[LAU] PATA or SATA? Yonah or Merom?

[Mike Taht]

The difference between SATA and PATA doesn't matter all that much on a
laptop. The best thing you can do for performance is go with a 7200 RPM
laptop drive if you are into recording. Laptop drives - especially the 4800
RPM ones - are quite slow.

My take on PATA is that it's going to be around for a good long while yet,
and not only is it generally cheaper than SATA, the controllers have better
software support. This opinion, is, however, based on year old data, and a
sample size of two - my opteron machine's PATA controller is easily 40%
faster than it's SATA controller as it's SATA doesn't support queued
commands - and my laptop is WAY faster since I slammed the 7200 RPM drive
in.

On 4/3/07, Ken Restivo <ken at restivo.org> wrote:
>
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> I'm a hardware idiot. I have the worst luck buying hardware: I always buy
> the wrong thing and end up getting screwed. Plus I don't have a lot of
> money, so when I get screwed, it's devastating.
>
> So that's why I avoid buying hardware. But still, I need a laptop, and so
> here I am shopping and probably about to make some stupid and unrecoverable
> mistake that will cost me everything.
>
> I'm torn between these two ones:
>
> http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?313598_ASUS_90NG6G161500000L18
>
> Which says it supports Yonah but not Merom! This is bizarre, because I'm
> told that it is the same socket and same package. But still, the specs say
> what they say, and I'm reluctant to buy it because... what if the specs were
> right and I get screwed by a machine I can't upgrade? But this machine has
> SATA, and Nvidia chipset.
>
> Then there's this one:
>
> http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?321259_ASUS_90N-SI8G181101000L1Z
>
> Which explicitly says it will support Merom (including the T7600, which is
> what I want), but... it only has PATA support. It has the Intel graphics
> chipset but I'm used to that (with my Mac Mini) and it seems to work more
> than well enough for music stuff.
>
> So how important is SATA over PATA for audio work?
>
> And, does the graphics chipset matter at all (so far, I'd guess not).
>
> Finally, what's with the explicit lack of mention of Merom? Will a Merom
> T7600 simply not work in that unit, or is it a safe bet that it will?
>
> TIA for any help or advice on this.
>
> - -ken
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-- 
Mike Taht
PostCards From the Bleeding Edge
http://the-edge.blogspot.com
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