Laptop Hard Drive - Dell 700m

dauss · February 16th, 2005, 01:31 AM

So I'm thinking about buying a used laptop. It comes with a 30 gig 4200 rpm drive. I was wondering if it was worth getting a 5400 or a 7200 hard drive for the 700m. Also I don't know much about laptops, I've always been a desktop guy, especially because you can't build your own laptop.

Is it easy to switch out the hard drives?
I'm looking at Newegg and who makes the best drives? Fijutsu, Seagate, Toshiba?

fourthbean · February 16th, 2005, 02:17 AM

When you go for a higher rpm you just have to keep in mind that you are going to create more heat and use more battery power. Replacing the drive should be a snap if you have messed with pc's before. My brother just replaced the hdd in his new dell 9100 and it was a matter of one screw to get the old drive out and then the 4 screws that held the case the hard drive screwed onto. He went with the seagate for the 5 year warranty.

Sixpac_XP · February 16th, 2005, 02:26 AM

What are the specs for this laptop?

A 5400 rpm should serve you fine... are you just looking for faster disk access or storage space or both?

dauss · February 16th, 2005, 02:37 AM

both
mainly just for word processing, e-mail, internet, and movies, low cpu stuff.
1.6ghz pentium M
512 ram(2 dimms)
30gb 4200 rpm drive

MDdan · February 16th, 2005, 02:56 AM

A fast drive can make a world of difference. I'm typing this on a 700m(stock drive for now)...great laptop.

If you need a larger drive, check the benchmarks and get the biggest, fastest drive you can find. Last time I researched it the Hitachi 60gb 7200 rpm drives were pretty sweet for the price.

There are some 5400 rpm drives that are about the same speed as some 7200 rpm drives...be sure and check reviews before you assume that one drive is faster than another based on specs alone.

Get the 700m if the price is right...i travel with mine and love it. With the extended battery & wifi turned off, I can watch a movie and still have over half my battery left. It's also nice if you're stuck in coach class....you can actually open your laptop and use it....lol.

Best laptop I've ever had....love the screen, love the size, love the battery life.