Upgrading HD.. 60GB 7200rpm or 80GB 5400 rpm??

[daeojkim]

I know there have been a lot of discussions on hard drive speed comparisons and many are chossing to go with 60GB 7200 rpm.

I know that higher the capacity it's density also increased resulting in faster data transfer.

So looking at 80GB 5400 rpm w/ 8MB buffer and 60GB 7200rpm which would be faster?
Would the higher density of 80GB make up for the lower rpm? Or would the lower rpm thus lower seek time make a large impact on overall performance?

I think they are about the same price (correct me if I am wrong on this)

I like the 80GB capacity since I like to carry a lot of mp3, which I listen when I work. May be also some movies that I would like watch while I travel.
Also I plan to use virtual CD and copy all the content of many CDs on my hard drive so that I don't have to carry software / game CD's around.

[skanky]

personally, i'd go with the 7200rpm drive but it sounds like the greater sized drive might be more useful to you.

[bevross]

I'd go with the faster, 7200rpm drive. You can always turn your current drive into a USB drive for storage. I used the enclosure from apricorn.com -- it's really small, hand-sized.

[dr.b]

take the 80 GB drive...
I compared the 7200 drive with a 5400 toshiba in the same thinkpad...and the performance difference is @ peaks about 25% ...but in real world benches about 10-15% .

[daeojkim]

Thanks Dr.b

I guess 10-15% is not that much.