This laptop is never unplugged from the wall. Power consumption is no matter, and I can drill vent holes to cool the disk if it starts to get hot. I'm mostly curious about the performance benefit.

I hope this is the right place to ask this. I'm upgrading an older laptop's hard disk. I'm wondering if the speed (and increased sound) of a 7200 rpm drive will make a difference. Its a 1Ghz PIII running a BX chipst (EIDE, I don't think its ATA) and will be running Win2k and linux. I've been reading...

Thanks. I guess I should have mentioned that I can't afford to spend $300 on a 30GB disk

Seriously, I've heard certain brands are generally stronger and more robust than other, and am simply wondering if anyone has had overwhelmingly positive experiences with one or two in particular.

I've been a laptop owner for years and have decided to upgrade an existing Dell that I have while I save money for a small desktop PC later on. I've had miserable success with Toshiba disks dying at very young ages. IBM Travelstars seemed to do OK until I started using notebooks in a lab environment...

Thanks, I see now that my original post probably wasn't clear. What I meant was that I'd like the PCIe slot on whatever motherboard I go with to be useable, ie, with a PCIe riser and a PCI slot in the case. I'd like to have the option to use a third-party graphics card if I desire, over the onboard ...

Some quick searching of the forums here turns up a little info, but its pretty dated. Does anyone have any experience with the products from these folks? http://www.cappuccinopc.com Failing that, can anyone advise the smallest cases available that fit a 2.5" disk and offer a single PCI slot, for use...

Can anyone recommend a product that will generate a controlled amount of visible smoke (not steam as I don't think it would be the safest) in order to test airflow? Similar to what they use in wind tunnels except on a much smaller scale, suitable for testing a case for leaks, proper flow, amount of ...