5400 or 7200 for new laptop

[zod96]

Just got a laptop with a 5400 rpm samsung hd. Laptop also came with 4 gb of DDR3 ram. Is it worth it to upgrade to say a $65 WD 160GB 7200 rpm drive? The one in here now is 320GB. I don't plan to game on it. Maybe when I'm away on vacation I might put BF2 on it and play at low settings. Would a 7200 rpm drive make a huge difference over the 5400 rpm one..

 

[alkalinetaupehat]

From experience I can tell you it will. Longer load times, higher latency, but the 5400rpm drive can still be usable. I went with one in my Studio 15 for cost, and so far by minimizing what I run on it I've kept the OS lightweight and very functional.

Heavy usage warrants the purchase of a 7200rpm, my light usage with word processing/web browsing/etc. doesn't. L4D and CS:S load reasonably quick although the gaming experience is meh with the poor contrast ratios.

 

[fffblackmage]

I think it depends on the particular models, some 5400rpm laptop hdds can perform as well as some 7200rpm hdds. You should check out Tom's Hardware charts for 2.5" hdds They seem to have an older chart and a newer 2009 chart.