Ugrading HD on T40

[schnazzy1]

evening folks,
I currently have a Thinkpad t40
2373-19U: P M 1.3GHz, 1024MB RAM, 30GB 4200rpm HDD, 14.1 XGA, 32MB ATI Radeon 7500, 16x10x24x/8x CD-RW/DVD(slim), Intel 2200bg
everything is stock except for the wife card which has been upgraded.


i am going back and forth on whether to slap a 5400 rpm drive or a 7200rpm drive in my t40. not sure which direction to go. i prefer a cooler (temp-wise) laptop over the zipiest. i extensively use vmware and am leaning toware the 7200 but concerned about temp and battery consumption as i do travel a lot.

Questions:
1. temperature wise how much of a differenc is there between the 5400 and 7200 rpm.
2. price wise i believe a 7k60 starts at ~180 . i also see the 5400 seagate momentus 100gb for roughly the same price. is the performance gain significant enough to go for the 7200 over the 5400?
3. if 5400 rpm which is the best 5400rpm drive to go with?
4. if 7200 rpm which is the best 7200rpm drive to go with?

mucho thanks in advance
Jeff

[ZaZ]

The 7k60 does run a little warmer, but it is not bad at all in my opinion. I have the 15” model which is a little thicker. I can’t feel it as much as on my old 14” T41.

The 5400 is probably a better value. The 7200s are in short supply at the moment. Hard to believe they were going on Dell for like $125 around X-Mas. The 7200 will be most noticeable when running hard drive intense apps like audio and video encoding. When surfing or doing office, it will not be as obvious. The jump from 4200 to 5400 is greater than 5400 to 7200.

I think IBM recommends Hitachi and Fujitsu.

Hitachi 7k60 is your best bet at the moment. Seagate is supposed to have the 7200.1. If it is here, the supply is not that great.

Good Luck.

[redsi]

I also had 2373-19U and just upgraded it with a bluetooth/modem CDC, it was great (only CDN$54.75). I also upgraded my HDD from stock (4.2K) to a 5400 Fujitsu. I do see a noticable faster respond. If you just from 4200 -> 7200, I am sure you can REALLY tells the difference.

Use Centrino Hardware to help you cool down your laptop and hdd. I am sure it will consume a bit more battery but otherwise the adv of a faster HDD can certainly compensate a little more power consumption.

[GACrabill]

Be sure to search for and read threads containing references to the newer 5K100 Hitachi drives .... supposed to be faster than the older 5K80 drives, the 40GB single platter is very quiet, reduced power consumption, better value than 7K100 (7200rpm), etc.