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I worked on low-level spindle test software for the big "S" drive manufactorer for years. I learned some very interesting things about disk drive technology and the fact that faster RPM does not always equal faster performance.
Most drives these days do enhanced caching. Unlike the older drives most read an entire set of tracks at a time. Depending up on how big the cache is, how it is organized and what you are asking from it can HUGELY effect speed.
During the early years I was working on a 100gb drive. BIG for the time but small now days. This drive spun at 3600 RPM. Transfer rates were fairly slow compared to current drives but then one day one of the engineers walked in with a new controller card. We shut the drive down, slapped on the new card and resumed the read-write test. He had doubled the transfer rates by simply enlarging and reorganizing the cache access algorithm.
What it boils down to is that the relative difference between a 4200 drive, a 5400 and a 7200 can mean very little to a user depending up on your usage. If you are streaming TONS of media then faster RPM certainly equates to faster disk writes BUT only if the manufacturer has done the caching scheme right.
So these days, unless you are streaming media professional that demands the fastest possible transfer rates, you'll probably see little difference between the drives. So I'd suggest pick based on power efficiency and space needed.
Also in my opinion if you really are looking for the fastest possible disk speed a laptop is not the way to go. You can get MUCH faster bigger (non-laptop) drives for things like the MacPro.
M
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