MBP, 7200rpm HD & battery life.

mike gunnz · 1 Jan 2010 at 20:04

Thinking of getting a 7200rpm drive to replace my nearly full 5400rpm160gb drive, but I don't want to compromise battery life too much by doing so. I currently get around 5-7 hours out of each charge and given that I don't use my laptop for HD intensive tasks, mainly just uni work and browsing, am I right in assuming that battery life won't be compromised by the faster drive?

clv101 · 1 Jan 2010 at 20:08

I swapped the 80GB 5400rpm in my MacBook for a 320GB WD Scorpio Black 7200rpm. Didn't notice any worse battery life, noise or temperature. Great upgrade.

bigredshark · 1 Jan 2010 at 20:13

Well technically the power consumption is greater but likely you won't notice.

sorn21 · 1 Jan 2010 at 20:48

I'm in the same boat, I've had a look and I'm lead to believe that the extra power usage is minimal, however the speed is obviously slightly greater and outweighs drop in power.

clv101 · 1 Jan 2010 at 20:50

I did the upgrade over two years ago. Today any upgrade from stock really has to be an SSD coupled with a large USB drive that you don't take everywhere.

bigredshark · 1 Jan 2010 at 21:30

clv101 said:
I did the upgrade over two years ago. Today any upgrade from stock really has to be an SSD coupled with a large USB drive that you don't take everywhere.

I'm of the same opinion myself, but I can understand why the cost is offputting for some people. A decent 128GB SSD is still what? £250-300??

Feek · 1 Jan 2010 at 21:44

mike gunnz said:
am I right in assuming that battery life won't be compromised by the faster drive?

Yes, you won't even notice.

mike gunnz · 1 Jan 2010 at 23:24

Thanks to all for the replies. I still think the trusty old hard drive is a more sensible upgrade option than the SSD. The price differential and storage capacities between the two is still huge and I don't see the SSD as a mature enough technology to warrant jumping on them just yet.