a8js-4s034p: to get a 7200rpm hd or stick with the 5400rpm?

i know that i want to purchase this laptop. i'm planning to upgrade the memory to 2gigs, now i'm stuck on if i should upgrade the hd as well from the stock 120gb 5400rpm hd to a 100gb 7200rpm hd. has anyone done the move in upgrading the hd? i'd like ur input on if you've noticed any significant differences or not. i only plan to use this notebook to surf, chat, program, word processing, and a little gaming on the side (wow,cs 1.6). thanks

 

Unless you really need the speed and you're willing to shell out extra money to buy a 7200 RPM hard drive, I don't think you'll need it.

The difference between a 5400 RPM and 7200 RPM hard drive is minimal, only the 5400 RPM takes a few seconds more to load. Given the tasks you stated you'll do, the 5400 RPM hard drive will be fine. Only in video editing does the 7200 RPM hard drive really show its improvements.

But still, if you don't mind spending more money (also technically voiding your Asus warranty), go ahead and get the 7200 RPM hard drive. It'll be better than the 5400 RPM one, but not by a lot.

 

As SS11 mentioned, unless you are willing to spend the cash, leave it be. With flash-based HD's around the horizon which eliminates HD speeds to null(and so much less heat, I can't wait!), it would be silly to spend money now. The returns in speeds aren't very noticable, as I went from 7200 to 4200, back to 7200 and now at 4200, there was no real difference, unless I was unzipping 500mb files, etc.

 

The only reason I didnt do a upgrade like that is because seagate is releasing a 160 gb 7200 rpm hd and hitachi is releasing a 200 gb 7200 rpm hd within the next few months.

The performance of those will be way better that a 100 gb one . Then ill put the 100 gb 5400 in an external case.

I plan on paying some of the early adopters cost too i think ill pay around 250$ for one of those drives when they are relatively new