R51e upgrade

[emeraldgirl08]

Well I got the project R51e today.

I was quite excited and anticipated taking the thing apart right away! I knew it was coming with a 1.4 Celeron. My R52 has a 1.86 PM which is quite speedy when coupled with decent RAM.

I was expecting this when I finalized the deal. I promptly looked for a Dothan 1.86 PM and found one for a reasonable price. I really wanted the processor that's over 2 ghz but thats a little too rich for me

So after three hours I found out an 533 mhz FSB Dothan Pentium M works in place of the 400 mhz FSB Celeron. Believe me when I tell you- the R51e is a PITA the first time around. My T30 is a dream to take apart compared to R51e!

Now on setup the processor shows up in BIOS as PM 1.86.

Truly a miracle laptop.

Time to figure out what OS to install on it now

[RealBlackStuff]

Because the R51e uses a share (up to 128MB) of its RAM for Graphics, make sure to put in at least 1GB.

[emeraldgirl08]

I have 1.5 gb of RAM.

That should be enough until I can get an extra gig.

[emeraldgirl08]

Here's food for thought.

I just installed W7 into my R51e- and I can use Aero on it! I tried Aero with the R52 and it does not work.

And this thing flies!

Just letting you guys know that for an economy laptop it has no trouble keeping up with my tasks.

One thing is my slim drive has to be shimmed up on something. I hope whoever thought of the ultrabay design for this model was fired! I plan on keeping this for the sheer size of the screen and the performance

[underclocker]

Well, the ATI Radeon XPress 200M GPU in the R51e is in fact a more capable GPU than the Intel Integrated in the R52 model that you have (note that some R52's had the Radeon X300 GPU).

Also, while an UltraBay Slim drive fits in the thicker R-series machines, it was meant for the thinner T-series machines, where they are perfect fits. The R-series machines usually take th UltraBay Enhanced drives, as you probably know...although there should be a rubber gasket that drops down to form a dust shield when the Slim drives are used.

Now, if only you can find out if SXGA+ will work on that machine

[emeraldgirl08]

This is integratred graphics though right???

If so why didn't they keep this and lose the Intel one???

Now I would think that this lappy is more than capable of handling an SXGA IPS screen! That would make this girl very happy

Edit:

I did know that the bay was for an enhanced drive but come on! The R52 can do both the slim and enhanced drive. Why couldn't the developers do the same with this particular model???

[underclocker]

Your R52 has integrated 900 Intel graphics.

Your R51e has discrete X200M ATI graphics.

Some people prefer integrated for longer battery life and cooler running temps. Many business (and other) users do not need discrete graphics.

Why the R51e, a budget model, has superior graphics will remain a ThinkPad mystery. (Perhaps the inclusion of the Intel graphics option on R52/T43 machines was a last minute decision? The typical GPU for the R52/T43's was the discrete X300 ATI. I believe the R51e and R52's were released around the same time. Or perhaps it was a concession to a major supplier, ATI, to add market share for their entry GPU?)

And, yes, I still agree that it's worth testing out a 15" R51e to see if an SXGA+ assembly will work.

[emeraldgirl08]

Thanks for the clarification. Now I see why the Windows Performance Rating is better than the R52s! I could have sworn it was integrated graphics though. At any rate I'm pleased with this model so far

Oh and this model is staying on my desk since it's got a graphics card.

[sjthinkpader]

.... Or perhaps it was a concession to a major supplier, ATI, to add market share for their entry GPU?...

If this was true, it must have happened before the full impact of the loose GPU issue was fully realized. I wonder if all this came out in the due diligent phase of AMD's acquisition.