Other questions about Acer TM 3201 and 4501

Hello everyone. Almost to the point of purchasing but still need some more info. Here are my questions:
1. Do these models come with 2 x 256 or with 1 x 512 RAM?
2. Has anyone bought extra memory? Where and how much? Many stores don't have these particular models listed.
3. Has anyone changed their hard drive? How was it? What is needed in order to transfer all the Acer/Windows innards of these models?
4. Is the DVD dual drive in the 4501 slow? If it is, it would seem that it would be a minus...as it would take a long time to write anything on a disk (and more expensive) than a CD writer. What are your thoughts? Any other thoughts about these two

 

I think the mem is 2 x 256 as my 3201XMi is installed that way

Help.......too late

 

Thanks! Any more information from others?

 

According to the Acer site:

The memory comes installed as 2 x 256 modules.

The DVD drive burns at 4X for DVD+R, 2.4X for DVD+RW, and 2X for DVD-R.

Now, my only point of reference is the 2.4X, which burns at 3.32MBps, which is equivalent to a CD-R burning at 22X. Considering that a DVD is much larger than a CD-R (by a factor of 6.7), you can expect the burn time to be proportionally larger as well. But a 22X CD-R is pretty darn quick, so I expect you probably won't have to wait more than 15 minutes for a DVD to burn. Considering that it's got a much larger capacity than CD-R, that's not bad. If you're burning CD-sized things, stick to CD-Rs. But if you're doing large-scale archiving, the DVD will probably be your best bet. 7 CDs or 1 DVD. I know which I'd pick. Then again, I've also just bought the 4501, so I might just test out a burn for your reference when the thing gets here.

 

About a DVD writer speed : 1x DVD ~ 9x CD speed, so it take about 15 min on 4x or 25min on 2,4x or 29 min on 2x to write full 4.7GB disk (BTW labeled 4.7GB disk contains exactly 4489MB, so if you like to backup 700MB CDs, ratio is 6:1)
However the worst thing about DVD writers is compatibility with DVD media. It is sad, but most (laptop) DVD writers refuse cheap media. What I mean is: CD writer time is not over yet.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by JB1

 

THanks alot for the information. I have just purchased the 4501 from Newegg and eagerly await its arrival.

I have decided to wait for sometime before I purchase a new hard drive...when I really need it (assuming that the cost will go down in time). Then I will do a swap and use the old hard drive as a back up drive.

One last thing...how does one install bluetooth into their computer?

Thank you.