The X31 vs X40 Story

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joprodse · #1 Post by **joprodse** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 1:59 pm

So, anyone of you out there know which one of the X31 and the X40 that performes best regarding to general "office-use" and som Photoshop editing? Currently I'm running an three years old PIII 1,2Ghz X30 and it's quite tired right now. Should I Go for the 1,7 Ghz X31 or the 1,4Ghz X40? Please advise

csv96 · #2 Post by **csv96** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 2:19 pm

You might want to wait a month or two. The 1.5ghz LV and 1.2ghz ULV Dothan CPU's should be available on the X41. And there's a possibility that the video card will also be upgraded (at least the Intel GMA900, or maybe the ATI Mobility Radeon X300) if the X41 gets the new Mobile Intel 915 chipset.

joprodse · #3 Post by **joprodse** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 2:39 pm

Yihaa!

Well then I guess the X3x series is out of the question then

#4 Post by **aamsel** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 5:44 pm

Unless you like having a fast hard drive. If you do, then the X31 is not out of the question, since the X40 series only has the small 4200rpm drives.

Andrew
Austin, TX

joprodse wrote:Yihaa!

Well then I guess the X3x series is out of the question then

joprodse · #5 Post by **joprodse** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 6:16 pm

Is the drivespeed really that essential???
I'm running a 7200rpm right now, but I really doesn't think it's THAT big differece comparing to the original 4200.
Any objections?

OnlyThinkpad · #6 Post by **OnlyThinkpad** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 10:15 pm

Yes. The 7200 rpm makes a huge difference. Forget about the X40 if you want to do any photo editing. It's a much slower machine. I am comparing this with a X31 with M-1.5Mhz and 60GB 7200rpm drive. I have a X40 with 1.2Mhz and gave it to my wife and I went back to the X31.

#7 Post by **aamsel** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 11:27 pm

If you can't tell the difference, then your decision is much easier.
Quite frankly, I can't see how anyone wouldn't find the difference obvious between a 4200 and a 7200.
If you were just surfing and word processing, then you would notice the difference in bootup/shutdown times. However, you mentioned Photoshop editing, and I think a 7200 would make a very noticeable difference there also.
Bottom line, if you want the X40, get it. There is also a chance that faster drives will come out in the smaller form factor in the next year or so. Unknown at this point, however.

Andrew
Austin, TX

joprodse wrote:Is the drivespeed really that essential???
I'm running a 7200rpm right now, but I really doesn't think it's THAT big differece comparing to the original 4200.
Any objections?

joprodse · #8 Post by **joprodse** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 4:06 am

Well I DO experience that the 7200 harddrive is faster, especially at bootup, but I really can't see that this would be the singel most important issue for me, during a normal workday. I do 90% Outlook, 5% Webbrowsing and the rest might be some PS-editing or wordprocessing.
Wouldn't a fair amount or RAM be more important for me, say 1GB or so?

#9 Post by **aamsel** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:24 am

Well, as with all PC's, there will always be bottlenecks. Memory, hard drive, video sub-systems continue to be some of the main ones. i/o to USB ports, etc are secondary ones.

As to which bottleneck is the biggest one on any given PC or notebook, it is going to always be a matter of personal opinion. With the X31, my opinion is that the hard drive is the single largest bang-for-the-buck improvement you can make.

Faster bootup and shutdown would only be important to you if your notebook is off, and you want to send a quick email, and every minute matters to you at that particular time.

However, keep in mind that even just surfing, a hard drive gets used. A notebook with a 7200rpm drive in it just feels faster to me, any way you slice it! To me, there is no comparison, and I wouldn't want a notebook that didn't have a 7200. I just consider it "cheap thrills".

As for memory, certainly more memory will help various programs and tasks operate smoother, and prevent (to some extent) swapping to disk. I say "to some extent" because XP ALWAYS swaps, regardless of memory amount. If you take a PC with 1GB (or 2GB) of memory running XP doing absolutely nothing, you will notice that the hard drive light flashes regularly. XP backs up the registry constantly, and does other operations.

As for amount of memory on an ultra-portable such as X31 or X40, certainly you DON"T want to run XP with 256MB. 512MB is the minimum, and as to whether or not it is the "sweet spot" is another matter of opinion and debate. Is 768MB or 1GB better?? It certainly can't hurt, and doesn't cost very much to make that upgrade. Will that extra amount truly get utilized? Depends on how many programs you run at the same time, and what amount of memory they consume.

As far as I know, Photoshop will run perfectly in 512MB. (someone correct me if I am wrong). No other program you mentioned is a memory hog.

Hope this helps.

Andrew
Austin, TX

joprodse wrote:Well I DO experience that the 7200 harddrive is faster, especially at bootup, but I really can't see that this would be the singel most important issue for me, during a normal workday. I do 90% Outlook, 5% Webbrowsing and the rest might be some PS-editing or wordprocessing.
Wouldn't a fair amount or RAM be more important for me, say 1GB or so?

joprodse · #10 Post by **joprodse** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:45 am

Thanks a lot. This forum is great, as for now I think I'll wait for some more info regarding the new X41 model. Let's hope hitachi speed those 1,8" drives up to at least 5 400rpm soon...

#11 Post by **aamsel** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:55 am

It doesn't look likely for that to happen soon, because, other than in the X40, those drives are used mainly in iPod's and other portable music devices. That is their main use. For portable music devices, 5400rpm is not needed.

Andrew
Austin, TX

joprodse wrote:...Let's hope hitachi speed those 1,8" drives up to at least 5 400rpm soon...

joprodse · #12 Post by **joprodse** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 1:21 pm

Well, you can always wish, right. Besides, the next step in the portable revolutions seems to be those small personal videoplayers that might need faster and smaller drives...maybe?

The X31 vs X40 Story

The X31 vs X40 Story

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