Laptop upgrade advice try #2

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

Does i945 chipset work for you?
I have some Toughbook CF-51 I can sell complete or partial.
As the caddy and the PROPER power brick run somewhere around $60 each it won't be super cheap.
But I have them in stock.
-
Also have some of the single core CF-51's but they use i915 or i855 and you said those are out.
[These use a cheaper power brick. Less amps.]

Do the buses down there have short fan women with missing teeth that walk with a cane and fart like all the buses in So. Cal. seem too?
.

[Digital Technophile]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

A Ratdude, K, PM back at cha;

Digital Tech - My Acer Aspire 1410 (12" display, SU2300 CPU) came with the full install of Win 7 Home Premium x64. Runs good with 2 or 4GB ram on a 2.5" 250GB hard drive. It blows my wife's Compaq with Vista out of the water. Holds its own when matched up to my desktop (AMD 640 Quad, 9500GT, 640 GB WD Black, 8 GB DDR3 1066) until I give it some photo editing.......

Delaware is that a netbook or full size lappy? I really think to run Win7 on any comp, esp. netbooks, you really need at least 2GB of memory; The new breed of netbook seem to be going dual core which is good news to those who run Seven; but Aero still a tad dicey on integrate video.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

Whoops..
The i915 [Mk2] models use non-Intel video.
They have ATI Radeon X300 with discrete [dedicated] RAM.
I have at least one of those.

[ratdude747]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

Whoops..
The i915 [Mk2] models use non-Intel video.
They have ATI Radeon X300 with discrete [dedicated] RAM.
I have at least one of those.

if i had the funds i would go with a toughbook... i tend to appreciate robustness in things.

i915 graphics wise is also on the blacklist (all other i9xx is fine).

If i had the $$ i would consider one of yours...

[Digital Technophile]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

Does i945 chipset work for you?
I have some Toughbook CF-51 I can sell complete or partial.
As the caddy and the PROPER power brick run somewhere around $60 each it won't be super cheap.
But I have them in stock.
-
Also have some of the single core CF-51's but they use i915 or i855 and you said those are out.
[These use a cheaper power brick. Less amps.]

Do the buses down there have short fan women with missing teeth that walk with a cane and fart like all the buses in So. Cal. seem too?
.

A Panasonic Toughbook???? Man I remember those things back in the mid to late nineties. Those are definitely cat's ass. Just had to pop over to Panny to refresh my memory. The ones I saw had a handle and look like a briefcase. I looked at the CF-51 over there; i didn't realize they even still made them!

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

As I said..
The i915 models do NOT use Intel Graphics.
They have ATI.

Chipset:
CF-51xxxxA/H/Qxx (Mk1) -- Intel® 855PM
CF-51xxxxB/J/Rxx (Mk1LL) -- Intel® 855GM
CF-51xxxxC/K/xx (Mk2) -- Intel® 915PM
CF-51xxxxD/Lxx (Mk2LL) -- Intel® 915GM
CF-51xxxxE/Mxx (Mk3) -- Intel® 945PM
CF-51xxxxF/Nxx (Mk3LL) -- Intel® 945GM

VGA Controller:
CF-51xxxxA/H/Qxx (Mk1) -- 855GME integrated 32-bit 3D/2D Gfx, with frequency up to 250MHz
CF-51xxxxB/J/Rxx (Mk1LL) -- 855GME Integrated 32-bit 3D/2D Gfx, with frequency up to 250MHz
CF-51xxxxC/K/xx (Mk2) -- ATI Technologies Mobile Radeon X300, with discrete 64/128MB VRAM
CF-51xxxxD/Lxx (Mk2LL) -- ATI Technologies Mobile Radeon X300, with discrete 64/128MB VRAM
CF-51xxxxE/Mxx (Mk3) -- ATI Technologies Mobile Radeon X1300, with discrete 64/128MB VRAM
CF-51xxxxF/Nxx (Mk3LL) -- Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950

- I just found that. I thought they all had Intel video when I bought them.
.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

A Panasonic Toughbook???? Man I remember those things back in the mid to late nineties. Those are definitely cat's ass. Just had to pop over to Panny to refresh my memory. The ones I saw had a handle and look like a briefcase. I looked at the CF-51 over there; i didn't realize they even still made them!

