Just ordered a 6130HS-20

This is the second time I've had to write this, sorry if its a bit snappy

I just order the 6130HS-20, and I want to get everything right out of the box. Any advice is greatly appreciated

Cooling pad: seems like a must have. Any brands/designs that work best? Is a 2 fan design good(middle left, middle right)

Thermal compound: Is it alright to wait till around christmas to replace the stock compound with something high quality? If I get a cooling pad is it needed?

SP2: I've heard this laptop doesnt like SP2. Should I just use SP1?

Omega driver: Should I get the newest omega or the one on the averatec site? http://support.averatec.com/results.asp Are they the same?

Ralink driver: Anytihng better than the one on the averatec site? http://support.averatec.com/results.asp

touchpad: Should I get anouther touchpad driver out of the box? which? are there any compatibility issues?

warrenty: Best buy offers a 3 year warrenty for $300 canadian. Thats almost a third what I paid for the computer. Is it worth it? since the 6130 is discontinued, if anything happens that cant be repaired they will give me a similar laptop with the same specs - so thats pretty nice. Recommend?


Any other advice? this forum has been a LOT of help so far! Thanks a bundle in advance

 

first off i also have that laptop, and have been quite pleased with it.

Now on with your questions:

I don't have a cooling pad (haven't really needed it), but have been tempted to get one to keep it cooler when at home. Its up to you.

As for the thermal compound, wait untill you see how well it performs, if it shutsdown due to overheating, replace it. But i have been using mine for a year without a cooling pad and without changing the thermal paste, and it has been fine. and believe me, i have put it through its paces. i have gotten it so hot that the WHOLE computer was HOT and the power brick was too hot to touch, but it was still running fine.

Been using SP2 for quite a while now and have had no problems with it. and with SP3 slowly on its way, would prolly be good to have it.

Use the omega drivers, they are some of the best notebook graphic drivers, but you do need to update the agp driver off of averatecs site otherwise the agp speed will be limited to 1x instead of its capabile 8x.

For the ralink wireless card, got to www.ralinktech.com to get the latest drivers and config software for the card and you *should* not have any problems. Also disable the wireless zero config and use ralinks config utility. (averatecs site does now have an updated driver for it, but doesn't ( i think) have the config utility which is useful)

The touchpad driver that is included is quite sufficient and works fine, it shouldn't need updating unless you have problems.

I also have the extended warranty from futureshop, but its up to you. Those warranties can be useful, i am hopeful that i will be able to take advantage of it and get a new and better notebook for free down the road.

May you get a well built machine and hope that you have no problems with it.

 

I have the same laptop and I bought mine from sams club last september. I've been using the Antec cooling pad. The pad draws power from a spar usb port but it also comes with an extender so you don't use up the usb port that powers the pad. I haven't changed the thermal paste and it's been running fine. The only time it's gotten warm is when I'm encoding video or playing a 3d computer game. I bought the 3 year service plan from sams club but I doubt I'll ever use it. Be carefull with case because the case is not as strong as other notebooks. The only thing I've done upgrade wise is upgrade the memory to 1.25 gig of memory. The stock 60 gig hd seems fine to me. You might want to replace the dvd burner with something better but I haven't had any problems with it. Good Luck.
-Andrew