Inquiry on upgrade options

Hi guys,

I'm looking to buy a Zepto Mythos/Nox from a local dealer who just started importing them from europe. They have a website which allows customization, similar to Dell's concept. So I have a couple of questions:

1. Is it worth it to pay US$45 to upgrade from P7350 to P8400? does the extra cost justify the increase in performance?
2. Is it worth it to pay US$108 to upgrade the resolution from 1280 X 800 to 1680 X 1050?
3. Is it worth it to pay US$43 to get a wireless lan card installed or is it cheaper to buy and install by yourself? I can't get any wireless lan cards off my local stores so this might be difficult

appreciate everyone's input.
Thanks

 

just found this:
http://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/priceguide/info.php?cid=350&id=11680

will this do the trick for the wireless lan card? although its very troublesome to bring that around! can't seem to find any wireless lan card to install inside the laptop

 

1. Yes, as it is under $50, I would say go for it - the 0.26GHz inc per core will be significant in CPU-intensive tasks
(If on a tight budget - forget it !!, the increase won't be significant in real-world non-intensive tasks such as browsing, word, excel etc etc)

2. No idea, but I guess higher resolution makes the text and stuff look smaller on the screen, and the screen can accomodate more pixels - so maybe sharper image
(not sure !!, as the cost of upgrade is steep)

3. Yes, get the wireless card if you require wireless connectivity at home/office. It depends which wireless card your motherboard would support, as I know of three major suppliers - Intel, Broadcom and Atheros, and all 3 manufacturers have a different socket/slot for the wireless modules. The cards are available for cheap on ebay (~$15), but you can't be sure which one is compatible with your notebook. (So, go for it !!)
External USB modules will limit portability....!!

 

thanks for the quick response, prob is i can't seem to find any of the wireless cards brands u mentioned. Probably need to go down to my local DIY centre to hunt for it. And what do u mean by go for it? as in go for the upgrade offered by zepto?

as for pt 2, ya, the cost is steep, i think i'll skip it as its going to burst my budget lol! i'm now using 1024X768 on my desktop 15" LCD monitor for a very long time, so i think 1280X800 should be sufficient for me

finally for pt 1, sth to consider as this is a purely web and gaming laptop (this model comes with the 9600mGT 512mb GDDR3), and i'll be using openoffice, not MS office, heh. No heavy duty video or audio encoding. So i think i can save that money to buy more memory

Thanks for the advice but i could use more useful advice from others!

Cheers

 

You can stay with the P7350, skip the higher screen resolution, but get the wireless upgrade from Zepto. It may become a necessity some time later....

 

Sage opinon, I completely agree. CPU, Ram and HDD can be always upgraded later.

For me the screen res. of 1280x800 works great in both 14.1" and 15.4" wide screens. In my opinion higher resolutions makes the text too small.

Pop to your local retailer and ask them to show you different laptops with different screen resolution so you could judge by yourself what's the best screen res. for you.

 

From what you have said
#1-no
#2-no
#3- I would let Zepto install wi-fi.

 

great, thanks all for the advice. I might also forgo the HDD for a US$21 reduction in price as for just US$58, i can get a 160GB 7400 RPM HDD, compared to zepto's same upgrade at US$106 more.

one last thing, does Windows XP 32bit Home edition support up to 4GB memory?
I might forgo the ram option and get my own 2X2GB memory if my budget allows, or just go for the Zepto option of 2X1GB memory at US$30

thanks again

 

No 32-Bit OS (even XP 32bit) will enable you to use the full 4GB RAM. You will need a 64-Bit OS to utilize the full 4GB.

 

XP 32 can only make use 3GB to 3.5GB. XP is less memory hungry than Vista and I believe XP Home needs less than XP Pro. 2GB is enough in almost all situations. Unless you were working with very large database like NBR I can't see 2GB+ helping.

 

ah gre8, then i'll stick to winxp home and 2GB memory. Saves me more $$ heh.
I used vista on my work notebook and win xp on my home desktop. Honestly, i don't see a lot of differences although i really like the search feature in the new start menu but get very frustrated at UAC.

many thanks, now just got to wait how my local dealer responds to the fan and speaker problems. but also thinking if tiger-direct will start selling the new gateway FX series which is a steal at US$1400 imo