DDR2 and DDR3 question

[wolfeking]

I am looking into buying a Lenovo T500 laptop. It has 2 GB of DDR2 ram already, and it supports DDR3 also. I know that I can physically run more RAM with the DDR3, but Power consumption wise, which one uses less power??

 

[Benny Boy]

ddr3 is designed for better energy efficiency.

 

[wolfeking]

so, i should get better battery life with DDR3?

 

[johnb35]

It has 2 GB of DDR2 ram already, and it supports DDR3 also.

Can you provide a link that it supports both ddr2 and ddr3? All the links i've found says it only supports ddr3.

 

[wolfeking]

I dont have a link. I was told that it has DDR2 in it, and Lenovo says it will accept DDR3.

 

[johnb35]

http://www.lenovo.com/partners/us/en/pdfs/Lenovo T400 T500 Datasheets.pdf

Here are the specs.

 

[joh06937]

http://www.lenovo.com/partners/us/en/pdfs/Lenovo T400 T500 Datasheets.pdf

Here are the specs.

i was thinking "what the hell? they are different sizes..." although i guess i don't know for laptop memory. for desktops they are different sizes (if i remember correctly).

 

[johnb35]

It's kind of hard for a laptop to support both types when you usually only have 2 slots for memory. Desktop is a lot easier when you can have up to 6 slots.

 

[joh06937]

oh wait, nevermind, they are the same length but have different notch locations.

[YT]V3FnpaWQJO0[/YT]

are there motherboards that support both?

 

[johnb35]

Yes, there are. There were some that had ddr and ddr2 slots and now there are a few that have ddr2 and ddr3. MSI makes a couple.

790GX-8D
P45-8D

 

[wolfeking]

HP G61 (crap tech I know) has DDR2+3. but you have to use an adapter to put the DDR2 in. It came with 3 GB DDR2, and i removed the adapter and installed 2X4gb DDR3 in it w/o trouble.

The Lenovo may be the same way, even though they are saying that it only supports DDR3.

Anyway, what is the advantage (other than power savings) of 3 over 2? which one will perform basic data and word processing task better?