difference between 5400, 7200, and 10,000 RPM's?

[mortonman1]

whats the differences in the RPM's? how does it affect the computer?

 

[Geoff]

It's the speed at which the platters rotate. The faster the speed, the less time it takes to access files and the higher the transfer speed.

 

[WhiteFireDragon]

5.4k are used in laptop HDs, 7.2k are the average desktop HDs, 10k are high end desktops, and 15k are corporate versions

 

[Geoff]

4200RPM, 5400RPM, and 7200RPM hard drives are used in laptops.

7200RPM are standard for desktop PC's, where as 10,000RPM drives such as the WD Raptors are available at a higher cost.

15,000RPM drives are only available in SCSI/SAS format, and are mainly for servers and high end workstations.