how much of a difference does a 7200rpm harddrive make compared with the 5400rpm ones in the laptops? I am wondering because I ordered a M170 with the free upgraded 100GB 5400. Couldn't justify paying $100 more for a smaller 60GB 7200.

Last year, when I had my computer, I spent a ton of money upgrading my Western Digital Caviar SE 200GB 7200rpm harddrive to Raid 0 2 X 36GB raptors. Didn't feel that much of a difference, ended up selling the raptors again.

kservice

I think it really depends on what your usage is. In development if I tried to use a 5400rpm drive compiling a large project I would want to puke For uses that can be drive intensive like that there is absolutely no way the 100gb 5400rpm will keep up to a 7200rpm.

andrescasta

That is comforting since I am not too familiar with laptop 2.5inch drive tech. I know for 3.5drives, a large capacity 7200rpm for everyday usage feels virtually the same as a raptor or other 10k enterprise level drive. When I had the twin 36.4GB raptors, it felt just as speedy as my 200GB WD drive but with 1/3 the space and 2x the cost. The main advantage with stuff like the 10k raptors is since they are enterprise level, they come with a 5yr warranty, and the accompanying assumption that they are much more reliable.

I doubt that same is true for 5.4k vs 72k notebook drives. Rather spend that extra $ on other useful stuff. It sounds like the 7.2k like you guys said is more for bragging rights for most people. Isn't it also true the 5.4ks also use less wattage? Thus extending the battery life a little bit?

kservice

yeah, i'm not really sure about laptops, but i've got a 5400 and a 7200 for desktop PCs. it might just be because the computer with the 5400 is old and slow (probably not though), but the 7200 hard drive performs heaps faster than the 5400 hard drive.

having said all of that though, i think you're right when you say that $100 doesn't justify a slight upgrade in speed at the expense of hard drive size.

cheers

you can't stick a normal harddrive into a laptop....5400rpm is fine for a laptop....just get the free upgrade, unles that 7200rpm drive was the right size. there are barely any 7200rpm drives for laptops, if not none.

a 7500 rpm hard drive would increase your transfer speed much faster. But it also uses up your battery life faster since it is moving at 7500 rpm. If you think you will be transferring or burning large files like videos, you should think aobut getting a 7500 rpm one. Since it would save you alot of time (maybe 1-3 mintues) depends on how much you want to transfer at once.

did you mean 7200rpm? not 7500rpm? the difference is little if you are just doing browsing and work...if you are playing games on a laptop (which isn't the best idea for performance) then you should get the 7200rpm...assuming it fits a laptop.

the 7200 rpm, drives offer lower access time. They achive that in two ways: they use faster arms, and they have lower latency due to the higher rpm.

Since it is access time that gives that feel of a fast drive, a 7200 rpm will be noticeably faster than a 5400rpm drive when reading many small files (as the heads move back and forth and access time is crucial).

Large files on the other hand, if read sequentially are only affected in terms of speed by the STR (sustained transfer rate) of the drive which is dependend on the density of the platter and the rpm. So a 40GB/platter drive will be faster at 7200rpm than 5400 but the difference will not be as noticeable as with small files.

I can't say anything with certainty for 7200rpm drives for laptops, as I don't have a laptop, and can't say firsthand. On the desktop computer difference between 7200 and 5400 is very noticeable, specialy with some heavy disk operations, like copying large files, or compiling gigantic projects.

Also, bear in mind, that ATA transfer rate also has some say in the speed. If you have ATA33 drive, it could spin on 10000 rpm, and still woudln't beat, 5400 ATA133 drive. At least I think so.

And yes, 7200 drive uses more power, and therefore, battery will be emptied faster.