I'd like to get an old CF-29 [P3 Tualatin, has handle, looks like a briefcase] to use with my ODB-II [Car computer] PC interface.
Currently using an old Gateway 9100 which is actually pretty sturdy, but it doesn't look as cool.
-
The CF-29 has a cult following and are too expensive just to get one for looks though.
The gateway does the job fine too. If it didn't I might have an excuse.
.

[ratdude747]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

As I said..
The i915 models do NOT use Intel Graphics.
They have ATI.

Chipset:
CF-51xxxxA/H/Qxx (Mk1) -- Intel® 855PM
CF-51xxxxB/J/Rxx (Mk1LL) -- Intel® 855GM
CF-51xxxxC/K/xx (Mk2) -- Intel® 915PM
CF-51xxxxD/Lxx (Mk2LL) -- Intel® 915GM
CF-51xxxxE/Mxx (Mk3) -- Intel® 945PM
CF-51xxxxF/Nxx (Mk3LL) -- Intel® 945GM

VGA Controller:
CF-51xxxxA/H/Qxx (Mk1) -- 855GME integrated 32-bit 3D/2D Gfx, with frequency up to 250MHz
CF-51xxxxB/J/Rxx (Mk1LL) -- 855GME Integrated 32-bit 3D/2D Gfx, with frequency up to 250MHz
CF-51xxxxC/K/xx (Mk2) -- ATI Technologies Mobile Radeon X300, with discrete 64/128MB VRAM
CF-51xxxxD/Lxx (Mk2LL) -- ATI Technologies Mobile Radeon X300, with discrete 64/128MB VRAM
CF-51xxxxE/Mxx (Mk3) -- ATI Technologies Mobile Radeon X1300, with discrete 64/128MB VRAM
CF-51xxxxF/Nxx (Mk3LL) -- Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950

- I just found that. I thought they all had Intel video when I bought them.
.

I know.

like i said, I'd imagine you probably want more than i have to spend... i might pm you to make sure .

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

If you have the HDD and RAM to put in it I can make it cheaper. [Uses IDE.]
They have XP Pro COA's and I can send a burned copy of an -untested- XP restore CD.
[Only works with Panasonics. If you own the laptop w/COA it's legal for you own a BU copy.]
Untested because I'm not sure if it works with every Mk#.

Check here..
http://www.panasonic.com/business/to...rt-faqs-51.asp
... make sure all the other chips [sound, wifi, lan] work for your Linux.
I'll actually have to check if wifi is there once I know which one to look at.
Not sure if that was standard or optional.
.

[ratdude747]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

if it uses DDR ram, i can do that. (i have the old 256mb's i can put backin the d400 if i had to... and I have a 60gb hdd i can steal from it).

see my PM.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

See the link above. About everything is there.

CF-51xxxxA/H/Qxx (Mk1) -- DDR SDRAM, PC-2700
CF-51xxxxB/J/Rxx (Mk1LL) -- DDR2 SDRAM, PC2-4200
CF-51xxxxC/K/xx (Mk2) -- DDR2 SDRAM, PC2-4200
CF-51xxxxD/Lxx (Mk2LL) -- DDR2 SDRAM, PC2-4200
CF-51xxxxE/Mxx (Mk3) -- DDR2 SDRAM, PC2-4200
CF-51xxxxF/Nxx (Mk3LL) -- DDR2 SDRAM, PC2-4200
.
That page says the i915 (Mk2 & Mk2LL) only go to 2GB but I think they will do 4GB.
Haven't verified that yet though.
.

