Z61t - A few questions

I'm in the market for a z61t and before I go and place the order I hope to get some feedback from people who have experience with the machine or similar machines. I greatly appreciate any feedback

Some questions I have:

1. Is there a big difference between the 2.0GHz, 4MB L2, 667MHz FSB Intel Core 2 Duo processor and the 1.83GHz, 2MB L2, 667MHz FSB Core 2 Duo? Mainly what I want to know is what is the difference between the 4MB and 2MB numbers that they show?

2. I want to get 1GB of RAM but should I get 1DIMM or 2DIMM? There is a choice for this when I place my order. I might want to upgrade the RAM to 2GB later but probably won't do it right away.

3. I don't play many games, but just in case, how would this system handle a game like World of Warcraft? What are the limitations as far as gaming goes with this machine? I don't know much about graphics cards but this is what system graphics are listed for this machine: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, DVI pass through, (14.0"LCD & Core 2 Duo). There is no option to updgrade with this model.

4. In your opinion, what is the best resolution to choose for this laptop? There is WXGA and WXGA+ available. My current machine is a 1200x800 native resolution and I don't know if the WXGA+(1440x900) would be too small to read text/hard on the eyes over a long period of time.

 

1. I unno
2. watever fits ur budget. If you have upgrading in mind ur gunna have to go for the 1gig (1 dimm)
3. for intel graphics media accelerator 950...it sucks. Its actually the worst thing for gaming.
Heres a link that may will help u:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=39568

The DVI pass through is just so you can hook up a desktop monitor to your laptop so u can share the screen.
14 lcd is great and bright, core 2 duo is the best processor right noe in the world. There are different models though.

4.u should get wxga+. dont worry you can decrease it resolution to your likings through windows. So you can have both 1280-800 AND 1440-900!

If any of this helped just say thanks....give me a rep point 2 im kinda low on that.

If I make a mistake someone better correct me.

 

Thanks for the help. A couple questions on your comments though...is there any disadvantage of getting the 1DIMM RAM rather than 2DIMM if I dont upgrade it for awhile? Also, about the screen resolution, doesn't the screen resolution get blurry/distorted a little when you reduce it from the native resolution? (for example if I had the wxga+ for 1440x900 and tried reducing it to 1280x800)

Also, about the graphics capabilities of the machine...I know its not a gaming machine but would it be able to run ANY games? and could it be upgraded?

 

1. There is a difference between the T7200 and the T5600 in terms of performance. But that performance is negligible if u aren't gonna be doing a lot of power hungry work. One would notice a big difference if they are encoding videos but for an average user it's negligible.

2. The upgrade to a 1DIMM is only $10 more. So if u plan to use this laptop in the future and see that u will upgrade the RAM, then pay the extra $10 for the 1DIMM Slot. It's worthwhile in the future, rather than throwing away ur 2 512s and placing in 2 1gb RAMs.
There's no real disadvantage, since Thinkpads don't use Dual Channeling. Dual Channel is where u have 2 identical RAMS installed, which double the bandwidth. However, since not all laptops have that, eg. Thinkpad Z series, then there's no disadvantage for getting the 1 DIMM, in fact it's an advantage for the future.

3. Intel GMA 950 can play WoW, but just don't expect really smooth Frame Rates. Probably around 10-15 FPS in open areas at fairly decent settings. The game is still playable, just lower the details for better FPS, u can probably bring out 5-10 FPS if u set it properly. It's still playable, only thing is that u won't be able to max everything. WoW isn't really a demanding game, it's more Demanding on the RAM.
The Intel GMA 950 can still manage to play other games like Half Life 2 pretty well too at medium settings.

4. It's best to get higher resolution, the fonts won't be that small. And like Hezbollah said, u can decrease the resolution.
It's mostly personal preference. Try going to ur local Computer Store and check out their WXGA and WXGA+ screens and see if it fits u.

 

Sorry only 1% of laptops can upgrade graphics card. That has to be manufactured by dell though. Yea dell can upgrade some of their computers. But you have to pay extra. If you dont get 1 dimm noe tommorow youll have to pay more.
I recommend you to get a low-end card like the go 7200,7300.

 

I believe that they do.

 

Although you may be worried about the higher resolution being too small to read, based on my personal experience you get used to it very quickly. I went from a 1280x1024 to a 1680x1050, and it took me about a day to get used to it. But the advantage is having greater screen real estate! I love how I can use excel and word and the same time, side by side now, although switching from standard aspect ratio to widescreen may have had something to do with that.

 

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that if you set the screen on any resolution other than native, the screen becomes unbearably blurry. LCD's can only display their native resolutions clearly. I would go take a look at the screens in a store like Best Buy or Circuit City before deciding.

As for RAM, here's how it works. You have two slots for RAM, you can either get one stick of 1GB RAM or two sticks of 512 RAM. Now, let's say that you want to upgrade your ram to 1.5GB. You would have to get just a 512 stick if you had the 1DIMM, but you would have to get a 1GB stick and throw out one of your 512 sticks if you opted for the 2DIMM. If you wanted to upgrade to 2GB in the future, then you would get 1 stick of 1GB RAM for the 1DIMM, but would have to spend twice the money if you chose 2DIMM right now because you would have to replace both sticks. Hope that helped, it's kind of long-winded though...

Edit: I completely forgot to address your other two questions. The 4MB cache on the T7200 is helpful, but as Znender said earlier, unless you're running programs that require a lot of processing power, you're probably not going to notice the difference. Especially for the price difference, if you aren't going to use the extra power, it isn't worth it.

The Intel GMA 950 is not a good card at all. I have read that it does run Vista's Aero theme sufficiently, though for gaming it certainly can't handle some of the newer games. If you're not a big gamer, it's not a big deal. If you absolutely need the extra boost in graphics, then you could either look into another company (Dell offers video card upgrades, though I'm not too sure about HP, Asus, etc.), or wait for the T60 14.1" WS (which may or may not be coming on Feb. 20th...I think I read somewhere on this forum that it was, but it wasn't from a reliable source). Cheers!