Debating between R and T series, please help

[DGaley27]

This fall I am going to college, and like most will be purchasing a new laptop. I have a couple questions that hopefully can be answered.
1. Is there a significant difference between the Intel Pentium M Processor 1.70 GHz 735, and the Intel Pentium M processor 1.60 GHz processor?

2. In my price range I would be going with either express models 2378FVU (t42), or 1836BBU (R51). I would be sacrificing to a 14.1 inch display, but gaining a faster Hard Drive Speed, 64 mb video card, and of course the processor. I don't care about weight so that isn't a factor, just want a solid performing laptop that is capable of DVD's and lighter games that will last for the duration of college.

3. Is there any advantage between the Ultra Bay slim (T42), and the Ultra Bay enhanced (R51)

4. If I add 256 MB/Ram will they ship 2x256 or 1x512?

Thanks for the help.

[awolfe63]

1. Is there a significant difference between the Intel Pentium M Processor 1.70 GHz 735, and the Intel Pentium M processor 1.60 GHz processor?

Depends how you define significent. You won't notice it in normal use - but you will see it in benchmarks. The difference is under 10%. Few people can notice anything less than 30-40% unless they try to time something.

2. In my price range I would be going with either express models 2378FVU (t42), or 1836BBU (R51). I would be sacrificing to a 14.1 inch display, but gaining a faster Hard Drive Speed, 64 mb video card, and of course the processor. I don't care about weight so that isn't a factor, just want a solid performing laptop that is capable of DVD's and lighter games that will last for the duration of college.

Any laptop will seem obsolete after 4 years - but should be usable. Many of us prefer the 14" form factor. Why aren't you looking at education models through your school? They often have better pricing.

3. Is there any advantage between the Ultra Bay slim (T42), and the Ultra Bay enhanced (R51)

Nothing substantial. For the Ultra Bay enhanced there are more cheap used accesories on the market.

If I add 256 MB/Ram will they ship 2x256 or 1x512?

If you add it to an express model - they will ship 2x256. If you upgrade a CTO model it is 1x512. I would not use less than 512MB - but I would just purchase a 3rd-party DIMM and upgrade yourself. 256MB more should be no more than $60.

[DGaley27]

the reason that I am not getting an education model is that my roommate's dad works for IBM, and I will be able to get a significant discount through that, roughly 40%. Going from 1.6 32mb graphics card to a 1.7 64 mb graphics card will see a less than 10% improvement then?

[awolfe63]

Less than 10% for 2D applications. The faster disk is probably more valuable than the faster processor.

The Radeon 9600 is about 3X as fast as the Radeon 9000 on 3D gaming.

I would go for the T-series. They are better built and at your discount not expensive.

[DGaley27]

first of all, thank you very much for the help

second, i have 2 newbie questions to ask. the sxga+ screen- will that only allow me to have a farther "zoom out" on my desktop or will it enhance the screen- ie movies, games, etc. also going from a HD of 4200 to 5400 will dramatically improve basic operations speed?

[awolfe63]

Virtually no difference for movies - Either has plenty of resolution - the scaling of 640x480 source causes a bit of blurring on either. (Unless you can get HD sources - not going to happen real soon.)

Higher resolution is noticable for games.

Most importantly - you get more pixels for Word, Excel, PP, IE, ...