worth going to a 7200rpm drive?

[ac12]

At this point in time, is it worth spending the $ for a 7200 rpm drive for the T23?
As much as I like my T23, I'm thinking that its time has past. The biggest issue that I see, more than the drive speed, is the max memory of only 1GB. If it makes a difference, I'm running XP-SP3 on mine.

opinions?

[RealBlackStuff]

Hardly.
Modern PATA hard disks like the popular Samsung HM160HC (160GB) all run at 5400rpm, and are almost as fast as a 7200rpm drive, but without the extra heat.
Largest 2.5" PATA drive is the WD Scorpio Blue WD3200BEVE (320GB), also at 5400rpm.

[cadillacmike68]

You are only going to realize any benefits of a faster spin rate on sequential reads or writes. A large percentage of disk I/O isn't that clean. WD 320GBs seem to run fine on my T30s.

That said, the SATA 500GB 7200s are only marginally more expensive than PATA 320GB 5400s, and on a cost per GB, they may be even less expensive. Shop around. Get a Hitachi if you get a SATA 500GB 7200rpm.

[RealBlackStuff]

There are no 500GB PATA drives in 2.5".

[cadillacmike68]

There are no 500GB PATA drives in 2.5".

Correct, i meant 500GB SATA, and edited my post to clarify.

[Unknown_K]

The T23 upgraded the T2x line from ATA33 to ATA66 (or 100 forget which), so upgrading the older T20-T22 would be a waste as the controller couldn't handle the extra speed anyway.

Overall speed has to do with RPM of the drive, cache, and the bit density on the platter(s). So last generation large 5400 RPM drives with higher bit density are probably faster then an older 7200 RPM drives (and will run cooler as mentioned).

Unless you need the extra space I don't see the point of spending money on a newer drive. There is only so much data a P3 era laptop is going to crunch, and the built in video isn't going to do anything speedy in 3D. The 1GB of RAM does help out in XP (which I what I have in one of my T23's). I just stick with 40GB drives in my units.

[fefrie]

I have the 'ultimate' t23, which is to say a t23 with the built in wireless. As great as I liked it, it's been retired late last year by a rare t42 which is one of the models not affected to harshly by GPU issues.

I occasionally pull out the t23, and it is very hefty and thick.

For wordprocessing, it is fine, but the real killer for my t23 is that the world wide web has moved on.

Find yourself a nice t42 with the 64mb video and you'll be happy.

Or if you can, a good t60 to upgrade to the modern sata connector.

[jronald]

A 7200 in a T30 will rock and roll. On a T23 its a bit hard to justify in my opinion.


Ron