Which will yield greater performance boost?

Will a machine (specifically Latitude D620) equipt with a T2300E and a 7200rpm HDD perform better/worse/equal-to a T2400 processor with a 5400rpm HDD (bearing in mind heat, noise and battery, which would you choose?) for everyday+ tasks (not gaming or intensive graphics)?

I want to minimize heat, which is why I feel I do not need a 7200rpm HDD, however, between processors (although marginal) which one would you recommend?

BTW: what does the 'E' stand for on the end of 'T2300E'?

 

The E means it consumes less power which means less heat and more battery. The t2400 would be about 5-10% faster. The 7200rpm HD however wont produce much more heat than the 5400rpm and has a marginal performance advantage in loading times.
Get 2gb of ram as that will give you the biggest performance boost with minimal effect on heat and battery.

 

partly true partly not true, 2gb ram will give you the most performance boost out of all... but it uses up more battery than 1 gb ram... 7200rpm hard drives actually do produce more heat, whether you notice it or not is upto you... (think about an engine the more rpm's the more heat, same thing here)... the processor would be marginally faster and since these processors use approx same voltage with the exception of t2300E which uses less voltage... but what you could do to make up for this is undervolt your cpu and still have it clocked at 1.83... that should be a good performance range for your tasks, but everyday tasks no gaming its better to get the 2300E and save some money... if your looking for most performance/cost the 1.83 is usually the best option (i think the upgrade is around 60 bucks? or was atleast last i checked)...

 

Sorry what i meant was that the heat difference is barely Noticeable. The difference from 1gb to 2 gb will also be very smal but in my opinion is worth it for the performance gains for the slight loss battery power.

Most heat issues are usually caused by powerful gpus. So if your not gaming having an integrated card such as the x200m etc. And if you are gaming you just have to face the fact it will get hot.

 

E also means no virtualization

 

Well the upgrade option isn't listed (only to a Duo 2 Core - but substantially more $), however, I was thinking of asking them to substitute (if possible) the 7200rpm HDD (which comes with T2300E) for a T2400 and a 5400rpm HDD. If the upgrade in processor is roughly $70 (benifit of the doubt) and they claim the upgrade in HDD is about $150 (from a 5400rpm), they would actually be making money ~ $80.

But my question was, should I just keep it at T2300E/7200rpm, or request for a T2400/5400rpm instead? I don't want more heat, that's the thing. (Heat is my main gripe as I've had enough overheating issues with my PC). As well, the sound produced from a 7200rpm vs 5400rpm, and battery consumption.

If I can get 2GB ram i'll try, but that upgrade is over $220.

 

'No Virtualization'? Could you expand on that?

 

Read this, it will explain virtualization very well. Its not that big now, but in the near future it will definitly have its advantages. A pratical application that Ive heard of is having your system open your internet browser in a "virtual" pc inside your pc. So if that virtual PC gets infected by a virus, it wont matter because it would be contained in that virtual pc. So once your done on the internet it closes the browser and closes the virtual pc, so the virus never actuall gets on your system. Other things too, think of being able to have multiple pc's and os's inside one actuall pc.

http://www.intel.com/technology/computing/vptech/

 

That was a typo on Intel's site; the T2300E has the same TDP as the other Core Duos, 31W. That does not mean it actually uses the same amount of power, but it is not low voltage and the difference in battery life between a T2300E and a T2400 will be either zilch or a few minutes.

The amount of heat that the hard drive will produce is dependant on the design of the notebook. If the drive gets poor cooling, then not even a slow 4,200RPM drive is going to have a low temperature. Pay attention to reviews of the laptop and comments on its operating temperature. If you want a 7,200RPM drive, then get one, and don't worry about heat. Like I said, it depends on the placement of the drive in the notebook.

 

You will get better performance from a T2300E and a 7200rpm drive.

The difference between a T2300 and a T2400 is not noticeable. The difference between 5400rpm and 7200rpm drives is noticeable.

 

Yes, but if any amount of heat is added as a result of the 7200rpm (vs. 5400rpm), than I do not want to upgrade, likewise noise produced by the 7200rpm.

 

For me personally the "No Virtualization" part of the T2300E would be the deal breaker. I find virtualization to be a very handy tool, but to many it is probably just another unused feature.

I say, get the fastest processor you can afford, you can always buy a faster/larger hard drive sometime in the future. Ram is also quite easily upgradeable and both ram and HDD's are often cheaper when bought elsewhere.