Thinkpads Forum

Why cant I order the T400 with Turbo Memory and the 200GB 7200RPM w/Encryption Hard Drive?

Others have seen that as well.

IMHO skip the Turbo Memory and ensure you have adequate RAM.

The turbo memory would cache unencrypted copies of files - possibly for days. This would undermine the security that users expect from the FDE drive.

TurboMemory has seemingly caused more problems with the operating system than it's worth with no apparent tangible increase in performance either. Leave it out, it's useless. Make sure you get at least 2GB RAM with 1 DIMM and then upgrade yourself later.

That's my recommendation. There's a reason there haven't been any rave reviews of TurboMemory/ Intel 'Robson' because it hasn't proven out to be any good.

Thanks for your reply. Do you know the max amount of memory I can stick in these computers? I want 8GB of RAM.

If you're using a 64-bit operating system, then I don't see why you can't have 8GB. Although you need to look at the chipset to see the max size of RAM it can cope with.

Dead1nside wrote:If you're using a 64-bit operating system, then I don't see why you can't have 8GB. Although you need to look at the chipset to see the max size of RAM it can cope with.

1. Lenovo's claiming 8 GB for the new T series.
2. People are already putting that much in the T61 and using it.

4GB DDR-3 SO-DIMMS don't seem to be generally available yet - but should be real soon now. Micron was promising last quarter.

Dead1nside wrote:TurboMemory has seemingly caused more problems with the operating system than it's worth with no apparent tangible increase in performance either. Leave it out, it's useless.
...
That's my recommendation. There's a reason there haven't been any rave reviews of TurboMemory/ Intel 'Robson' because it hasn't proven out to be any good.

There are some pros and cons shown - depends on the review. Look at this one : http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3009

WojtekJ wrote:There are some pros and cons shown - depends on the review. Look at this one : http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3009

That review, while excellent, is also nearly 14 months old.

Does anyone know of any more recent looks at the effectiveness of Turbo Memory since SP1 came out? I still suspect the benefits are limited if you have adequate RAM and a fast HDD, but I don't know.