770X upgrade/update recommendations? [long]

[rodgermcliff]

I am trying to decide what to do with my 770X (and 770 plain). After using an R31 school laptop (700-800 Mhz Pentium III with 256MB RAM) for over a year now, I would really like something:
1) a little faster/more powerful (can do more than two/three things at once without everything freezing for 10-20 seconds or more)
2) a little lighter (I left the R31 at school for the holidays but put the 770X in the same bag.... wow, is it heavy now)
3) a little thinner (ok, its just cosmetic thing but the 770 is HUGE compared to any other modern laptop)

My problem (as always) is $$$. [I am paid as a substitute teacher with no benefits for less than 1/2 what a regular teacher gets but I am in a college program to finish my certification by next fall... more money drains for now.] I can probably scrape up about $200 for now. My choices are

1) Sell everything (770X, 770, extra drives including 2nd hard drive adapter, CDRW, and newer DVD drives, cables including floppy cable and IBM video cables, 770-specific port replicator, etc.) [maybe $300 worth?] and take that money and the $200 and buy something newer. (Still no response to this thread though
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=35014 )
Then I have only one laptop (no back-up) and probably little/no accessories. [If you have suggestions, reply to the other thread.]

2) Spend the money on upgrades for the 770X to improve speed and performance (and just live with the size and weight for now, but realizing that I won't get more and maybe less for the group of stuff when I do get rid of it).

My 770X (9549-72U) is presently a Pentium II 300 MHz, 128MB RAM, 13.1GB HD, 14.1" LCD, Windows 2000 SP4, IBM EVA DVD/MPEG card. I am looking for the biggest improvement in speed/performance for the money.

- CPU: seems like the obvious choice is to go to Pentium III 700/750/800 MHz (everyone wants too much for the top dawg 850 MHz version). How much does this really help (compared to the R31 with similar RAM and similar CPU or does the 770X PII MoBo really limit things)? Will the 500 MHz PII CPU get me nearly as much improvement with less risk (and maybe less cost)? What is my best choice? [I am not planning risky hardware or BIOS mods to enable the faster PIII CPU speed.]

- RAM: If I go with a PIII CPU then I should change all my RAM to 100MHz (right?). If I stay with the present (another PII CPU) then I have to find more 66MHz low-density RAM (max 2 - 256MB sticks?)

- Larger but faster hard drive: I read a thread about how going to the newer, faster hard drives really helped performance. (It seems like the hard drive calls are really long. I haven't defragg'd in a few months but it doesn't seem to be slower/faster since the last time that I did it.)

- OS: If I keep this laptop for another year or so, I will probably have to go to the dark side (XP). [I really don't have the time to setup and pick through Linux right now, plus have some proprietary software for re-flashing my car PCM that does not run in Linux.] I believe that this is a negative in terms of performance (but some have suggested that it can faster). Will I loose all my gains because of this? Would a newer laptop handle this better? [I already have a spare XP home upgrade package so this is no $$$ cost just maybe a performance hit.]

- Any other suggestions?

Rodger

[schen]

If you really want a faster machine, I'd strongly consider going with something else altogether. I know it's difficult to switch platforms after you've worked had to gather everything imaginable to work with it: I've done this twice now and will probably have to do it again soon when I move from my current T30 to the T4x series. But that being said, the next series of machines are not only "orders of magnitudes faster", but smaller and lighter as well if you go with the T2x series.

You can get into the T2x in an amount close to the $200 you have on hand and then, you can outfit it as you are able to sell the 770 that you have and all it's acessories. I'd recommend a T23 which you can get with the 1.13 or 1.2ghz Tualatin core PIII (very fast), load up to 1Gb of RAM, and even wireless built-in. My last on was 1.2Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 80Gb/5400rpm HDD, DVD Multi-Burner, all in a 5 pound package. You can then add either a port replicator or evn a full dock that has a PCI slot and more PC Card sockets.

The 770 was a heck of a well built machine, but I sure wouldn't want to haul it around on regular basis!

[rodgermcliff]

Thanks for the input.

You seem to understand my problem. If I put another $200 in my 770X, I need it to really perform and I am doubtful that it can achieve that level of performance.

I am still hoping to hear from others that have upgraded 770X/Z's to get some idea of how much better the upgrades will make it perform. (I read a lot about all the problems and workarounds.)

Rodger

[cmarti]

I am still hoping to hear from others that have upgraded 770X/Z's to get some idea of how much better the upgrades will make it perform. (I read a lot about all the problems and workarounds.0

Rodger,

I have a 770Z with a PIII 800mhz 576mhz of ram and a 7K100 and it works very fast for office work it is more than enough.