Questions about which options to get on my HP dv4t. Please help.

Hi all, I am getting ready to order a HP dv4t. I would like some help with which options to choose. I know some of these questions have been answered but I would like to hear several opinions.

First, which processor between the P8600, and T9400? Many say that you can not notice any difference in performance between the two, but the P8600 will run cooler and save battery life. How about the difference between the 3MB and 6MB internal L2 memory cache? The 8600 is 3MB and 9400 is 6MB. Is this a consideration? Opinions?

Second, I read most everyone saying don’t upgrade the RAM, just order it from Newegg and put it in yourself for much less. I don’t know that much about RAM. Is it generic meaning it does not matter which brand that I buy, or do certain name brands perform better? Can anyone give me recommendations on specific RAM sticks that I should buy for this computer that would be best? I want to bring it up to 4GB. Should I just spend the $150. to buy it from HP?

Third is the fingerprint reader. Anyone have it? Is it useful? Does it gunk things up at all making the computer run any slower? Is it reliable, or will it break or malfunction quickly? Opinions?

 

Well, your choice on the processors, I honestly don't think it'll make any difference on day to day tasks. Don't worry about the ram, whatever ram you get for $150 dollars at newegg will most likely be of better quality that the ram hp uses in its notebooks. Of course, in the end, all ram has a specification to meet and should perform somewhat identically. I would go the new egg route for RAM if you can save money. Some people have issues with the fingerprint readers some don't. I personally find them to be quirky and somewhat of a gimmick.

 

If you can wait a couple weeks I will have a P8600 to compare to my T9600 CPU. I am not pleased with the heat of the T series processors, but I havent done enough comparison to make a final decision or recommendation. Based on you going with the dv4t I would lean towards the P series processors as they take less power and put off less heat. The lower cache would likely not be noticeable in day to day operation unless you do alot of video editing or ripping. Almost any ddr2 800mhz ram should work in the laptop and it would definitely be cheaper to add later from some place like newegg. I have the fingerprint reader on my dv5t and I like it. It works great. Instead of typing a password all the time, just one quick slide of a finger over the scanner. Its pretty cool and no issues so far. Hope this helps. Take care

 

Thank you for the information so far. It will be good to see your results nwperformance.