[monokitty]

http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Item.cfm?ID=4752&Item=IBM07N9482

5400 RPM w/ 8 MB buffer cache @ 40 GB in size. Very nice and not expensive for what you get. Is drive actually as reliable as it seems? Probably produces more heat than a 4200-RPM drive w/ 2 MB buffer cache.

 

[PosterBoy]

It will produce more heat, but the main thing is that a 5400 RPM drive will eat through your battery faster than the 4200 RPM drives you find in Apple machines right now.

--PB

 

[Lawrence]

I was going to buy one of these as a primary
internal drive for my Lombard but changed my
mind and got a slower smaller drive.
These drives would be ideal as an external
drive in either a USB or Firewire case.
(Love the cache sizes these new drives have...8mb, 16mb)

Dave

 

[Ohenri]

These drives are great. Yeah the power comsumption is up - but not by so much that you want to reconsider the choice. I have a 20G 5400 in my PISMO right now, and I love it. When I 1st go the unit, I was amazed on how quiet it was. I had to put my ear to the unit like I was Tanto trying to hear for distant footsteps. Just crazy how the FDBs just do their work. But even 20G is kinda small these days. Don't try any iMovie editing. You'll fill that up hella quick! Thumbs up if anyone is thinking of this.

 

[Neil Yates]

Well, typically faster drives could eat more battery consumption, however i've seen a 2MB cache 4500rpm Toshiba beside a 16MB cache 5400rpm Toshiba, and the two consumed the same amount of current/power, according to its label.
Also, if there was a small amount of increase in consumption, the much larger cache will make the drive more efficient, and require less head-seeking to get the same task done on the 2MB cache drive, depending on the task at hand.

I'd have to say that the newer drives were late to market as OEM firms stipulated heat dissipation and power requirement limits that had to be met in order for them to place orders. Without these limits, 2.5" HDs would be in the 100's of GBs by now...