The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Vostro 1500 CPU Upgrade

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by einsmite, Nov 25, 2011.

  1. einsmite

    einsmite Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    16
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Hi All,

    Would it be worth upgrading my Dell Vostro 1500 from a T7250 (2.0 GHz, 2MB L2 cache), to a T9300 (2.5 GHz, 6 MB L2 cache)? I can get a T9300 for $100. I'm thinking the 25% boost in clock speed and 3x the L2 cache of the T9300 would be a noticeable improvement.

    Any thoughts?

    TIA! :)
     
    einsmite, Nov 25, 2011
    #1
  2. lidowxx

    lidowxx Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    169
    Messages:
    801
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    That depends on what you do with your computer.
     
    lidowxx, Nov 25, 2011
    #2
  3. einsmite

    einsmite Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    16
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Besides the usual surfing/email/doc processing, I use it for software & web development (I have a server environment installed, and use Photoshop frequently), occasional video rendering/production (Camtasia Studio), and streaming video.

    The laptop is not used for gaming. It's already maxed out on RAM at 4 gb and has 256 mb VRAM, which I know is a bottleneck but upgrading the video card is not an option I believe.

    I'm considering getting a new laptop, but models with 1080p are a bit more than I want to spend, and I'd go crazy with 1366x768. :rolleyes:
     
    einsmite, Nov 25, 2011
    #3
  4. lidowxx

    lidowxx Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    169
    Messages:
    801
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Then you will definitely see an improvement, especially on video rendering/editing, those are very CPU-intensive tasks, although it seems to me that 100$ for an outdated chip like T9300 is a bit too steep.
     
    lidowxx, Nov 25, 2011
    #4
  5. einsmite

    einsmite Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    16
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Yeah I was thinking so too, but $100 is the lowest I've found for a new, unused chip. I see those still selling for over 200, believe it or not.

    I could get used or refurbished from 70-80, not much of a difference.

    Thanks for the response. :)
     
    einsmite, Nov 25, 2011
    #5