500 gb 5400 rpm hdd vs 320 gb 7200 rpm

hey all,

I'm about to purchase an m1530 through dell epp. They only offer 4 hard drive options. They are the 250 gb (with both rpm speeds), 320 gb at 7200 rpm, and the 500 gb at 5400 rpm.

I'm really stuck between the 320 gb at 7200 rpm and the 500 gb at 5400 rpm. Both are the same price. Here are my questions:

Does anyone know about the quality of these hard drives (brand, failure rate, etc)?
Does one use more power over the other?
Is the extra speed from 7200 rpm noticeably greater?
With current hdd prices, which one is more bang for the buck?

I won't be doing any crazy stuff with the laptop, just mostly consumer needs and some gaming. I would love the extra space, but I feel like a bigger hard drive = greater chance of failure rate? I might just be making that last part up though.

Thanks!

 

Could be one of those 320GB 7200RPM HDDs.

The M1530 will not come with the Hitachi 5K500 (probably), as it has a thickness of 12.5mm, and does not fit standard 9.5mm HDD slots. So, the 500GB 5400RPM -> Samsung HM500LI. Very high power consumption, with not so good performance (Either way, both 500GB 5400RPMs do not perform well).

Either go for the 320GB 7200RPM, or go for the cheapest HDD config, and buy your own HDD as an after-market upgrade.

All HDDs fail, if used inappropriately.

320GB 7200RPM gives a significant boost.

Seagate 7200.3 320GB 7200RPM is cheap at zipzoomfly (maybe out of stock)

If not in need of much space, you could go for a similar 160GB 7200RPM HDD, which will provide nearly similar performance when compared to the 320GB 7200RPMs.

Naw !!

 

If you want space, the 500 GB is the option.
If you want speed, the 320 7200 will be better.
I have 2 of them, I`ll set them up in RAID 0...