[D-EJ915]

To speak of Compaq laptops, my sister has a 2.4GHz one now which works just great for her, it's best buy's replacement for her old one (toshiba), which the keyboard broke twice and it suffered numerous other problems such as not working.

 

[Jmmmmm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricola_pak Alright I'm pretty much decided on buying the IBM R51 on eCost, great deals there. Looking for some advice from you guys, would you go for option 1 or option 2, knowing that I'm a comp sci uni student who ISN'T going to game on this machine: 1) 256MB RAM, 30GB harddrive, 1.6 Pentium M 725 with 2mb cache 2) 512MB RAM, 40Gb harddrive, however 1.5 Pentium M 715 with 1mb cache Should I get the better CPU, and save up later to upgrade the RAM? Is the 1MB less of cache and 0.1 GHz less going to be noticeable?

I think you should get the first one. Not just because ram and harddrive are easily upgradeable (and you absolutely should buy another 512mb stick for it), but also because those are two different processors. The ones with 1mb cache are the older versions of the pentium M ("banias"), while the 2mb L2 cache is the newer/better version ("dothan"). By itself, 0.1 ghz will not be noticeable at all, though.

 

[grawk]

more memory and more hard drive will make way more difference in performance and usability than 100mhz

 

[ls20]

my sister has had a few problems with a laptop .... tomorrow i'm purchasing a dell

 

[saturnine]

I had a Compaq Presario 233mhz laptop a few years back that was built like a tank. I dropped it down a flight of cement stairs once, and it still worked! The cd drive was a bit crooked, but it worked! I'm not sure about their build quality nowadays, but back when they were amazing!

 

[ricola_pak]

What a lucky guy I am.

Right when I was about to buy the Thinkpad R51, my mom told me to buy something good and light, and she would lend me money.


So here I am, just got the Thinkpad T42 - 1.6 GHz, 40GB, only 256 MB RAM now but will get another stick of 512 real soon.

Can't wait till it gets here

 

[Jmmmmm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricola_pak What a lucky guy I am. Right when I was about to buy the Thinkpad R51, my mom told me to buy something good and light, and she would lend me money. So here I am, just got the Thinkpad T42 - 1.6 GHz, 40GB, only 256 MB RAM now but will get another stick of 512 real soon. Can't wait till it gets here

wow i'm so jealous...i wish i could afford one of those