Hmm.. SATA or SATA II?

[daveyp225]

My new laptop has a SATA II 120GB @ 5400RPM hard drive in it, but I'm feeling it is a bit slow. In fact, slower than my older (ATA-6) 40GB 5400RPM drive. I was thinking about upgrading to an 80GB or 100GB SATA 7200RPM drive.

For one, can this be done? I mean, would a SATA drive work in place of a SATA II drive? Second, would I see a dramatic improvement in overall performance? Supposedly SATA II has the potential to be faster (in theory, twice as fast... but we know better.), but I am definetly not observing stellar performance here. I appreciate any insight.

-Dave

[glc]

What's the brand and model of this laptop? Got some basic specs?

I'd look at things other than the hard drive specs as the cause of perceived slow performance. Most laptops are loaded with crap from the factory, with everything under the sun loading at startup. I just set up a new Dell E1501 for a customer, "decrapifying" it made all the difference in the world.

[daveyp225]

Its the ASUS A8Jp from Newegg.

Operating System Windows XP Media Center Edition
CPU Type Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 2.00G
Screen 14" WXGA+
Memory Size 1GB DDR2
Hard Disk 120GB (5400 RPM)
Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Graphics Card ATI Mobility Radeon X1700
Video Memory 256MB
Communication Modem, Gigabit LAN and WLAN
Card slot 1 x Express Card


I have already relaoded the OS without the extra "stuff" it comes with. The notebook is fast when it comes to switching applications, but load times are a bit slow. My last laptop booted XP at least 15-20 seconds faster (to desktop, no busy cursor) with the 40GB drive mentioned above. Could a few extra drivers (for things like bluetooth) and Media Center be the reasons?