5400vs7200rpm

I am on the verge of buying a Vaio Z. It will be using the respective specs:

-Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 (2.53ghz)
-Windows Vista Home Premium w/ SP1
-3GB RAM
-Nvidia Geforce 9300M GS w/ 256mb Dedicated vRAM


What I cannot decide is: Should I choose 200GB Hard Drive (7200rpm) or 320GB Hard Drive (5400rpm).

*I will be using Adobe Photoshop/Flash/Dreamweaver CS4(not intensive like intense video editing etc but more basic things)
*I would like to play some games on the laptop.
*money is not a problem

Questions:

Which one of the two is overall better performance wise, and in which area does it succeed and by how much better is one over the other.

Space is important to and me if I chose the 7200rpm I would only have 200Gb which is not enough for me and I would have to take around an external drive.

Which one is overall better, how? is there a significant difference in power?

 

Knowing that Sony usually uses the Toshiba 320GB/5400rpm drive and Hitachi 200GB/7200rpm, the 200GB/7200rpm is the better choice.

To see the exact differences head over to Tomshardware.com 2.5" charts.

I would recommend getting the cheapest drive and upgrading yourself. In 2 weeks (hopefully) you can buy the Seagate 7200.4 500GB.

 

7200RPM drives offer faster seek times, how fast data can be found and read. This, more than anything else, is what makes it seem faster. The battery life difference is small if any. Phil's advice is solid. Get the cheapest drive and upgrade it yourself unless it's an inexpensive upgrade, like $50 or less.

 

Thanks, I cannot seem to access tomshardware but i found this site selling the drive philflow mentioned except in 320GB which is what I am looking for. I would need to install this drive on my Vaio Z and am wondering, how good does this drive look, comparted to that of the Vaio Z's 200GB 7200rpm or 320gb 5400rpm? Do you think it will be quite noisy and create alot of heat?

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Seagate/ST9320421AS/

 

you can find that drive, and others, for cheaper at www.newegg.com or www.zipzoomfly.com

 

Is there a significant difference between 5200rpm and 7200rpm as far as gaming(not hardcore), and photoshopcs4(again not hardcore) plus in general computing? This would be on the VaioZ590CTO using nvidia geforce 9300m gs w/ 256mb vRam, 3GB DDR3 ram, and 2.53ghz processor. My only concern is that 200Gb 7200rpm is great but does not give me a lot of space as 320gb is great for space but is 5400 rpm (hypothetically speaking if i didn't purchase a drive online but went with the options Sony gave me)

 

Differences between 5400rpm and 7200rpm are shown well in this review: http://www.laptopmag.com/advice/expert/are-ssds-worth-the-money.aspx?page=6

 

It is only reasonable to assume there's a significant difference between 5400rpm and 7200rpm drives. The latter one is spinning faster. But, also if you get one of the newer 7200rpm drives, the technology should be better, too, right?

To runee100: Why not go with the faster drive even if it is 200GB? If you need more space, get an external drive which can be internal + enclosure. That is, if you are concerned about space for data. Even if it's connected via usb, speed is not the priority. If you need it for something else, then it's a different issue.

 

if money is not a issue go for a ssd