Some advice on RAM and processors

Hey,

I'm getting a new laptop and I'm still deciding some of the finer points:

Is there likely to be any effective performance difference between

2Gb and 4Gb ram?
A 2.2GHz and a 2.4Ghz dual core intel CPU?

Worth adding Turbo memory for ~$20 more?

The rest of the system is
8600 GT w. 512mb GPU
7200 rpm Hard drive
32 bit XP for current games and anything without 64 bit drivers, and 64 bit Vista for future games and general usage.

 

First, Turbo memory won't work in XP, so it's definitely not worth it.

XP 32 bit will only use around 3 GB of your memory, and 2 is enough for anything you may be running, anyway.

Finally, you won't notice much, if any, difference between the 2.2 GHz and the 2.4 GHz, except for the fact that the 2.4 is much more expensive (really not worth the price you pay to add a measly 200 MHz).

 

^^^ covered it imo..

 

Thanks for the reminder turbo mem wont work in XP, I'd forgotten

With the upgrade from 2.2 to 2.4, its only about $50 more after discounts - still not worth it?

 

For $50 more, it might be worth it, but the performance difference is so negligible that you could just save the $50 and buy Bioshock, instead

 

Heh, already got it.

At this rate, the amount of time I'm spending thinking about it is longer than it takes me to earn the difference...

 

Fair enough . Honestly, the $50 price difference makes it a lot more attractive than the standard $100+ price difference I've seen, but I doubt you'd be able to tell which machine was which if you put identical systems with the two different processors side-by-side.