Torn between RPM speeds... 4200 versus 7200

[siratfus]

Of course the 7200 is better and faster but here's the catch:

For my Inspiron 9300, Dell offers 60gb at 7200rpm or 100gb at 4200 rpm. Both of these drives have 8mb cache. Offered for the same price.

Which should I choose? Does RPM mainly effect how fast the computer opens a program? I mean if it doesn't effect processing time, then I can live with waiting longer for applications to open just so I can have more space. I mean does RPM effect the time it takes to burn a dvd? The time it takes to rip a dvd? Encode? Etc...

Please advise, please help me choose. Thanx in advance!

[bazooka]

I would go for the larger storage quantity.

The lower spin rate would mean it is less noisy and easier to keep cool.

[rallynavvie]

This is a laptop I'm assuming...

In addition to what bazooka pointed out the 4200 drive will also conserve your battery a LOT more than the 7200 drive. 5400 drives give you a little of both if that's an option, that's what I upgraded my laptop to. The actual rotational speeds shouldn't matter too much for encoding, perhaps editing it will.

[studtrooper]

When I swiched from a 4200RPM to a 7200RPM on my Inspiron 9200, the battery life didn't seem affected at all. Holy hell was it faster though

[ViRaL1]

If you're not capturing or encoding on it, I'd stick with lower RPMs and higher capacity. There are even 100GB 2.5" drives available if you want.

[waheed]

The 7200 RPM is definately faster than the 4200 RPM. When i swiched over from my 7200 RPM to a 10,000 RPM, i noticed faster loading times.

It depends on your needs. Do you require large disk space, go with the 100GB 4200 RPM

If you want quicker acess times, go with the 7200RPM.

Or take a third option, go with the 7200RPM, and if at a later stage, you need more storage, get an external HDD (pref firewire)

[Jayhawk]

I like Waheed's suggestion. Go with the newer faster technology which actually may consume less power even though it spins faster. Regardless, the power difference will be slight. Buying storage for "possible unknown future needs" returns no immediate benefit. You will see the faster speeds immediately. If storage becomes a problem down the road, add a 2.5 inch USB external drive. They don't require any power other than the USB cable and you can put together a 30 gig for less than $100.