configuring bare bones X31

[rlc5]

I'm a new reader of this forum and would like to express my appreciation for the many thoughtful posts and replies. I've learned a lot, but I have some questions.

Background: Longtime owner of X20 (2662-38U), love it, but it's too anemic for the modern world. I'm looking for an upgrade and still obsessing over whether to get the new release of the X40 or a new X31. I'm leaning toward the X31 because I think it'll be faster and more rugged (the X40, which I bought for my wife, is reasonably solid, but its magnesium alloy case seems a bit flimsy compared to the titanium allow of my X20). If I get an X31, I want it to be a lot faster than the X40. One person posted a suggestion of getting an "open" or bare bones X31 and souping it up from there. I'd like to do that, but have some questions.

1. Do I need to purchase proprietary IBM memory? Prices at The Memory Place are $201 for standard and $313 for IBM 1GB DDR 333 PC-2700.
1a. Incidentally, because the X31 memory controller limits memory speed to 266 MHz, will the X40 have a noteworthy/noticeable system speed advantage?

2. Can I rest assured that a Hitachi 60GB 7200RPM 2.5 Inch Mobile HDD will work as smoothly as (but faster than) any of the stock drives?

3. Will I need a proprietary CD drive to install the operating system ? (I thought I had that problem when I put W2K on my X20.)
3a. I'm a little clueless here, but will I get all the software I need to set the machine up on a CD from IBM, or do I need to go out and find it, burn it to a CD and hope I haven't missed anything?

4. Will there be any warrantee on the machine itself given that I've stuffed it with my own components?

5. In general, am I asking for trouble?

6. Please vote. Should I simply settle for SYSTEM A: the IBM configured system with 1.7GHz, 5400 RPM 80 GB HDD, and 768 GB RAM; or SYSTEM B: the same machine with a 7200 RPM 60GB HDD and 1GB of RAM (which will cost about $400 less)?

Does anyone have suggestions for further upgrades?

Any help will be much appreciated.

[Voodle]

1. Nope, you can get generic PC2700/2100, it runs at 266 and the CAS is 2.5 - which most generic memory can easily handle
1a. probably negligible, any speed differences would be un-noticable because of the difference in hard disk speeds.

2. Yes, it works fine, and does make a noticable speed difference, it doesn't hurt battery life particularly either.

3. You can use any USB CD drive with it.
3a. dunno but it wouldn't hurt to just do a standard XP install and install all the IBM drivers, which has worked nicely for me.

4. There should be a warranty, fitting a hard disk, memory or wireless card are all quite simple tasks.

5. no

6. Definitely system B, unless you need the extra 20gigs.

[sktn77a]

Well, add $130 for an OEM copy of Win XP plus the time it will take to download all the drivers to another computer, burn them to a CD and install them. Another $25-$30 for a HDD caddy and HDD cover (you could cannibalize the X20 but that will make it harder to sell), $50+ for a wireless card, $50+ for a USB CDROM drive (plus shipping on all of these) and the cost of your time finding and waiting for these additional parts. Plus, if there's a problem, where do you go?

Having said that, I would probably go for option B

[LumberJack]

Go for B. Extra HD space is not really needed. The extra ram is good and the Hitachi 7k60 drives are awesome!

LJ

[verktyg]

"1. Do I need to purchase proprietary IBM memory? Prices at The Memory Place are $201 for standard and $313 for IBM 1GB DDR 333 PC-2700."


Intermittent problems with cheap memory is one of the most frequent causes of Windows crashes and problems.

There are only a few manufacturers of memory "chips" who produce finished Memory Modules (DIMMs SODIMMS, SIMMs etc.). The rest are just Fabricators.

Micron is one of the Chip Makers that produce finished Memory Modules. They market through their subsidiary crucial.com. Memory Modules marked Micron may or may not be the same quality as those sold by Crucial.

Just because a Memory Module has a certain brand of chips on it is no guarantee of anything.

Chip makers produce several quality levels of Memory Chips. The best Memory Modules use matched memory chips and undergo intensive testing.

Fabricators who produce low priced Memory Modules frequently use the lowest quality Memory Chips and fudge the settings on the EPROMs to make them report that they can perform at higher performance levels.

Corsair, Kingston, Viking and Mushkin all all good name brands. But be aware that these Memory Fabricators sell 2 or 3 quality levels of Memory Modules.

The real question is how much is your time worth and how important is the work you do with your TP. What's a hundred dollars difference worth to you over an 2-5 year life expectancy of a laptop? What is your time and piece of mind worth?

Do you really need 1g of RAM or is is just nice to have. If you wait for a while the price of memory always goes down (it may go up again).

You may be better off buying less premium quality memory from a known source than spending your money on an unknown vendor.

[rlc5]

Thanks all for the very helpful advice. I need to consider all the points you've raised and then get off the fence and make the purchase(s?).

Rick[/code]