Y460 Hard Drive Upgrade Question

So I have a Lenovo Y460 IdeaPad that I purchased last June. It has the Core i5 M520 (2.4ghz dual core), 4gb memory, ATI 5650 graphics, and a 500gb 5200rpm drive. Although I like my laptop overall, my only complaint is that the speed can be kind of slow for launching applications, watching movies etc. I've been considering upgrading my HDD to a 7200rpm drive that's either 500 or 720gb.

I have two main concerns however. First, will installing a disk with a higher rpm produce a noticeable improvement in performance? I don't need anything drastic and don't expect it, but at least a noticeable improvement would be appreciated.

Second, is the process of installing a new HDD difficult? Although I'm not the best with technology, I know my way around a computer. And, I have friends who are very good with computers, and they would be helping me install the new disk. However, is there anything I should know before I proceed with this? Like, software to install, hardware that won't work, etc.?

Any advice is really appreciated, thanks.

 

Upgrading to a 7200rpm drive will offer you slightly better boot times, program launching, etc. It won't be a night and day difference, but you should see some difference. (The one that comes with it sucked. At least for me.)

Upgrading couldn't be any easier as you undo two screws to get to the hard drive. How do you plan to reinstall windows?

Btw; We have the same exact laptop!

 

That was one of my concerns, reinstalling windows. For one, I don't have a Windows 7 disk b/c the OS came installed on the computer, but I'm sure I can just download an ISO and burn it to a disk. But, I was wondering about the Lenovo partition that comes with the laptop. Is that necessary to reinstall? I also remember hearing a while back that this could be reinstalled, but I forget how.