Any conclusions about Robson memory?

I know that in the Lenovo forums there were some reports of BSOD errors and other problems that might be connected to Robson memory, but I was wondering if there is any solid info yet about the problems it might cause and/or its effectiveness in actual use.

Also as a more general question, do you think it's worth getting? Or is it just a gimmick that won't really do much in the end?


And if it matters at all, I'm interested in the NP2090/IFL90, so if for some reason a comment is specific to this laptop, fire away.

 

Read this Anandtech analysis.

From what I understand, the Turbo Memory might improve battery run time, but has mixed effect on general performance.

John

 

My personal take (Check my profile if you want more information on my "take") is that it's a brand spankin new technology that may or may not stick around. Either way, as with anything it will probably take some time for the software that run's it to mature.

I've heard rumor's that Vista still doesn't have the full software built into Vista because of a rushed deadline, so maybe it's something that will get snuck into SP1.

Either way, Go with 2GB ram if you are even thinking of buying Robson stuff. There is ton's of "developer potential" in the product for things such as games using it as a cache system for textures to help lower the HDD thrash (Or dev's can place large UNDO stacks or clipboards to flash memory, like Photoshop) while leaving the main system memory free to shuttle the data back and forth, but it's not there yet, and if the technology really isn't supported by the OS, it may never take off or achieve it's full potential.

Also think of Robson as an "enabling" technology for SSD drives. This allows them to get some $$ back while ramping up the production of flash chips. In the end, it's all about producing SSD's that are large enough for the average consumer PC, while at the same time, not costing more then the rest of the PC's components combined.

 

Thanks for the replies; that article was pretty informative. I guess the other issue that I haven't heard an answer for is whether or not it's responsible for BSOD's. I looked through the first few pages of the Lenovo forums but didn't find a thread with anything close to an answer. *shrug*

 

There was a person actually showing slower boot times with robson on a high end machine. (slower by 30 seconds). I think it was GentechPC in the asus forums...

 

It would take more then one system to make me come to an opinion.

 

I've just gone through the two threads started by geared2play (I believe was the name) with his synthetic benchmarks, and read the flame war/arguments on both sides. From what I could garner, the results so far are that it improved HDD scores on synthetic tests, while other scores stayed the same or went slightly down (a negligible amount, IMO). Geared also claimed that other tests were done inappropriately, though I've not seen proof one way or the other. On the other hand, GentechPC's tests showed that instead of improving boot times, Robson slowed down the boot time of the F3SV (Geared included these videos in the category of inappropriately carried out tests).

So in summary: inconclusive >_<.

I think if I were ordering at this point, since I plan on getting at least 2GB of RAM, I'd opt out of Robson.

Thanks all for the responses. Of course if there are new developments or if you want to have a say in the matter, feel free to keep posting

 

Don't get Robson. Just pick up a readyboost sd card and pop that into your laptop's slot. That should boost application loading/general performance and not hinder write speeds to hard disk.

 

gentechs tests were actually faulty.
same results were evident in other tests where the module was not turned on (not that easy to turn it on if you have not spent weeks working out the kinks). I ve tested and retested there is absolutely no link to lower performance with robson when it is ON and working. i was also not able to find better performance during the same tests. My conclusion was that there will be further development with the driver from intel and microsoft for a technology that does without a doubt provide an edge for random i/o. driver problems still stand in the way however. I also love how a vendor who has shown "adverse effects" due to robson still sells it on his website. Thats just beyond me. go figure

 

A lot of vendors still off Robson even if they themselves have shown it to show "adverse effects" because there are people who still want it. You gotta give the public what it demands...otherwise the mob is gonna get you.

 

Question to any who might know: if I were to order a laptop with the Robson memory included, but never install any drivers/try to turn it on or enable it, would my laptop be able to function normally as if I had ordered it without turbo memory to start with? I'm thinking just in case there are problems connected to the memory, I could get it and just wait 'til better support for it comes out before activating it, but I'm not sure if having the hardware there to start with would affect the running of my machine.

 

I'm not sure about that, but you can always buy your system without robson and order it later installing it yourself.

 

How easy is that to do? Keeping in mind I've built my own desktops, but never done anything myself with laptops, so I've got basically no experience.

 

I've heard installing Robson isn't as easy as installing parts like the hard drive or RAM, I think there's some soldering involved.

 

It's just a modular card, similar to a wireless card in a notebook. The software steps are a bit of a pain though. You could contact Ron @ Powernotebooks if you want some good feedback on the process - He even made a post on here in the hardware forum about the process. Anyone who can install a card in a desktop, and tolerate a few reboots can install Robson themselves. The hard part is that there are sections of the install that if you screw up you have to redo everything...