29-N3L: A few upgrade-related questions

I finally found a CF-29 of the N3L family, with XP and an unknown wifi card pre-installed, and after it arrives, I want it to be running W7Pro w/ 2GB of RAM + ReadyBoost.

Just want to verify I'm buying the right stuff.

RAM (on board): Amazon.com: Crucial 2GB 256Mx64PC2-5300 CT25664AC667 DDR2 200-Pin SODIMM Laptop Memory: Electronics

RAM (for ReadyBoost): Amazon.com: Panasonic RP SDW04GU1K - Flash memory card - 4 GB - Class 10 - SDHC

Windows 7 Pro upgrade: Windows 7 Student Discount

OEM Battery: ?????

Also, I want to check how many operating hours are on the machine when it gets here. Does anyone know how to do that?

 

operating hours should show when you boot up hitting F2, will show as accumulative operating time in the bios. however there may be a bit of misleading info here. if shows really low hours, could have been some things done to reset this. it may or may not work on every laptop. may go to JB007rules website to get more info here on this topic. ram, flashcard and a good deal to be had with student discount on win7. go for a genuine panny battery, in earlier posts someone mentioned an idaho battery was available with japanese cells that they thought were of good quality and held a good charge, but I've only used panasonic batteries. read the stickies on cf-29 and google search topics relating cf-29 upgrades. there is a wealth of info on this website, just put in some time reading as much as you can, it is worth the read as you set out to get your "fix" on a soon to become a TB addiction, there ain't no 7 step program here, just a slippery slope and you will see it's already too late for you, good luck........Driller

 

The ram looks fine
ReadyBoost should not be necessary if you have 2gb of ram usable ( my cf-19 on w7 uses no more than 1.3gb of the + 3gb available)
Get a panasonic battery, not a generic
However upgrading to a 160gb samsung hard drive (Samsung Spinpoint M5 HM160HC) is good value for the money



Alex