<p>Honestly, I know very little about laptops. I'll be attending university for a B.S. in EE and I need a laptop. I've been reading this forum and I saw that Lenovo was the predilect choice of the 'Laptops for engineers' thread. With that info. I came to the conclusion that I wanted a Lenovo. Can you make any observance of my laptop specifications? What about personal experience? can you tell me if it's worthed? thanks </p>
<p>Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo processor T9600 (2.8GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2)<br>
Display type: 15.4" WUXGA TFT<br>
System graphics: ATI Mobility FireGL V5700 (512MB VRAM) with Intel AMT<br>
Total memory: 4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)<br>
Camera: 1.3 Megapixel<br>
Hard drive: 320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm<br>
Intel® Turbo Memory hard drive cache: Intel Turbo Memory 2GB<br>
Optical device: DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)<br>
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth PAN<br>
Wireless Card: Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology<br>
Mobile Broadband: Integrated Mobile Broadband upgradable<br>
Battery: 9 cell Li-Ion Battery Do you think it's weak somewhere? how can I improve it or will it be fine like that? BTW, I want it to last for the complete 4 years</p>
<p>Don’t forget to go to <a href=“http://lenovo.com/cpp[/url]”>http://lenovo.com/cpp</a> and use the passcode familyandfriends to gain access to discounts on all Lenovo products (including the W500).</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=alejandrodiez27]
Intel Core 2 Duo processor T9600 (2.8GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2)
[/quote]
If you’re going to be running your W500 off the battery a lot, it’s not worth upgrading the processor, as running in battery mode results in the processor being throttled to 800 MHz. Either way, factors such as hard drive latency and amount of RAM are going to play a lot bigger role in your laptop’s responsiveness than a faster processor. Unless you’re going to be frequently running specifically processor-intensive applications, you will notice only a very small speed bump by upgrading from the 2.4 GHz processor.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=alejandrodiez27]
Total memory: 4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
[/quote]
Get 2 GB of RAM instead & then upgrade with [2</a> more GB of aftermarket RAM from Newegg](<a href=“Not Found: 404 Error”>Not Found: 404 Error); it’ll save you some money.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=alejandrodiez27]
Intel® Turbo Memory hard drive cache: Intel Turbo Memory 2GB
[/quote]
This isn’t really worth it, especially when you have 4 GB of RAM.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=alejandrodiez27]
I want it to last for the complete 4 years
[/quote]
That’s not going to happen. Li-ion batteries naturally wear down after each charge cycle. You can try to preserve the battery life by [storing</a> it at 40% charge and in a 0 °C environment](<a href=“http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm]storing”>http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm), but that’s all.</p>
<p>sorry… I’m a bit illterate on this. You said if it’s in battery mode the processor will be slower, right? Battery mode is using it unplugged from a wall socket, isn’t? If yes, what if it’s plugged to the wall? will it be faster?
Why not the turbo memory?
When I said I want it to last 4 years, I was referring to the laptop itself. Did you mean the battery or you did mean that the laptop wont last for four years?
sorry if these are dumb questions, it’s just that i’ve been using desktops all my life
thanks,</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=alejandrodiez27]
what if it’s plugged to the wall? will it be faster?
[/quote]
Yes. The whole point of throttling the processor is to save battery life, which isn’t an issue when you have AC power access.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=alejandrodiez27]
Why not the turbo memory?
[/quote]
It’s meant to speed stuff up by caching some data from the hard drive, but if you have 4 GB RAM, you will be able to cache that stuff in the RAM, so there would be no point in having turbo memory. It’s not even a standard feature on most laptops.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=alejandrodiez27]
Did you mean the battery or you did mean that the laptop wont last for four years?
[/quote]
The battery. A ThinkPad will last you for even 5 or 6 years.</p>
<p>thank you so much. Your help was very useful. now I understand more about it. thanks!</p>
<p>If he’s planning on upgrading the memory, shouldn’t he make sure that the initial 2 gb’s of RAM are 1 DIMM? I imagine that wouldn’t be standard, and I think most laptops would only have two RAM slots…</p>
<p>You can do that with Lenovo for a small amount of money.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=hebrewhammer]
If he’s planning on upgrading the memory, shouldn’t he make sure that the initial 2 gb’s of RAM are 1 DIMM?
[/quote]
Yeah, totally forgot about that.</p>