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Please tallk me off the ledge... Intervention needed!

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Carol Haynes:
Wouldn't you be better off buying a new cheap laptop. OK it will cost you more but there are loads of cheap laptops about these days and they will all improve your experience of Vista enormously (esp. if you go for 2Gb of RAM). I wouldn't bother with upgrades for a 4 year old laptop - it is only a matter of time before it will need uneconomic repairs such as replacing the keyboard, screen components or even a BIOS battery. It recently took me ages to track down a laptop BIOS battery for a DELL computer that was about 4 years old for a client - I ended up, with their permission, ordering the battery from Singapore and it cost around £30 (UKP) - which is about $45. They wanted to extract a little more life from the laptop so they were happy to pay £30 for a battery that should have cost £2 but the nature of these things is that components become unavailable and expensive over time.

f0dder:
Carol: £30 for a BIOS battery? W-T-F?

You're right about a new laptop being a lot better investment than just a 2gig memory stick, but (at least here in .dk :)) ~$100 doesn't get you very far. A netbook-style thing (which you aren't going to game or run vista on) would be at least $500, and you'd need at least $666 for a decent (albeit relatively low-end) laptop.

Darwin:
Agreed. Updating the CPU on an old notebook is not ECONOMICAL (doesn’t seem that econonical on a new one, either!) as the ROI is very low. Example, when my now 9 year old notebook was two or so years old, I really wanted to upgrade its PIIIE 600Mhz CPU to something faster. Unfortunately, the BIOS limits the computer to no more than 800MHz. Even on that equipment, I’d never notice the difference in speed, and the price was astronomical. FWIW it’s still running that PIIIE chip and runs like a champ. My son and I played CFS on it last night - great fun!

In my case, I was curious about the effects of a 30% increase in processor speed combined with reduced battery wear, lower operating temperatures, AND more advanced processing capabilities/features... (SSE4, for example) on relatively current equipment. This particular Gateway is CPU upgradeable and will accept any compatbile chip - there are literally thousands of forum threads devoted to documenting the upgrade to various newer chips, so I’m not worried about the surgical aspect in my case. However, as many others have noted in this thread, I am unlikely to notice the difference (only my wallet will know!). To wit:

I finally played with a friends T8300 machine (2.4Ghz) running similar equipment to mine (15.4” WXGA monitor,7200 rpm harddrive, 4GB of RAM and 256MB dedicated video memory) except downgraded to XP Pro 32-bit. I really didn’t see any difference worth spending several hundred dollars and voiding my warranty to obtain. I expect that having several hours compare, say, editing video on it and on my machine might reveal major advantages but I don’t edit video... To be honest, I much prefer my setup - I run Vista 64-bit with all graphics options enabled and it is beautiful and SNAPPY. His machine is for some unfathomable reason set to 1024x768 and Windows Classic and looks NASTY. My five year old XP machine is set to Windows Classic as well, but is running its 14.1” monitor at native resolution and looks fine.

So, as I’ve stated in the past, I *know* that in my case this is a severe expression of upgradeitis and I started this thread so that people with more self control and a firmer grasp on reality could line up to kick me in the ass for contemplating a fairly silly expenditure. Thanks guys (send bags of peas, please)!

Brandon - you will notice a huge, HUGE difference in performance if you upgrade your RAM - far more so than in going from 1.6 to 2.0Ghz processing power. Another very effective speed boost comes from going to a 7200 rpm harddrive. If you’re ruinnig SATA in your notebook, the prices have come down a lot and the capacities are competitive. A four year old notebook is worth simple upgrades but not, as I hope I have noted effectively, major upgrades such as to the CPU. Of course, if  your notebook is in bad condition as you say, maybe it IS time to upgrade the whole thing. Note, though, that you can things like monitor hinges and casings on eBay quite cheaply. I recently replaced the LCD in my Win2k machine for $45 courtesy of eBay...

Carol Haynes:
Carol: £30 for a BIOS battery? W-T-F?
-f0dder (February 09, 2009, 09:53 AM)
--- End quote ---

It was a Dell laptop and they had chosen to use a rechargeable button battery that was not available in Europe or the US (even from Dell). The problem was that the battery design had changed over the years. When the computer was new it was a plain button battery but by the time it needed replacing all the batteries of the same size came with 'legs' welded on which couldn't be removed without damaging the battery. The only place I could find a 'legless' version was from Singapore and they were horrendously expensive (mainly because they used UPS to deliver and refused to consider any other method of delivery - that was about 80% of the cost).

It was a choice between buying a battery from Singapore or buying a new laptop.

Carol Haynes:
If you’re ruinnig SATA in your notebook
-Darwin (February 09, 2009, 10:30 AM)
--- End quote ---

Now that would be naughty ...

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