If you look at the bench marks, 7200 is nearly always faster (with exception if it nearly full and you are comparing it to a half empty, much bigger sized 5400rpm drive).
So the above post is wrong....
Erm... well dude, if your benchmarks show that 7200 RPM drives are only "nearly" always faster than 5400 RPM drives, then I'd say that my post about speed increases depending on several factors is actually correct, since if I was wrong (as you claim) and the spin speed was the only determining factor, then the 7200 RPM drives would not be "nearly" always faster, they would ALWAYS be faster.
"Real world" tests, as you call them, are probably more important, but they are quite a bit less scientific, and far more biased (including your own, I think), since someone who just put down a couple hundred dollars on a new drive they think is faster WANTS the new drive to be faster, and is likely to see a performance increase, whether such an increase exists or not. That's basic psychology. So if you just want to feel good, and don't care whether your computer will actually be faster, then a 7200 RPM drive is certainly a good upgrade for you.
Are 7200 RPM drives faster? Maybe. It depends. Given that (as the Tom's Hardware chart posted by Cave Man shows), it is possible to have a 4200 RPM drive that is actually significantly faster than several 7200 RPM drives, I'd say that not only is the spin speed not the only factor in the speed of the drive, it's not even the most important factor. The opinion of anyone who gives a yes or no to this question, without further information, is worthless. They don't know what they're talking about.