VGN-AR51J HAS A 250GB HDD AT 4200 RPM - IS IT TOO SLOW ?

[greekisland]

GREETINGS TO ALL FROM THE GREEK ISLANDS !

I CURRENTLY HAVE A FE31M VAIO AND AM THINKING OF UPGRADING TO THE AR51J.READING THE SPECS ON THE LATEST AR SERIES,I NOTICED THAT ALL THE HDD'S,(EVEN TOP OF THE LINE AR51SU),RUN AT 4200 RPM.
MY VAIO IS RUNNING A 160 GB HDD,(FACTORY),AT 5400 RPM.IT'S NOT LIGHTNING FAST BUT IT'S NOT BAD EITHER.
I'M WONDERING,WITH THE SLOWER HDD ON THE NEW AR,WILL IT RUN AT A DECENT ENOUGH SPEED FOR PHOTO-EDITING.THAT'S BASICALLY ALL I USE THE VAIO FOR.
WHY DID SONY DECIDE TO USE SUCH SLOW DRIVES ? MOST OTHER COMPETITION IN THE 17 INCH LAPTOP RANGE ARE USING 54OO OR EVEN 7200 RPM,WITHOUT CONSIDERABLE BATTERY LOSS.
I REALLY WANT TO RUN WITH VAIO AGAIN-IS IT WORTH IT ?

[V57...]

Hi greekisland,
I have a AR51SU...yes, all the HDD run at 4200 rpm..but they are in Raid O which means they are about 50% faster..
less energy and...noise...

[greekisland]

Thanks v.57
Of course your model has dual hdd's,whereas the AR51J has a single 250 gb drive.Does the speed increase still apply in this case ?
Thanks for the feedback !

[V57...]

Hi greekisland,

Yes, the ar51su has 2 HDD...
With a single HDD there is no Raid 0..
Probably you have to buy a 7200 RPM...
Indeed I think it's a "crime" to have a .......4200RPM...

[greekisland]

That's what I thought too.However,with a faster drive battery life will really suffer.
At any rate,I love my Vaio's,don't think I'll look elsewhere,just swap out probably for a 5400 rpm.
Thanks for all v.57 !

[V57...]

Good choice greekisland...
Best regards

[Blencogo]

I think you will find it is a matter of size and available speeds.

At the time the AR51-Series was released, the largest available 5,400 rpm drive was 200GB and 7,200 rpm drive was 160GB. Drives over 200GB were only available in 4,200 rpm speed. For the 250GB drives in the AR51-Series, 4,200 rpm is the fastest available speed.

It is the same with the FZ-Series. The 300GB drive in the FZ21Z is 4,200 rpm but the 200GB drive in the FZ21S is 5,400 rpm.

All these drives use perpendicular recording technology and are a lot faster than the old 4,200 rpm drives.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/wd-brings-250-gb-hdds-to-notebooks-uk,review-2319.html

[V57...]

Hi Blencogo,
I have a AR51SU with 2 HDD (250Gb each one) in Raid 0...

I also have 2 Seagates 200 Gb each one, 7200 Rpm, 16Mb cache...

Is it possible to replace the former with the latter? If so, are there any advantages?

Thanks in advance...

[Blencogo]

Hi v.57

I see WD are now up to 320GB @ 5,400 RPM.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/storage/display/20071031124934.html

Things are moving so fast now you would have to change the HDDs every few weeks to keep up to date. Realistically the speed difference is not going to be that noticeable.

As long as the Seagates are 2.5 inch drives and only 9.5 mm thick they should fit OK and be quicker. The Recovery Centre should allow you to install them in RAID 0 configuration. However, they will eat your battery and be quite a bit noisier.

I suppose the choice is yours - but if you are happy with the present performance, it seems sensible not to make an unnecessary change and ask for trouble?????

[V57...]

Thanks a lot Blencogo,

After reading your reply, I think I'll keep the 4200...