"Darren Harris" wrote...
Can anyone tell me if hard drive spindle speed is an important factor
to consider when purchasing a hard drive?

Or should I just concentrate on average latency, average access, and
max. full seek time?

I ask because two hard drives with a data rate of 80mps can differ in
these other respects.

Spindle speed will drive the limits of seek and access times. You'll
probably find a significant improvement with speed when you compare groups
of "equivalent" drives with 5400, 7200, 10K, and 15K RPM speeds.