thinkpad edge 14 HDD - 7200 vs 5400 battery life

does the 7200rpm version of the thinkpad edge shorten its battery life? if so, by how much time?

some claim that only a few minutes and some claim a noticeable difference. looking for some facts on this matter

 

Generally, a laptop HDD usually consumes only ~3.5W at peak, and much lower at idle (0.1-0.2w). The wattage different between 7200rpm and 5400rpm, as you might guess, is much smaller. So, I can say that the different is so slight to care about.

 

The problem with measurements is that every HDD is different. You can compare two identical models, yet get slightly different power consumption readings, let alone two different models. On average the difference in power consumption btw a 7200RPM and 5400RPM is pretty small, but it can be noticed in low power consuming systems such as a 12" X200. As you scale the screen size higher, it consumes much more power and hence why you wouldn't notice much difference in the Edge 14.

 

sgogeta4 pretty much said it all. 7200RPM drives in general consume more power than 5400RPM drives, however, the difference is usually negligible. However, in low-power systems, such as the X200 (can get in the range of 7-8W power consumption), every watt difference counts, as it can mean up to an extra hour of battery. On a huge power-hungry 17" machine, however, the difference could result in only a few minutes difference.

Modern 5400RPM drives have quite high data transfer speeds, nearly that of 7200RPM drives. The main advantage of 7200RPM drives is the decreased latency.

 

This article was what I used as a reference to answer the exact same question you have.