Need M1710 HD Upgrade Advice Please

No problem with a Hitachi 160 GB 5400 RPM here. In fact I have upgraded from a 80 GB 7200 RPM drive and can only say that I'm really happy with performance.

Any 2.5" SATA drive you buy will fit. As for performance, first of all, hard drive speed is typically a minor factor in gaming performance, given that most games do not require significant disk activity for extended periods. Exceptions are when loading the game for the first time, and when the game loads new scenarios, which nowadays often involves uncompressing the scenario, writing that to disk, and reading the file. With that said, the 160GB 5400rpm drive should work fine. These typically have data transfer rates that are very close to the drive you have now. With the 200GB drive, you will see a more noticeable performance hit, though.

or you could wait til Hitachi releases its bigger 7200rpm drives

For your requirements, you can either go with Hitachi or Seagate. I have drives from both, and never had a problem. Hitachi has announced 160GB 7200rpm drives, possibly as hybrid drives also, for this summer. Second half of the year is my guess. There are also 10000rpm drives and 200GB 7200rpm drives in the cards, later in the year. There's always something better and faster just around the corner...

Doesn't 'Seagate' have a 2.5" SATA 160GB 7200rpm drive out already?

Hitachi plans to introduce thiers fist half of this year according to Cnet.
http://news.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,390...9284829,00.htm

Stay away from 4200rpm drives, at least. From what I've seen, the big jump is between 4200 and 5400 rpm. Sure, the 7200rpm is faster, but you will probably manage (unless you do a lot of video editing).

BUT - why not an external drive if you need more space?

External drives are useful for more than storage! Of course you can install programs on the external drive. The only issue you might have is if you need to use any of the programs/games when not at home with the external drive.

i vote for waiting for newer 7200rpm drives come out. while average transfer speeds for a 160GB 5400rpm and a 60gb 7200rpm drive are about the same (i'm using these numbers, as i have them myself and have benchmarked them), the burst rates are quite different. i feel like the 7200rpm drives are much better for gaming, if you like shorter load times, but then again, it could be that the system with the 7200rpm drive in it is a much better/faster system in general.

i use a second hard drive in my system (along with iso/mdf/mds files for gaming) because my 60gb is just too small (also, i have the 60gb partitioned with vista on the other partition too). the 120gb is filling up though, as i'm putting my stargate sg-1 collection on it, so i can watch them when i want, while my dvd's stay at home (while i'm at college). i'm personally waiting for larger 7200rpm drives to come out, as the jump from 60 to 100 isn't all that much, especially when i am not in dire need of a new drive, but 60 to 160 would be much more, although the price of the 160gb 7200rpm, when it comes out, is probably going to be pretty high. with the 160gb 5400's in the $140-160 range and the 200gb 4200 in the $250 range, i'd estimate when the 160gb 7200 comes out, it will be somewhere in the mid-$200 range (just think, the 160gb 5400 when it came out in the mid-$300's). price is something you might want to consider into your decision too.

Hmm, good question. Seagate lists a new Momentus 7200.2 model on their website, and they have a document that says that those are available up to 160GB. On the other hand, nobody seems to be selling them yet, so I am not sure what the status of these is. It could be that you will be able to buy one of these "soon"...

No, 7200rpm drives are currently max 100Gb.

I bougt a Western Digital Passport drive. usb 2.0. power from usb needs no external power. 120 gigs. it is 5400 rpm. I love it. Now i have 200 gigs mobile.

Rassa-frassa-frickin'-SATA-only bastards.

Hopefully Hitachi makes a 160GB 7200 in ATA100 trim. Also, I wish they'd put 16MB cache into notebook drives as well.