I dug up and read a lot of reviews of each along with head-to-head comparisons of both. Both drives are pretty much leading the 2.5" field, along with a Seagate model of smaller capacity (exact model escapes me). Most tests show that the 7200RPM spindle speed alone gives about a 20-30% performance increase over a 5400RPM drive. Basically, the IBM/Hitachi 60GB 7200rpm and 80GB 5400rpm have nearly identical stats; the chief difference is the spindle speed which gives the performance boost.
In other words, if you exclude the 7200rpm drive, the 80GB 5400rpm is arguably the leading notebook drive today, general performance-wise. It just happens to have the highest available capacity, too. Because the drive will be my internal startup drive, and because I have both an expansion bay drive and enclosures, I think I'm now leaning toward the 7200rpm for benefits to both OS 10.3.3 and applications. Thanks everyone for your opinions. -Sam on 4/1/04 11:35 AM, Nick Marshall wrote: > On Wed, 31 Mar 2004, Sam wrote: > >> What would you buy? > That's a hard choice. Depends on the level of video and audio editing. > > If your doing imovie level editing and low track count [around 8] audio I > would get the 80GB. You will not "feel" any difference and you'll enjoy the > increseased space. > > If your doing Final Cut Pro/Express level editing [multiple video and audio > tracks] and greater than 8 audio tracks I would hesitantly get the 60GB. You > need the performance, you would "feel" the difference over the > 80GB. Unfortunetly, you also need more space that this higher level > requires. I would get the 60GB and start saving for a 120GB+ external > firwire drive also. :) > > HTH, > ----- > Nick -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
