upgrade processor or harddrive

ryanheath2006 · 05-02-2006, 04:57 AM

I am planning on ordering a laptop with a 1.86 Pentium M 750. I want to know if I should spend the extra $100 and upgrade the processor to a 2.0 Pentium M 760, or spend about $120 and upgrade from a 80 gig 5400 rpm to a 60 gig 7200 rpm harddrive. Which would end up giving it more performance.

sezerb · 05-02-2006, 05:08 AM

I would say your best bet would be to upgrade you processor. But it also depends on what you will be using the laptop for

LaptopExtreme · 05-02-2006, 06:47 AM

Yup. Processor is the way to go. I don't consider an 80gb 5400 HD to a 60gb 7200 as an upgrade. The cost should be almost identical, if not the same. And yes, the HD is very simple to upgrade. What laptop are you getting?

Dropkickmurphys · 05-02-2006, 10:55 AM

yeh the processor will be your best bet....you might wanna keep the HDD as a 5400 as it creates less heat....

ryanheath2006 · 05-02-2006, 01:40 PM

I am looking at getting the Dell XPS M140. It just went on sell for base of $650. So I'm going to upgrade it some. I read a pretty good review of it on pcworld.com. So I figured it would be a good buy to take to college. Lacks the video card performance, but I'm not into gaming.

onegpthreexp · 05-03-2006, 10:09 AM

You want a faster pipeline instead of a quicker drive. The controller will transfer at the same rate no matter the revolution. You’d have to have a superb cache to make RPM a more important factor than Gigahertz. A 1.6 Pentium M can semiconduct at the speed of a 2.4 Pentium 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_m
In all practicality you’re looking for a quicker loading Internet Explorer

and all of your programs. Meaning you need quicker paging because that’s what consumes resources. Choose a greater processor and save an average of one or two seconds instead of the microinstance a drive might make.

pc club guy · 05-04-2006, 07:12 AM

i say the processor man, with a better processor you can be able to run more things at a time. HD speed is important but that can be easily replaced on a laptop, but a processor is harder to replace. so just listen to us and uprgade for processor and if you want more space just buy another laptop HD or get an external drive later on.

spamdos · 05-04-2006, 09:14 AM

a PM 2.0 is a nice quick processor and good battery life, as everyone said the HDD is not really an upgrade. i would consider it a downgrade...from tyhe other one if you are going to be taking it to school and that sort of stuff.

i think a PM 2.0 is about equivalent to a P4 HT 3.2 or 3.4

05-02-2006, 04:57 AM	#1 (permalink)
ryanheath2006 New Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: North Vernon, IN Age: 22 Posts: 9	upgrade processor or harddrive I am planning on ordering a laptop with a 1.86 Pentium M 750. I want to know if I should spend the extra $100 and upgrade the processor to a 2.0 Pentium M 760, or spend about $120 and upgrade from a 80 gig 5400 rpm to a 60 gig 7200 rpm harddrive. Which would end up giving it more performance.

05-02-2006, 05:08 AM	#2 (permalink)
sezerb Bronze Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 52	I would say your best bet would be to upgrade you processor. But it also depends on what you will be using the laptop for __________________ Technology Slice

05-02-2006, 10:55 AM	#4 (permalink)
Dropkickmurphys Diamond Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Worthing, UK (Uni at Kent) Age: 20 Posts: 2,471	yeh the processor will be your best bet....you might wanna keep the HDD as a 5400 as it creates less heat.... __________________ *Main PC:* Intel Q6600 2.4Ghz (OC @ 3.375GHz), Gigabyte P35C-DS3R motherboard, 4GB 8500 1066mhz RAM , 512MB Geforce 9800GTX+, 500GB Seagate 7,500RPM HDD, Lite-on 20x DVD+RW, OCZ GameXStream 850W PSU, CoolerMaster Black Centurian 534 Case, Samsung 19" SyncMaster 940BW monitor / Samsung 19" TV, Windows 7 Pro / XP Pro (Dual Boot) *Laptop (Acer Aspire 5720):* Intel T7500 2.2GHz, Intel Graphics X3100, 2GB DDR2 Ram, 160GB HDD, 15.4" Acer CrystalBrite Monitor. *Xfire:* poultrygeist *Steam ID:* unpdave

05-03-2006, 10:09 AM	#6 (permalink)
onegpthreexp New Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 4	You want a faster pipeline instead of a quicker drive. The controller will transfer at the same rate no matter the revolution. You’d have to have a superb cache to make RPM a more important factor than Gigahertz. A 1.6 Pentium M can semiconduct at the speed of a 2.4 Pentium 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_m In all practicality you’re looking for a quicker loading Internet Explorer and all of your programs. Meaning you need quicker paging because that’s what consumes resources. Choose a greater processor and save an average of one or two seconds instead of the microinstance a drive might make. __________________ Compaq 1.066 Gigahertz Pentium 3 resident access 512 MB hard drive 18.6 GB Windows Professional XP duplex 1.1 USB Linksys WPC54G

05-04-2006, 07:12 AM	#7 (permalink)
pc club guy Silver Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Unable To Load Posts: 172	i say the processor man, with a better processor you can be able to run more things at a time. HD speed is important but that can be easily replaced on a laptop, but a processor is harder to replace. so just listen to us and uprgade for processor and if you want more space just buy another laptop HD or get an external drive later on. __________________ ..::HP Pavilion Zv5000::.. ..::15''TFT::.. ..::XP-SP2::.. ..:: P4@2.8ghz::.. ..::TOSHIBA MK4025GAS/40gigs::.. ..::Seagate Cobra 200GB::.. ..::512 DDR SDRAM::.. ..::ATI mobility Radeon 9000igp(128mb)::.. ..::Harmon/Kardon-SoundMax Integrated Digital Sound::..

05-02-2006, 06:47 AM	#3 (permalink)
LaptopExtreme VIP Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 880	Yup. Processor is the way to go. I don't consider an 80gb 5400 HD to a 60gb 7200 as an upgrade. The cost should be almost identical, if not the same. And yes, the HD is very simple to upgrade. What laptop are you getting?

05-02-2006, 01:40 PM	#5 (permalink)
ryanheath2006 New Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: North Vernon, IN Age: 22 Posts: 9	I am looking at getting the Dell XPS M140. It just went on sell for base of $650. So I'm going to upgrade it some. I read a pretty good review of it on pcworld.com. So I figured it would be a good buy to take to college. Lacks the video card performance, but I'm not into gaming.

05-04-2006, 09:14 AM	#8 (permalink)
spamdos Diamond Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Canberra Australia Age: 20 Posts: 1,163	a PM 2.0 is a nice quick processor and good battery life, as everyone said the HDD is not really an upgrade. i would consider it a downgrade...from tyhe other one if you are going to be taking it to school and that sort of stuff. i think a PM 2.0 is about equivalent to a P4 HT 3.2 or 3.4 __________________ TROGDOR the BURNINATOR

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