100G Hitachi 5400 SATA vs 7200 SATA

got a new 5720-C with the 100G 5400 SATA (HTS541010G9SA00), aka "Hitachi Travelstar 5K100".

Does anyone know of any direct comparison with the 7200 SATA version? Not which one should load software faster, but what is the real difference in time saved? (seconds shaved off by going 100G 7200 SATA)...

I chose the 100G 5400 SATA to save a few dollars and get a bigger drive but now I cant help but wonder if I made the wrong decision - this is really buggin me. Now I wonder how much faster time (albeit in seconds) will Windows load with a 7200 SATA vs 5400 SATA?

The Hitachi specs are below but I would like to know if anyone has real-world performance info comparing the two Sager drives (i.e. installing Windows, Windows startup, loading a game/map, loading any adobe program, or any large software, transferring a large number of really big files, transferring a large number of really small files..) or anything .. anything other than theoretical numbers/stats/aerial density claims -- looking for some real-world usage examples.


Travelstar 5400 --> http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/sit...703e3aac4f0a0/

Travelstar 7200 --> http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/sit...824a0eac4f0a0/


notice how Hitachi boasts that both the 5400 SATA and 7200 SATA use similar low power circuits and the difference in power consumption for both is neglegible - so now I'm really kicking myself. c'mon guys I can't be the only one thinking it -- i'm sure potential buyers are thinking the same thing ..is the small increase in rotational speed really worth it? If you bought 5400 would you buy it again?

sidenote:
@Luke : will the 30-day guarantee allow me to return this machine, pay the difference, and change drives? is that possible? ..just asking

will the 30-day guarantee allow me to return this machine, pay the difference, and change drives?

you're right and I agree, this is a sweet machine, but now i am wondering how much faster it would be with a 7200 ..
if the difference in speed is slightly above insignificant then its no bother, but if it would actually cut 5, 10, or 15 seconds off of windows/game load times then ...

Sager is going to send me a new 7200rpm SATA 100GB. All I had to do was supply a CC# for the new drive, and send the 5400rpm back when it arrives, and then they will refund the difference. I opted to pay for express. Great customer service Sager. Fingers crossed.

And then I read this below (thanks Telsakoma) so I'm really happy now that I switched drives within the 30-day window

Tomshardware:

"...With raw transfer rates of up to 54 MB/s, the TravelStar 7K100 is the fastest 2.5" hard drive we've seen yet. When taking a look at the average data transfer speed it is still able to maintain 40 MB/s. (We found it a bit surprising to see that Seagate's new drive isn't able to keep up with these numbers at all.)..."

Storagereview Conclusion:

"...Those in the market for an upgraded notebook hard drive seek more capacity and/or speed. At a rather steep price ($230 at the time of this writing), Hitachi's Travelstar 7K100 offers gobs of both. Though it overall remains a far cry from that of the typical desktop unit, the 7K100 nonetheless delivers the best performance around when it comes both to office/productivity applications and games. Newcomer Seagate's Momentus 7200.1 also deserves an honorable mention. The Momentus for the most part keeps up the pace while offering a slightly lower noise floor. Interestingly, one sacrifices neither quiet nor cool operation when choosing a 7200 RPM device over a 5400 RPM one..."