How would I notice the difference between these two different hard drives? What kinds of things does it help?
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5400rpm VS. 7200rpm
- Thread starter SavageLLama77
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The major thing you will notice is in the launching of programs, or the opening of big files, or the opening of lots of tiny little files. Other than that, there is nothing much. Some say the battery life is about the same since with the 7200, it transfers the data more quickly and spins down faster thus reducing battery consumption.
So, I will be able to launch programs like Safari, Firefox, iTunes, iChat at the same time in a significantly faster time?
if you had ordered it a couple weeks ago, the biggest difference would have been the unscratchable itch type feeling that you would have while waiting several weeks for it to be even shipped! 
no
that's RAM speed not the harddrive speed.
The benefit of the 7200 over 5400 is when you do video editing, like rendering the files to your computer
or copying files to your computer etc
Well I wouldn't call it significant but it is noticeable. My friend who got the latest SR MBP with the 4200rpm drive complains that it takes a bit longer to open programs. Just a bit, but noticeable nonetheless.
Main benefits are with big files only, like people have said video editing etc.
And starting large applications and indeed the OS.
And starting large applications and indeed the OS.
Any time the OS has to handle a page fault, it has to go out to disk in order to get the page. So the first time you launch a program, it'll have to come from the disk. So it is true that faster and more RAM has an effect on disk access, but it will still be necessary for the computer to make disk accesses any time it has to page in/out.
So, if you run a lot of programs that require more disk accesses, it may be to your advantage to get the faster drive. Keep in mind that this will most likely have an effect on battery life as the disk will most likely not spin down.