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    If speed is my main goal...

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by hooper1, Jan 21, 2008.

  1. hooper1

    hooper1 Notebook Geek

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    Should I spend the extra money on RAM or processor speed? (or something else?)
     
    hooper1, Jan 21, 2008
    #1
  2. benx009

    benx009 Notebook Evangelist

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    i would spend more on the processor if you want to do everyday tasks or spend more on the gpu for gaming. what components are you looking at?
     
    benx009, Jan 21, 2008
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  3. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

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    If you want a very fast laptop, than you want a 7200 rpm harddrive. The 7K200 is the fastest laptop drive, and it will speed up the system more than a slightly faster processor.
    With todays technology, you want at least 2Gb of memory. DDR2, which is the mainstream laptop memory is very cheap. It costs about $30 for 2Gb of memory.
    A decent core 2 duo laptop will have enough power for pretty much any task.

    K-TRON
     
    K-TRON, Jan 21, 2008
    #3
  4. hooper1

    hooper1 Notebook Geek

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    I'm looking for a new laptop at this point and have system picked out that's about $1700. I'm trying to get it down to $1300 or so. Here's the current config.

    Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 (2mB cache/2 Ghz/800Mhz FSB)
    High res glossy widescreen (15.4") 1680x1050 (will probably downgrade this)
    250 GB 5400 rpm SATA hard drive
    256MB NVIDIA GeForce (will probably downgrade this)
    Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini card
    Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal

    Apps:
    Office apps (Word, Excel, Publisher, email)
    Some photo editing
    Watching movies (would like to be able to hook up to my TV)
     
    hooper1, Jan 21, 2008
    #4
  5. Razor2

    Razor2 Notebook Deity

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    You shouldn't downgrade the CPU, and the graphics card too much, maybe a T5470+GF8400GS would be enough. As for the screen you could downgrade to 1440x900 without much compromise.
     
    Razor2, Jan 21, 2008
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  6. jl1989

    jl1989 Notebook Evangelist

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    7200 faster then ssds?
     
    jl1989, Jan 21, 2008
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  7. Razor2

    Razor2 Notebook Deity

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    No idea...I suppose no, but a lot more cheaper.
     
    Razor2, Jan 21, 2008
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  8. moon angel

    moon angel Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

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    Yes 7200 rpm is faster than SSDs, most hard disks are faster than SSDs overall.

    To have a nice quick setup you should go Core 2 Duo, 2GB ram, 7200 rpm hard disk or a large capacity 5400rpm hard disk. a 250GB 5400 should be fairly quick. If you;re intending to game get the best graphics card you can afford.
     
    moon angel, Jan 21, 2008
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  9. Les

    Les Not associated with NotebookReview in any way

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    Sorry...7200 Rpm is not faster than SSDs. Present SSD speeds are read and write in excess of 100MB/s. the most important consideration, however, is access time. As much as most dont think it would be, .1ms compared to 15ms is a huge difference in accessing files.

    I don't infact know of any hard drives that are faster than most SSDs.

    They are expensive which is the trade off.

    However...if one were to get the Sandisk, the read is 70MB/s (faster than most HDs and write with the new firmware is apparently 40-50MB/s..not bad for under 400 bucks if you want to put the time into getting it set up.

    EDIT: All of the SSD performance results are posted on the new SSD thread below along with the results for my Seagate Momentus 7200 160Gb drive if anyone is interested. The testing criteria and system used is the same for all.
     
    Les, Jan 22, 2008
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  10. powerpack

    powerpack Notebook Prophet

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    flamenko, one thing I am not sure of is if people understand the RA time is cumulative. By that I mean every time it looks for something you get that 17ms hit. Even with a DeFragged HDD you will likely get a cumulative effect. Looking for stuff in different places. do the math fellows.
     
    powerpack, Jan 22, 2008
    #10