The first thing that obviously comes to mind when looking for a notebook hard drive is the size of the actual drive itself. Drives in 2009 are well past the “huge” 10 gigabyte models we used to see even in the early 2000s; nowadays hard drives can be purchased in stores, right off the shelves, with up to a terabyte worth of storage. If you’re the type of person who needs a lot of space (particularly for business purposes), you may consider purchasing such a drive. Western Digital sells the 1 terabyte model for as little as $250 USD, which is an absolute steal for the amount of space that you get with that. remember the days when a 1 gigabyte model used to cost that much! If you’re on a bit of a budget, you can opt for a smaller (but still plenty large) drive of 120+ gigabytes, spending only $100-$150 in the process. If you’re into gaming, you may consider opting for something larger than 120 gigabytes, however. While 120 gigabytes is fine and good for most people, heavy gamers can easily find themselves low on space due to the fact that games can take up 10+ gigabytes each. Decide what you need before you head to the store. In the event that you’re buying refurbished laptops, check with the seller of the system before you make your decision. Ask about what the previous owner used the laptop for.
The other thing you should look for in a hard drive is the rotational speed of the internal mechanism itself. Typically these are either 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM, with the higher RPMs naturally giving the better user experience. Buyer beware: buying a hard drive with 5400 RPM will have a noticable difference if you’re coming from a 7200 RPM model. Larger hard drives often come in lower RPMs (but not always), with the high-RPM, high-capacity hard drives costing a pretty penny. Again, if you’re running applications that require fast processing (such as games that are frame rate sensitive), opting for a high-RPM drive is a must, even if your wallet requires you to skimp on capacity. Just like before, decide on what you need your hard drive for. If you’re buying a drive to store documents, pictures, or other such items, a 5400 RPM drive may be just fine.
All in all, a notebook hard drive can either make or break your computing experience!
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