X30's P-IIIm 1.2 VS X31's PM 1.4?

[SaberX]

Just wondering if there will be a big diffence in the two systems?
My X30 with P-IIIm 1.2Ghz with 1gig ram. And a X31 with PM 1.4Ghz with 512 ram?

I know there will be alittle speed boost,BUT i dont know if it's a big enough "upgrade" .

[iamdmc]

Well RAM will make a big difference - DDR > SDRAM... and if you pop another 512MB chip (average cost $25) you've got a decent machine. As for the CPU, it is faster in the X31 - I've used P3m and Pentium M, and the mobile is a lot cooler/faster (not to mention the doubled L2 cache)

GL in your choice, but if this is an upgrade, I'd recommend trying to find a used low-end X60 for $600ish (they are out there)

[ajkula66]

In a few words: X31 will be significantly faster, but hotter than X30.

X30 offers solid, run-of-the-mill P3 performance with a little more heat than I like to feel, but runs well when maxed out at 1Gb RAM. Personally, it's probably my least favourite X series model, along with X20, although for different reasons.

X31 is a much more of a contemporary machine, and the only issue I have with it is heat. The last one I've had (and sold on this forum) had the RAM maxed out at 2Gb along with 60Gb/7200 HDD, and that has been quite a powerful toy, but it was hot.

The prices of X31 have gone down a bit, and that makes them even more attractive these days.

From another standpoint, build quality of X30/31 (I've never had an X32) is quite poor when compared to X2 series...plastics break a lot more, and I've seen many more dead X3s than X2s, although it should be the other way around....

Hope this helps. Good luck, Bill.

[SaberX]

Thanks for the replys.
I'm just thinking now i may just look around for a nice fast 7200rpm hard drive.
The 40/4200 in it now is slowing things down a bit.

I think if i find a good deal on a 60 or 80 gig 7200 rpm drive , it would speed things up a bit.
Then i'll hang onto this X30 for a while.
I love the small size of it.

[pianowizard]

The X31 has USB2. The X30, only 1.1.

[iamdmc]

Very good point - I despise USB1.1

[dc_slim]

Saber, sticking a faster HD in your system will make a world of difference. I've done this with the X30 I used to own and my current X31. One thought: frankly, unless you're really keen on seeing your machine boot up at lightening speed, I'm not sure a 7200 HD gives a whole lot more performance than a 5400. There clearly is a difference, but unless you do a lot of work with intensive file-transfers, or something else that uses the HD a lot, you may never notice. So, IMHO, don't turn down a 5400 rpm drive at a good price. They're a better value than many people realize, and the difference over a 4200 rpm drive is HUGE.