Quick Question

[Stunt101]

If I buy a preconfigured x40 through ibm and my school, and it says it has 512 ram, is the 512 one piece that is soldered into the computer, allowing me to put in another 512, or is it 256, and putting in a 512 will only pump me to the 700s.

Thanks in advance.

[akeskira]

X40 has one memory socket, so whatever you get from the factory, you either keep or have to replace with something bigger.

Antti

[Stunt101]

oh.

Thank you very much for bringing this to my attention.

In that case, for normal word processing, internet browsing, and dvd-playing (little to no gaming), do you think there'd be a large performance gap between the t42 with 1.8 ghz and 1 gb ram and the x40 with 1.2 ghz and 512 ram? What about the x40 with 1 gb ram?

I was particularly drawn to the x40 because I can get it for $700 cheaper than the loaded t42, but if I'm going to have to spend $500 on upgrading the ram to get suitable performance, I'll have to reconsider my options.

Also: Are any updates for the x40/ plans for an x41 in the works? If so, will they come out by the end of August?

Thanks again

[akeskira]

In that case, for normal word processing, internet browsing, and dvd-playing (little to no gaming), do you think there'd be a large performance gap between the t42 with 1.8 ghz and 1 gb ram and the x40 with 1.2 ghz and 512 ram? What about the x40 with 1 gb ram?

For those tasks you listed, 512 is *more* than enough. 1 gig would be total overkill. I currently use X30 (which has 1.2 GHz Pentium III) with 512 megs as my primary work machine, and so far I haven't really had any issues with neither speed nor memory. X40 with its Pentium-M would probably be double as fast...

Watching DVDs will be the biggest challenge, as X series doesn't have a built-in optical drive. You would have to 1) use an external drive; 2) use the bulky expansion base; or 3) rip the movies to the hd. I use the latter approach.

Also: Are any updates for the x40/ plans for an x41 in the works? If so, will they come out by the end of August?

Intel should bring its low & ultra low voltage Dothan CPUs to the market this fall; the consensus is IBM will update X series at that time.

Antti

[csv96]

X40 has one memory socket, so whatever you get from the factory, you either keep or have to replace with something bigger.

Antti

The X40 has one open user-accessible memory slot in addition to the memory integrated (non-removable) on the motherboard. X40's come with either 256mb or 512mb integrated on the motherboard so you can expand the 256mb models to 1.25gb and the 512mb models to 1.5gb total memory by adding a 1gb SO-DIMM yourself.

[budder]

Actually, I would reccomend the 1.2 with the extra RAM. IME, more RAM beats a few extra cycles every time. Admittedly, i game and use Photoshop, which the OP doesn't plan on doing, btu the 1.2 with more RAM will liekly be the snappier machine.

Of course, for the tasks listed, a 1.0 P4-M with 384MB of RAM would be overkill, even in XP.

[akeskira]

The X40 has one open user-accessible memory slot in addition to the memory integrated (non-removable) on the motherboard.

You're right. I can't believe I missed that fact considering how much I've read different specs. Thanks for correcting me! Now the X40 looks even more tempting
Do you know if IBM lets me choose a 40 gig disk for any of the ULV models?

Antti