Which gives better performance: Mhz vs. HD rpm ?

[nasa]

What do you guys think results in better overall system performance? (By better overall system performance I mean: which option will make the computer "feel" faster?)

1) Upgrading processor from 1.86 Ghz to 2.00 Ghz

or

2) Upgrading HD from a 5400 rpm to 7200 rpm

I'm currently trying to configure my system and get the most "bang for my buck", and I thought I'd ask the experts for some help

A corollary to this question is the following: how much will either of these options affect battery life/heat?

Thanks for your help with this decision!

[kyrotech]

2) Upgrading HD from a 5400 rpm to 7200 rpm

7200 RPM hard drive will have more impact in battery life than the 2.0 Ghz cpu.

[nasa]

Wow, thanks for the (super) quick reply kyrotech. Do you have any details on how much of an impact in battery life this may be?

[nrj45]

Be careful, some 7200 rpm hdd are a bit noisy (that's why i put a 5400rpm in my t43p).
And unless you make a lot of cpu intensive tasks, you won't notice any difference by the cpu replacement you mentionned...

If you want to upgrade something, upgrade the ram to at least 1gb (if not already done )

[nasa]

Thanks for the additional info nrj45. Actually, IBM is currently offering free 512 MB memory upgrades (this will bring me up to 1 GB). So, I thought that with the money saved from this promo, I'd use it to get either a faster hard drive or faster cpu. From what it sounds like so far, the cpu seems like the better choice. I'm not going to make my decision just yet though...I think I'll wait for a couple more responses first =D

[nrj45]

if i were you i'll go to restaurant with my girlfriend with the saved money ...
I think that 1gb, 5400rpm, 1.86GHz is a good balanced solution. And the little upgrade is not worth...

A third solution would be to wait for the 2.13/2.26GHz processors to get cheaper...

[stgreek]

2) Upgrading HD from a 5400 rpm to 7200 rpm

7200 RPM hard drive will have more impact in battery life than the 2.0 Ghz cpu.

I disagree. BOTH will have no impact on battery life. The 7200 will cost you 5 mins over the 5400, while on processors noone runs it on full speed when on battery (if you want to actually use it for some time) so basically, they will both run as low as you want them.

Now if your take into account the fact that 5400 -> 7200 is a much better upgrade than 1.86->2.0, I think it is much better value for money for an upgrade.

[DIGITALgimpus]

I'll also go with the 7200 upgrade. Much more performance.

Unless your doing pure math, in which case, the CPU is the factor there.

But for general computing... HD.

[MobileGuru]

I would agree with Digital for sure .. the drive would be something i would do long before giving a little bump to the processor.

MG.

[DIGITALgimpus]

There is that distinct exception.

If you want to speed up numeric calculations... Go for the CPU.

If your disk latency is slowing you down... go for the better HD.

For normal laptop use, disk latency is what kills. Not the CPU. Truth be told, most wouldn't even notice the difference between 1GHz and 2GHz if it wasn't possible to probe via software. Most don't use that much CPU anyway.

Typical computer use is only web browsing, word, excel and email. None of which generally consume that much CPU. Web Browsing can be the most intensive, but even then, preformance diff is in miliseconds.

[aamsel]

Generally, the faster hard drive is the biggest bang for the buck, provided that the CPU is a decent speed, and memory is aqequate.
A year or so ago, I had an older Dell Pentium III 800Mhz, and putting a 7200rpm drive in it was like making it a brand new laptop.

Also, keep in mind that a lot of time you are running a laptop on battery. Any time that it is on battery, you are likely on a slow CPU speed anyhow, so a faster CPU would be irrelivent.

Andrew
Austin, TX

[nasa]

It seems as though the majority is in favor of a faster hard drive over a faster cpu. Coincidentally, Notebookreview.com just came out with an article relating to this subject. Here is what the author says:

**

"Now, it stands to reason that the faster a drive spins, the more power it's going to eat. By and large that's true, but it's not the great difference anyone thinks it is. In fact, some 5400rpm drives report lower power usage than 4200s. If anything, the power consumption of a 5400rpm drive is about on par with a 4200. The rare 7200rpm drives do eat a little more power, usually cutting your battery life by a few minutes.

Another major consideration associated with drive speed is heat. 4200rpm and 5400rpm drives will run much cooler than a 7200rpm drive will, and if your notebook already has heat problems (like mine), the move to a 7200rpm drive won't be a good choice."

The rest of the article is here:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2603

**

After reading all of your comments and the article above, I have decided to forget about the extra cpu speed and go with the 7200 rpm hard drive. The only thing that concerns me relates to possible heat issues with a faster hard drive. Since I'm planning on buying a T43 (sorry, not a T42), I know there are fan-related issues that may get even worse with a faster hard drive. I wonder if anyone actually owns a T43 with 7200 rpm HD who might give some feedback as to how much this affects fan noise.

Thanks for all the great replies!!

.

[onix]

You may have already decided on a hard-drive, but how much RAM do you have??

[nasa]

Onix, currently IBM is offering free 512 MB ram, so that'll bring my laptop to 1 GB total ram.

[jeffcrilly]

Check the hitachi specs on the hard drives.

I thought that the 7200 and 5400 rpm drives had the same current draw.

Its just that the 7200 is a better performer - i.e. faster rotation for the same power. If the current draw is the same, then the heat generated will also likely be the same.

Fwiw, I replaced my 5400rpm 32GB (12.5mm) drive w/ a 5400rpm 60GB drive and I'm actually expecting less heat from the new drive.

jeff

[tfflivemb2]

Just my two cents...

I'd take the faster processor, because you can always upgrade the hard drive on your own, with less work that replacing the processor...unless you have no problem opening up your TP.

[jlingo]

Since you are getting T43p? then get 7200RPM harddrive, otherwise you have a big chance of getting error 2010 for replacing the harddrive yourself. You can search in this forum about SATA Bridge and replacing harddrive problem with T43

[ddutta]

I just got a T43 with a 60GB 7200rpm drive and 2Ghz proc. When I run CPU only benchmarks they are only 15% faster than my 1.6G. But my booting time has become much faster. In general installations take less time etc. Hence I am quite happy.

If you dont need openGL, go for a normal T42/43 (CTO is cheaper) with a 7200rpm. With a 7200rpm drive and a 9cell battery you will have same performance levels of a p class machine at a $500 less price, iff openGL is not a requirement.