So i just bought a t61. Did i get the right options?

Hey guys,
I just bought a t61. I need help with my specs.

1.) The processor- There were two that costs the same. One had less cache but more GHz. One had more cache but less Ghz. Which one do i get?

2.) The screen- Is the WSXGA+ TFT better then the wsxga. I upgrade to the WSXGA+ TFT for $60 more. I use my laptop all day so i need a good screen. Is that screen better?

3.) Intel® Turbo Memory- What is that? It was a $50 upgrade. I didnt get it. Should i have gotten it?

4.) Wireless Card- I upgrade to the most expensive one. The Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN. Was it worth the $35?

5.) Ram- does it matter if i got the 2 dimm or 1 dimm stick?

I use the laptop at home only. I have a wireless g connection at home. I mostly browse the internet. Below are that specs of the laptop i got. Thanks

System Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T8300 (2.4GHz 800MHz 3MBL2) 1
Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic 1
Operating System Language: Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic - US English 1
Display Panel: 15.4 WSXGA+ TFT 1
System graphics: Intel GMA X3100 GM965 1
Total memory: 1 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM) 1
Keyboards: Keyboard US English 1
Pointing Device: UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) with Fingerprint Reader 1
Hard Drive: 80GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm 1
Optical device: CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo 24X/24X/24X/8X Max, Ultrabay Slim 1
System expansion slots: PC Card Slot & Express Card Slot 1
Card Reader: 4 in 1 Media Card Reader 1
Wireless cards: Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (supporting Centrino Pro) 1
Battery: 6 cell Li-Ion Battery 1
Power cord : Country Pack North America 1
Language Pack: Language Pack US English

 

1) I believe the higher cache will usually be a better choice than the GHZ improvement unless the GHZ improvement is significant, but if I can recall what you are talking about it is about 100~200mhz diff which is not much. But going from a 2mb to a 4mb L2 cache will make a difference.

2)the WSXGA+ has higher resolution than the other one so therefore the quality of the image is better. I have a WSXGA+ and I love it.

3) The Intel turbo memory is a cache that is supposed to store often accessed files so the laptop doesn't have to go to the HD. It is a great concept but the benchmarks I have seen have not shown a significant performance gain.

4) Not sure. I have the basic one and it works fine, it's just a wireless card and it gets the job done.

5) AFAIK there should not really be a difference in performance (i may be wrong) .. the reason why people usually will have to get 1 dimm instead of 2 dimm is if they need the other slot open to upgrade the ram later on. If I were you I would have gotten 1gb sticks or because you are using up 2 slots for only 1 gig and you may want to add more ram in the future since 1gb isn't that much. I personally got 2 1gb sticks.

Your laptop should serve you well for most basic needs. If you find yourself using up too much ram then you may want to get more but unless you are playing games or using mem intensive applications, you should be fine.

 

a few suggestions.

1. Get the Penryn (3MB/6MB cache) instead of Merom (2MB/4MB cache). The difference is new tech vs old tech (1 yr). I got 3MB Penryn instead of 4MB Merom just for the fact that its a newer chip.

2. Get DVD burner. In the future when ur laptop gets old it can atleast still function as a dvd writer.

3. You should get the discrete graphics if ur getting a 15.4 WSXGA+ screen.

4. get a bigger 5400rpm hd

 

actually yes if i get enough people saying i need to change something i will. I will call and cancel if i need to. Thanks for the help

 

The CPU is fine.

hmm the specs below is listed as WSXGA+...?

Not proven to be much use yet. I would have skipped on it too.

If you have a G router at home and you are not planning on upgrading to N anytime soon then it should be ok, the mini PCI card can be bought separately anyway.

Should have gone with 1 dimm to make it easier for an upgrade, doesn't matter, ram are pretty cheap nowadays, but ideally you should have 2 GB of ram for vista.

Johnny T





EDIT: @anotherday...the CPU he choose (T8300) is peryn.



EDIT2:

Why?

 

I forgot to say. You don't need the intel turbo memory. It helps in theory but not (yet?) in practice.

I would just get the 2GB from Lenovo. Its cheaper to buy it else where but a couple dollars wont make that much of a diff. Have it come in box.

 

thanks for the replies

 

--Why?


Because it feels more sexy...

 

so if i dont get the discrete there is no point at all of getting that screen?

 

No thats not what I mean. Its perfectly fine. Most of this is personal preference. Discrete is cool if you plan to use 3D apps. If you just want the resolution for photos etc integrated is fine. I assumed most ppl got the better screen for 3D stuff.

 

Discrete is also preferable if you do any kind of Photoshop work. It's not absolutely needed as X3100 will be just fine too for that but with discrete you can have different profiles.
But battery life with X3100 will be better no doubt. Then again if batt life is important going wsxga+ kinda defeats the purpose..so I can see what the last poster meant by that.

 

But is WSXGA+ a ''better'' screen? Its all personally preference really.