Help: T42 1.6 dothan or T42 1.7 dothan?

[IBMorBust]

I'm trying to decide between the T42 with either a 1.7GHz dothan centrino or a 1.6GHz dothan centrino.

The 1.7 has 512MB RAM, IBM mini wireless card and no biometric fingerprint reader.

The 1.6 has 256MB RAM, Intel Pro 2200 mini wireless card, but comes with a biometric fingerprint reader onboard.

The 1.6 is $275 cheaper.

How much faster will the 1.7 dothan be, assuming I equalize the RAM?

Thanks.

[slasko]

Hello

I dont think that you will notice any performance difference by adding 100Mhz to the processor(I could be wrong), buy the 1,6 and save the 275$ for more RAM. But the decission is youres ofcourse.

[daeojkim]

What he said...

[IBMorBust]

Thanks for the fast responses. I forgot to ask if there is any difference (qualitatively) between the IntelPro 2200 mini wireless card and the IBM a/b/g one?

I have a Linksys wireless router at home.

Also - is the biometric fingerprint scanner truly useful?

I found this review on it: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/05 ... nkpad_t42/

Sorry for all the questions, but I am excited about my anticipated new T42.

Thank you.

[jcentrel]

I recently purchased a new T42P 2373-N37 and swapped out the Intel B/G card with an IBM (Atheros) A/B/G card and notice absolutely no difference in performance. I think it would be a waste of money for you unless you're planning on connecting to an 802.11a network. As for the biometric finger print reader... Go for it. I don't think it's necessary unless you have ultra top secret info on your laptop but it is pretty cool!

[jcentrel]

Bye the way... I also use a Linksys router at home and tested with both cards.

[Kenn]

Save the $275, spend $90 on a 512MB stick and end up with 768MB and almost $200 extra in your pocket. There will be NO noticeable difference in performance between the 1.6 and 1.7.

[IBMorBust]

I love this forum! I appreciate everyones' advice a great deal.

I have ordered the T42 1.6 w/fingerprint scanner and will post as soon as the stork arrives! I am going to do exactly as has been suggested and add an extra stick of 512MB RAM for a total of 768 once it gets here.

Thanks again.

[Leon]

Welcome!

[IBMorBust]

Welcome!

It's a pleasure to be here.

I look forward to everyone's input once my T42 arrives - It's on its way from Hong Kong to Alaska Customs as we speak.

[bwaldow]

Did you check the cache memory the CPU chip has?

I just bypassed the 1.5 & 1.6 because the PM 735 1.7G is the "lowest" that has the 2M cache memory as opposed to the 1M cache (as far as I can tell from reading IBM's web site). One T42 site I read mentioned it speeds up math intensive calculations (which is specifically what I'm aimed at).

Since I haven't actually compared the machines, I don't know if it makes a difference, but I decided to err on the side of caution.

Regards,
Bret

[gazingwa]

Not true, All t42 have the 2mb dothan processors... that is the diffence between the 41 and 42

[James314]

yep, i can second that!

[IBMorBust]

Did you check the cache memory the CPU chip has?

I just bypassed the 1.5 & 1.6 because the PM 735 1.7G is the "lowest" that has the 2M cache memory as opposed to the 1M cache (as far as I can tell from reading IBM's web site). One T42 site I read mentioned it speeds up math intensive calculations (which is specifically what I'm aimed at).

Since I haven't actually compared the machines, I don't know if it makes a difference, but I decided to err on the side of caution.

Regards,
Bret

Bret:

The 1.6 I ordered has the Intel Pentium M 725 chipset, which ha 2MB L2 cache.



Learn more about processor number nomenclature.
Notebook
Featuring Intel® Pentium® M processor^
Processor Name Architecture Cache Clock Speed Front Side Bus
Intel® Pentium® M processor 770 90 nm 2MB L2 2.13 GHz 533 MHz
Intel® Pentium® M processor 765 90 nm 2MB L2 2.10 GHz 400 MHz
Intel® Pentium® M processor 760 90 nm 2MB L2 2 GHz 533 MHz
Intel® Pentium® M processor 755 90 nm 2MB L2 2.0 GHz 400 MHz
Intel® Pentium® M processor 750 90 nm 2MB L2 1.86 GHz 533 MHz
Intel® Pentium® M processor 745 90 nm 2MB L2 1.80 GHz 400 MHz
Intel® Pentium® M processor 740 90 nm 2MB L2 1.73 GHz 533 MHz
Intel® Pentium® M processor 735 90 nm 2MB L2 1.70 GHz 400 MHz
Intel® Pentium® M processor 730 90 nm 2MB L2 1.60 GHz 533 MHz
Intel® Pentium® M processor 725 90 nm 2MB L2 1.60 GHz 400 MHz
Intel® Pentium® M processor 715 90 nm 2MB L2 1.50 GHz 400 MHz
Intel® Pentium® M processor 705 130 nm 1MB L2 1.50 GHz 400 MHz

It's a dothan with a 90nm width, so the only difference between these chips is the FSB.

The new Sonomas that are being released have 533 FSB versus 400 FSB, but this will lower battery life all things being equal.

http://www.intel.com/products/processor ... nfo.htm#pm

Regards.

[gazingwa]

the 710 was a 1.4 dothan(2mb) with limited initial avail. I know because I am ashamed to say I was considering a compaq v2030us...
note: didn't get it.... got an x20 instead... didn't need a new machine for office and web browsing.