5,400rpm or 7,200rpm hdd for notebook/laptop/no-idea-what-the-difference-is

[notnik]

I'm thinking of buying a laptop, as the new flat I'm moving into is butt-clenchingly small, but want a desktop replacement as opposed to portable fun.. I'm quite interested in the Dell Inspiron 9400 that OcUK's selling for £1,200, the only problem being that it has an 80GB hdd..

Do those of you with laptops think it is a good enough setup to warrant £1,200 of my increasingly non-existent cash, and is it worth coughing up extra to buy a (really difficult to find) 7,200rpm 100GB hdd to replace the slower, smaller one included in the laptop?

 

[notnik]

Nattery life isn't too much of an issue. It only lasts around and hour and a half on the 9400 anyway when using it for something beyond word processing. But I'm not sure if the speed increase from 5,400 to 7,200 justifies spending an extra £100-odd on a faster hdd.

 

[notnik]

Originally Posted by jhmaeng
Just how butt-clenchingly small is the flat?

I would have though a mini-ATX case plus LCD monitor with a small footprint wouldn't take up all that much room, and probably represents a hugely better VFM than a £1.2k laptop.

Me and the (soon-to-be) missus will be sleeping on a pull-out sofa in the living room while the kid gets the only bedroom and all available storage (first-time buyer ). I had thought about a small form factor case, but i would still require a desk to put the keyboard and screen on. A laptop, whilst undeniably more expensive, means I can just sit on the sofa or anywhere i want (even in the "Library"!), with the added bonus of putting it on a high shelf so the sprog doesn't get jam in the keyboard or dvd drive.

fonzee, good point on the 80gig being enough. My desktop has 360gig, but most of what's on it could quite easily be backed up to dvds, with a larger hd being mainly for hoarders (like me). Besides, unbelievably cluttered. Also, if one of the hds fail (it's happened before, lost 40gigs of mp3s ), that's a lot of data to lose.

Originally Posted by MagicBoy
If it's a 4200rpm drive then it's just plain slow.

It's 5400, so not too bad.

Originally Posted by MagicBoy
The 7200rpm drives have a much faster access time due to the lower rotational latency, whereas the latest 5400rpm drives have a higher data density per platter so deliver very similar sustained transfer rates with more capacity and less cost.

Now this i did not know. Coupled with someone poiting out that replacing the hard disc would probably void my warranty anyway, I am ever more being swung to stop clawing at the next rung of ooo-shiny-things and stick with the 5400.


PS.

Originally Posted by L337 LooX
i just replaced my 40gb 4200rpm 2mb Toshiba drive with a 100gb 7200rpm 8mb Hitachi

toshiba drive is now in an external enclosure

Perhaps not for this topic as i don't want to hijack my own post, but I'm really interested in knowing how you did this and how expensive it was.