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    Why is the m1330 not available with ultra low voltage option? Undervolt instead?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by amcg01, Feb 13, 2008.

  1. amcg01

    amcg01 Notebook Guru

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    1. Just wondered why the m1330 wasn't available with an ultra-low voltage option, similar to the d430?

    2. Have read about "undervolting". My understanding is that this can make the laptop run cooler, thus reducing the amount of time the fan has to go on, thus extending battery life. How is this done? Are there any risks (and I mean any!) or drawbacks?

    Thanks in advance for any explanations... :)
     
    amcg01, Feb 13, 2008
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  2. dtwn

    dtwn C'thulhu fhtagn

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    The m1330 was designed to be more of a portable entertainment sort of notebook. ULV or LV processors tend to be designed for ultraportable business machines that need extended battery life.
     
    dtwn, Feb 13, 2008
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  3. kuncheesh

    kuncheesh Notebook Evangelist

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    the ULV processors are underclocked and undervolted to enhance mobility and consume less power..........1330 is intended to be a consumer notebook which can hold the day today tasks of gaming and heavy application running unlike the buisiness PCs which may be just designed for some business options like presentation and office applications
     
    kuncheesh, Feb 13, 2008
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  4. The_Punisher

    The_Punisher Notebook Evangelist

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    ULV CPU's suck at multimedia. The M1330 was designed for multimedia. I've used laptops with ULV CPU's on occassion and they're *slow*.
    Unless you have a real reason I wouldn't undervolt or anything. I thought the M1330 got respectable batterylife when doing office work on the go. So I'd keep it that way.
     
    The_Punisher, Feb 13, 2008
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  5. amcg01

    amcg01 Notebook Guru

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    Fair points all. For those of us who don't play games though...? It just seems like they might be missing out on some sales by notoffering the option.
     
    amcg01, Feb 13, 2008
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  6. Wibla

    Wibla Newbie

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    Just to clear up a couple of misconceptions:

    1. The CPU will not perform worse if you undervolt it, it will just use less power and make less heat.
    2. Most of the cpus in our laptops can handle undervolting just fine.
    3. Default at 6x multi on p-m cpu's are 0.988-0.998V, you can usually undervolt it to 0.732V without issues, lowering power usage and heat production significantly.

    You can hit snags like undervolting a cpu too much, causing the computer to freeze, but a reboot later it will work fine (no permanent damage).

    In my old aopen 1557 I gained atleast 15 minutes battery life just undervolting the CPU, another ~5-10 minutes by underclocking the radeon 9700 card... this is significant even when you start out at 4 hours and 20 minutes... My Dell D410 gives me about 3 hours and 50 minutes surfing etc. on the 53Whr battery, using cabled network. Gonna test wireless this weekend
     
    Wibla, Feb 14, 2008
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