X31 vs. X40

I've been looking to buy a reliable little notebook and I've pretty much settled on the X31 or X40. I'll be doing school and other work on it, and obviously won't be playing too many games on these. I'd probably start out with a fairly cheap model, but I'd like to add a little more oomph too it in its old age, so upgradeability may be a factor. So, are the CPUs upgradeable on these models? If so, what's the fastest processors available for each? What's the max. RAM on each? Does the 1.8" HDD in the X40 limit its performance compared to the 2.5" in the X31? How about the graphics in each? Any thing else I should know about these models?

Thanks!

 

For me the biggest reason to get an X31 is because of firewire. The X40 does not support it and I use it daily.

The 2.5" hard drive was the second biggest reason. (much easier to upgrade)

Price 3rd

I just installed 1gb (2 512) of memory in my X31. I am not sure how much higher it supports (because of conflicting info) but I doubt I will need more. X40 max out at 1.5gb and it must have 512 fixed or it can only support 1.25gb. The X40 runs at 333mhz where as the X31 only runs at 266mhz but accepts PC2700 cards.

 

I personally would really prefer the x32. The hard drive, often overlooked, is a big factor performance wise. Neither of them are going to gaming machine, but if you want to watch a DVD or do office the GPUs work fine for that. I am not a fan of upgrading CPUs. By the time you buy buy the CPU and spend the time putting it, the performance increase is marginal. Plus there is the chance it won't work after your are done. A faster hard drive and maxing the memory will help more. If all you are doing is office, internet, or burning some discs you probably won't need it. Think of this way if you had three year old T23, would going from a 850Mhz CPU to a 1Ghz make a huge difference, unlikely. By that time if you needed more horsepower you'll get a new laptop. Good Luck.

 

There is a great review here on the x31 comparing it to the x40 IBM ThinkPad X31 Review (pics, specs)

The HDD is going to make a big difference and in the X31 you can upgrade "40 gig Hitachi 4200 rpm 2.5" (upgraded to Hitachi 7k60: 60 gig 7200 rpm)" whereas in the X40, and I am assuming that it uses the same 1.8" HDD as in the X41, it is 4200 rpm and cannot be upgraded X41 review - processor and performance

All credit and thanks to the people who posted the info, I am just passing it on

Cheers