Few R61 questions

I am thinking about getting a Thinkpad R61 from recommendations from the "What should I buy" forum. Have a few questions

1 - I'm not a big gamer or anything, just play a few W.O.W possibly, alittle video editing for home movies and some family photo editing.

I know the integrated X3100 takes its memory from your RAM, would I be better off getting the Nvidia model instead? Not up on graphic cards I know the Nvidia one is 128MB dedicated and the X3100 is up to 384MB shared.

2 - Can I purchase the intel turbo memory stick later and put it in the computer? Cause thinking about skipping that when I order it and goin for some more RAM

3- On the Smart card option is that just a memory card reader (SD,XD,MS PRO ect) with the ability of reading a SIM card as well?

4 - Is the Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (supporting Centrino Pro) worth the upgrade, I see it adds N Protocol, but is there any better life gain?

Last question I promise and this is the dumb one.

5 - Is the upgrade to a finger print reader worth it? Never had or used one, not sure of how reliable they are?

Thanks,
Adam

 

Hi Adam,

1. Although you are not a big gamer, a graphics card will aid over all in your computer. I assume you will be running Vista, and this in itself is graphics hungry. So anything you do on top of that will be quite intensive.

2. If you know what you're doing it would work (correct me if I'm wrong!) Having said that, you could forego the RAM and then upgrade that at a later stage (perhaps this would be easier?)

3. Not sure.

4. Wireless N supports higher transfer speeds and a broader broadcast range. I'm not sure what you mean by life gain (do you mean will your wireless card last longer?)

5. I personally forwent the fingerprint reader as I know many people who have them and don't use them. It could be a feature depending on whether or not you can make good use of it. Be wary if you are doing large amounts of physical work though.

Thanks