[Smokey]

Does a 5400 RPM drive actually use more power than a 4800 RPM drive in a laptop? If so, is it worth the extra performance?

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Well it spins faster so it would use more power.

But bear in mind that the original 4800 RPM drive was probably in there for reasons of heat dissipation efficiency.

But as far as performance goes - it's only going round an extra 600 times a minute - extra ten rotations every second over the 4800 drive so you probably won't notice any improvement at all.

[Neil Jones]

Well it spins faster so it would use more power.

But bear in mind that the original 4800 RPM drive was probably in there for reasons of heat dissipation efficiency.

But as far as performance goes - it's only going round an extra 600 times a minute - extra ten rotations every second over the 4800 drive so you probably won't notice any improvement at all.

[Samm]

You can actually get 7200rpm laptop drives now but as Neil Jones pointed out, the additional heat created may be a problem

[Smokey]

I'm sorry it was 4200 vs. 5400. Which is better if I'm looking to buy a laptop?

Edited by Smokey, 08 November 2005 - 12:39 PM.

[admin]

5400 is faster, creates more heat, uses more power, makes more noise (in most cases). You decide what's important to you. You'll probably notice a bigger improvement looking for a bigger cache (ie. 8mb).

[starjax]

yes it does use more power (less battery life) and has more heat. In general though the performance you get from the drive is more than noticable, especially if its an older laptop.