which way better-Windows Readyboost

[rbi]

1. 2GB USB Flash Drive in USB port
2. 2GB SD Card inside the Express Card Reader in the Express Card Slot
3. 2GB SD Card in built-in 4-1 card reader

My machine is R61 89185MM with Windows Vista Business preloaded. Now the memory is 2GB and I feel it is very slow to log in and shut down. Any other suggestion?

[aboveliquidice]

I just purchased a San Disk Ultra II 2gb SD - and I plan to ready boost from the internal reader - I am still waiting on getting my dock, so vista isn't loaded yet.

I'll let you know how it goes though - does anyone out there have any thoughts???

~above~

[rbi]

Thanks mate. How about the Intel Turbo Memory 1GB? Is it worthy to wait the 2GB version? Can I install it in my 15.4" inch version of R61?

[tomh009]

It's pretty hard measuring the actual impact of ReadyBoost, but by most reports it does help things. And on my X61, with a 2 GB SD card for ReadyBoost, I have to say that PhotoShop CS2 starts very, very quickly -- something that is certainly not the norm.

The flash drives are varying speeds, as are the SD cards (and your built-in vs ExpressCard options). If you have access to a high-speed SD card, I would recommend testing the speed with the built-in reader as that's inexpensive -- and it doesn't stick out like the flash drives, so you can leave it in permanently.

Based on the benchmark tests people had done on the X60 and X61, I selected the SD card option. I had been contemplating using a CF card with the Delkin CardBus CF adapter, but the SD works nicely, is inexpensive, and leaves me the CardBus slot for future expansion. I have no cameras that use SD cards, so I use a USB SD card adapter on the infrequent occasions that I need to plug one in.

As for the slowness of your R61, rbi, how long have you had it? It takes a few days to a week to "settle down" with the search indexing etc.

[rbi]

The flash drives are varying speeds, as are the SD cards (and your built-in vs ExpressCard options). If you have access to a high-speed SD card, I would recommend testing the speed with the built-in reader as that's inexpensive -- and it doesn't stick out like the flash drives, so you can leave it in permanently.

Thanks a lot for that. But may I ask whether the built-in 4-1 card reader in all the thinkpads (I assume they are the same) can support the new high speed SD cards or other media cards?

As for the slowness of your R61, rbi, how long have you had it? It takes a few days to a week to "settle down" with the search indexing etc.

I had my R61 for almost two months but only used it for a couple of times. I just did some partition using diskmanager and only can shrink 18GB out of my 85GB free of my total 120GB.

[tomh009]

Thanks a lot for that. But may I ask whether the built-in 4-1 card reader in all the thinkpads (I assume they are the same) can support the new high speed SD cards or other media cards?

High-speed cards are no problem. Further, extrapolating from my personal experience with the X61, plus other people's experiences on these forums, you should have no problems with SDHC (SD high capacity) cards, either, as you are running Vista. What I don't know is whether the 4-in-1 uses the same chipset (and thus has the same performance) as the SD card reader on the X61.

I had my R61 for almost two months but only used it for a couple of times. I just did some partition using diskmanager and only can shrink 18GB out of my 85GB free of my total 120GB.

Try leaving it running 24h for a couple days and see how it settles down in terms of performance. Won't help your disk space issues, though!

[warder]

Having tried ReadyBoost with both an ultra-fast USB flash drive and a slower internal SD, I can say this:

2GB RAM on its own works better than using any ReadyBoost. This is especially true when running on battery. Save your money!

[rbi]

Having tried ReadyBoost with both an ultra-fast USB flash drive and a slower internal SD, I can say this:

2GB RAM on its own works better than using any ReadyBoost. This is especially true when running on battery. Save your money!

Thanks all. So internal memory 2GB RAM is enough for any other external means?? It seems that ReadyBoost is MS' gimmick.