7K320 now costs less than 7k200??

[pae77]

I was shopping for a pair of new HDs for my T61p at NewEgg and I was surprised to see new OEM 320GB 7k320's listed for $97.99 with free shipping and the 200 GB 7k200 listed for $164.99 with NO free shipping.

I know the 7k320 is not the highest performing 7200 rpm 320 GB drive out there these days, but this seemed rather odd to me. Is there something wrong with the 7k320's? I hope not because I ordered a pair. Have always had good luck with the Hitachis.

[Tony Chan]

It has been like this for a while now. I think it is due to 7k200 is really old stock and there was a major price drop around September on all new 7200 hd.

I own a 7k200 and 7k320 and and I can't really tell the difference in everyday use between 7k320 and my friend's Seagate 7200.3.

Fyi, Seagate is coming out 7200.4 500Gb drive anytime now so if newest and fastest is what you are after, you might want to wait.

[pae77]

I don't need the latest and greatest. I'm sure it will be expensive for a while. I'd rather get something like the 320's at their current reasonable cost.

[yak]

You may still want to wait because they may get even cheaper after their successors get to the market.

[Tony Chan]

yak is right. And apparantly the 7200.4 increase in areal density will have noticable improvement in performance. Also, the recent price cut is probably driven by the arrival of ssd, and this will continue to happen as part of the ongoing battle part ssd and conventional disk.

When I said if you look for "newest and fastest", I hope I didn't give you the impression of you just chasing after the lastest and greatest. What I really mean is you appreciate speed and performance.

On the other hand, if you have to get the drive now, then I think either Seagate 7200.3 or Hit 7k320 will serve you very well.

[pae77]

Yes this tech stuff always gets cheaper as time goes by and better performing items become available. I suppose I could have waited a few months more and saved some more money but $98 delivered for a 320 GB 7k320 is enough of a sweet spot for me to bite now. A pair of those (one for the primary and one for a cloned backup of the primary) plus approx 500GB of additional storage (from my current pair of 200 GB 7k200's plus the 100 GB 7k200 that came with my machine) to use in the ultrabay for added storage (mostly for media files) should hopefully hold me for another year or so, until the next generation or two have also become nice and cheap.

Another thing that is forcing my hand is the only way I can get free shipping is to have the drives delivered to the mainland (I live in Hawaii and shipping to here is usually pretty expensive) and I will be visiting there next week and then not for a long time.