Difference between 5400 and 7200?

Hard drive question, 5400 VS 7200 RPMs...

Is there is a big difference in overall performance? And will going with lower RPMs significantly reduce heat, or no? I know nothing of hard drives...

 

performance- 7200 will generally be better.
heat- 5400 put out a bit less heat.
battery life- 7200 may result in a slight decrease in battery life.

my vote is go 7200. the performance increase is worth it in my humble opinion.

also, search for 5400 vs 7200 and you will find many an informative thread on this particular issue.

 

7200 always faster than 5400 only when comparing same capacities.

The difference in games is minimal, you will only see a difference during loading or changing maps or whatnot. It makes not a difference to framerate.

Differences become most noticeable when doing data intensive applications; for example defragging, copying/transferring files, saving large documents/files, downloading, and situations where your computer needs to use its Page File.

 

high density (320gb and up) 5400rpm drives have proven to perform as well as previous 200GB (and less) 7200rpm drives.

So if you can afford a 200GB 7200rpm drive.... go for the 320GB 5400rpm drive instead.
- it will perform just as good
- give you 120GB more storage
- and have less heat.

 

Does the same not apply for say 250gb vs 160gb drives?

 

nope.

The 320GB 5400rpm drives are the first to have a high density and good seektime.

the 250GB and 160GB 5400rpm drives are using previous generation density, so they will not be perform as well.