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    Upgrading my Inspiron 600m

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by pro101, Feb 3, 2008.

  1. pro101

    pro101 Notebook Consultant

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    Hi all: I've got this Inspiron 600m I got in 2004 with ATI video card and a 40GB PATA drive. I want to run Vista and am willing to disable Aero to avoid the video card shortages. For the hard drive, can I use any PATA notebook drive and how likely is it to work? I am interested in a 7200rpm drive / 80GB, or a high capacity 250GB @ 5400rpm. I've seen some on newegg but thought I'd ask for your experience before buying.

    Thanks
    Nick
     
    pro101, Feb 3, 2008
    #1
  2. Johnny T

    Johnny T Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Here comes the confusing bit...its also called Ultra ATA...ATA - 100 and IDE :p so if you see any of those names dont worry they are all the same thing :)

    I too had a 60GB IDE hdd (i like to call it IDE :p) I upgraded to a 80GB 7200rpm Hitachi Travelstar works great :) you'll love the speed!
     
    Johnny T, Feb 3, 2008
    #2
  3. K-TRON

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

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    The 250Gb drive most likely will not be recognized. Many older systems cannot recognize over 137GB of storage.
    Your better off getting a 80-100Gb 7200rpm seagate orr hitachi harddrive.

    K-TRON
     
    K-TRON, Feb 3, 2008
    #3
  4. channelv

    channelv Notebook Evangelist

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    You Inspiron 600m can take the 250gb PATA drive, no worries. As for the video card, the 600m came with either the Radeon 9000 32mb or 64mb versions. The 64mb versions were quite rare, check your BIOS screen to see which you have. If you do happen to have the 64mb version, Aero will run fairly smoothly. If not, forget it.
     
    channelv, Feb 4, 2008
    #4
  5. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

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    Aero requires a Graphics Adapter with Pixel Shader 2.0, so I think you'll only get Vista Basic.
     
    namaiki, Feb 5, 2008
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  6. channelv

    channelv Notebook Evangelist

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    Aero works on this laptop, I've tried it (on the 64mb version)
     
    channelv, Feb 5, 2008
    #6