Hey guys, I was wondering if I could get some advice from the techies on the board. I am looking into buying a tablet pc and it has basically come down to which processor and how much RAM. I understand that with a 32 bit operating system, even with 4 gigs of RAM, you can only utilize 3.5 gigs. So i guess, I will just settle with 3 gigs. When it comes to the processor, I am trying to decide between one of three core 2 duo processors: t7100, t7250 or a t7500. They all have a 800 MHz FSB. The difference is that the t7100 has a 2M cache and is 1.8 GHz; t7250 has a 2M cache and is 2.0 GHZ; t7500 has a 4M cache and is 2.2 Ghz. Will it really make a difference if I have t7250 or t7500 when it comes to performance in comparison to the t7100? Will having 4 gigs of RAM with the t7100 make up for the difference in performance in comparison to 3 gigs of RAM and a t7250? I will be running Vista Premium 32-bit and using it mainly for tablet pc functions and internet. No gaming or anything. I know I am probably being a little too anal about this, but I just DO NOT want to deal with the performance issues with a Vista PC! Any advice would be appreciated!
Okay, several things here. You're well-justified in being concerned about performance issues with Vista. It's very resource-hungry. First, if two processors have the same bus, same cache, and are only separated by about 10% clockspeed... it's just not worth the upgrade. You won't notice the difference. That doubled L2 cache though, does make a difference. If you can afford that, I'd do it. Can you not get a T7300 for some reason (as opposed to the T7500)? Second, if you don't do gaming or video editing or graphic design, or anything system intensive, 3 GB of RAM is fine. In fact you could get by with 2 GB just fine I'm sure. Third, make sure you get a pretty decent graphics card. It better be decently high-end and have at least 256MB DEDICATED video memory. If I had to pick just one thing I hate about Vista, it's that it tries so hard to be pretty that it eats graphics cards alive, whether you're a gamer or not.
Thanks for the advice man. The reason why I am limited in the choice of processors is a long story. I actually bought a laptop off of ebay and the seller ended up explaining a little later that he didn't have the t7250 that i bought. He offered to upgrade my RAM up to 4 gigs if i took a t7100. Later he said that I could pay 90 bucks more and get a t7500 and 4 gigs of RAM. I just wanted a good idea of what my options really were and whether or not it was worth the extra money to upgrade. As for the graphics card, it is a Integrated Intel® GMA X3100 Graphics (with up to 384MB Shared Memory*) So I assume that is a big no no. Since this card is part of the chasis, can I still buy a new card and stick it in? If so, around how much would a decent one run me?
Well, it's definitely worth your while to go with the 7500, though if your OS is 32 bit, stay with the 3GB RAM and see if he can knock the upgrade price down. Ugh, well... I can tell you that integrated cards most often have a very tough time with Vista if you enable all the pretty features (read: Aero interface). If you truly won't be running a lot of system-intensive apps, though, that card might be just enough for Vista to display its prettiness. If it isn't, you can switch to the Windows Vista Basic color scheme and you should be okay. One thing I would remember to try is to head into the BIOS and see if you can allocate some of your RAM for permanent us by your graphics card. That can help. As far as upgrading laptop video cards, that's something that's beyond my expertise. I usually order custom jobs with the graphics card soldered to the motherboard, so it's not something that was ever on my radar.
sounds good, ill go ahead and get the better processor and try to work the price down a little bit. I will try to tune down the graphics demands of the computer since i care more for functionality than flashiness. Can you explain to me how I would go about messing with my BIOS to adjust the memory properties that you mentioned? Thanks again man
To switch to Vista Basic scheme, right-click the desktop, then hit Personalize -> Window Color and Appearance. If indeed your graphics card is having a hard time, try disabling transparency if you see the box is checked. If that's not enough, hot "open classic appearance properties." From here toggle to Windows Vista Basic. It may or may not be an option that's supported, and if it is it will be obvious. Just tap f2 on startup to get into the BIOS and take a look around for anything that looks like graphics card properties. There shouldn't be much to look through, and if the option to allocate additional system memory to your graphics card is there, it should be pretty self-explanatory. I couldn't tell you the exact steps or terms used, because they vary widely across systems. Hit me up if you have any issues.
