Dell Inspiron 1545 With Intel Core 2 Duo T9900

Hi everyone,

I originally thought that the core 2 duo t9600 would be the ticket, but it will only be about 30% faster than my original dual core t4500 (dell inspiron 1545). Considering that I still have a long ways to go to save up enough money for a brand new gaming computer, I'm still exploring options. I noticed that some people here use a t9900 processor. I'm mostly using 2 virtual desktops with multiple applications used at any one time for work (on Suse Enterprise OS that's rebootable via USB stick provided by my company). For personal use, my PC runs on Windows 7 64-bit SP1. My RAM is already maxed out at 8 GB as well. All I really want is to be able to run the 2 virtual desktops with multiple programs faster (I take inbound calls via VOIP and process account/plan changes for customers at home). Will upgrading my current CPU to T9900 rather than the T9600 be better for the next 3 years or so? I also have a laptop cooler to solve any overheating problems.

Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

 

Anybody?????

 

for anybody who wants to do a quick comparison and can offer any real advice...

i see the t9900 being ~30% faster than the t4500. i haven't the slightest idea as to how that will actually feel, but at right around $400 for the t9900 you're just off a brand new machine with an i3-2350 ( example, new comparison)--not like you'd want that. i'd hold off, no? trying to squeeze three more years out of three year old hardware is admirable though.

 

2.8 vs. 3.06 won't give you much gains and you most likely won't see much difference as they are the same die packaging. So save your money and get T9600 and save your money for the real deal. And what your doing would more qualify as a desktop setup as that will give you more power unless your going portable and need to be on the road. But we need to know that as well. And you need to know and make sure a T9600/T9900 will work for your CPU socket as well. Just cause they look like doesn't mean it will fit or work or need BIOS update as well. Check with Dell and your Service Tag and you should get more info that way as to CPU upgrades.

Laptop cooler IMO is a waste of money and space and makes more luggage then it solves. Take apart your laptop and clean out the dust bunnies and reapply thermal paste and that will do alot more then that cooler will ever do for you in the long run.

 

Why not just replace the laptop? TBH unless you are doing hardcore rendering, any upgrade over ~90 usually has a poor return on investment. Any new Ivy Bridge laptop will smoke a Core 2 Duo platform, and as an example at my workplace, we have an Acer laptop 15.6" with i3-3110M, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD and HD 4000 GPU for 350 brand new with Windows 8.

 

If you're actually CPU limited in whatever you are doing, the T9600 might be a reasonable upgrade if you can get one at a good price. For the T9900 you are paying through the nose for another 9%, and it is most likely not worth it. Then again, if you are cutting a 10 hour job down a 9 hour job, and your time is worth $100 an hour... well, at that rate you should really buy a new laptop.