming) so if I could do it again I'd go for the 1.8 with the fast HD. Just my $0.02

-kaplanfx

[Steve007]

Hi,

I am unable to decide between 2 configurations of T43, would appreciate if I can get some help.

Option 1: T43 with 2 GHZ, and 5400 hard drive speed.
Option 2: T43 with 1.8 GHZ, and 7200 hard drive speed.

Performance wise which option is better?

Thanks,
A

Go for Option 3, a T42 with a 7200 drive

[studentuser]

Thanks for all your responses. It will definitely help me make the right decision.

A

[GeorgeP]

If you:
- have a lot of memory (to preclude the need for a lot of virtual memory paging)
- use standby instead of booting; and
- are doing CPU-intensive tasks (image/video editing), the 2.0 5400 might be faster.

Most most workloads and 1GB or less, I'd say the 1.86 7600 would be faster.

btw I'd go for a 1.86 5400 for quietness and better battery life.

G

[hoya]

studentuser: go for the newer T43 (2686M5U) with the 2.0 processor. these new T43's that were released in August are quieter, and you can always upgrade to a faster hdd down the road (the 7k60 has been replaced by the superior 7k100 anyway)