[ratdude747]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

PC-

your table on the chipsets and graphics is off. last i checked the 855PM was non-integrated... thats what the 855GM and GME were for.

anything i9xx is out in terms of memory... my only laptop ddr2 is in my dad's netbook.

whichever one has the i945 has a bluetooth 2.0 option... if i could afford one it would be perfect. has all of the I/O i would want (4x usb sounds nice)... and an option to upgrade to a touchscreen is always nice. but the stupid power adapter...

anything older's specs are not on the site (this is all they had for the 51). I wonder how new it has to be to have bluetooth (most things 1.1 can be upgraded to 2.0) and an SD slot?

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

I didn't make up the charts. - Just copied.
Both say i855GME in the Video Controller list.
- I dunno which is screwed up.

The i945 versions have a built in SD slot on the front.
[Have three of those. Only selling one. Can't sell that one cheap. Sorry.]
If you find a pic it's just over a thumb size impression in the front panel about 2" from the right end and just under the palm rest area. Can see it with the lid down.
.

[delaware74b]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

DT - The Acer Aspire 1410 series is a netbook. 11.5" display but has a full-size keyboard. Acer has replaced the 1410 series since I purchased mine. My daughter has the newer one, basically the same thing (newer CPU and 3 GB ram), win 7 home premium x64. No room in netbooks for optical drives is their only downfall but I have an external DVD drive available when needed.

[Digital Technophile]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

DT - The Acer Aspire 1410 series is a netbook. 11.5" display but has a full-size keyboard. Acer has replaced the 1410 series since I purchased mine. My daughter has the newer one, basically the same thing (newer CPU and 3 GB ram), win 7 home premium x64. No room in netbooks for optical drives is their only downfall but I have an external DVD drive available when needed.

WOW, not just Win7 starter but home premium x64?! Not a particularly big fan of Acer's PC offerings, but it seems most all netbooks based on the same Compal mainboard/chipset. Does your daughter's newer Acer have those newer Intel Atom dual core CPU's? With 3GB of memory, I see Win7 as more of a viable option in those instances, but just barely. I dearly wish Bill Gates could make these newer OS scale down better than they do. Maybe the geniuses at MS will have realized this before Win8 comes out.
And as far as optical drive in netbooks, they would kind of defeat the purpose, eh? I find it even somewhat humorous that some netbooks have 2.5" mechanical hard drives (though I can appreciate the fact they could be upgraded to 2.5" FF SSDs). I thought the whole point of netbooks was ultra portability and extreme power consciouness?

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

They are getting better but SSD still have small number of re-write cycles before the memory location is shot as compared to mechanical drives.
They've been extending the life span by understating the drive's capacity and remapping into 'unadvertised space' when the sectors start crapping out, but that just delays the inevitable and it isn't like an advance in technology that's making them last longer.
.
I can't think of any practical reason to have one of those things. [For me.]
And I'm not paying more for something that won't last as long.
.

[Digital Technophile]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

They are getting better but SSD still have small number of re-write cycles before the memory location is shot as compared to mechanical drives.
They've been extending the life span by understating the drive's capacity and remapping into 'unadvertised space' when the sectors start crapping out, but that just delays the inevitable and it isn't like an advance in technology that's making them last longer.
.
I can't think of any practical reason to have one of those things. [For me.]
And I'm not paying more for something that won't last as long.
.

I agree. Flash technology is in its infancy, but it feels like we're between epoch's as far as storage technology goes. Mech. HDDs are mature tech that have to rely on RAID to maintain competitive with SSD's sheer speed. I think the quality [opinion] of disk drives not what they used to be with these terabyte sized drives. Homework really needs to be done when selecting a make and model (even with my recent terabyte disaster, I remain a Western Digital stalwart-just a bit wiser).
Same goes for SSD, but for the opposite reason. Flash chips, both MLC and SLC are dependent on manufacturer, can be found that offer some measure of reliability...but homework needs to be done. I think [prediction] it will only be a few more years until a breakthrough in flash chips will happen where both price, R/W, and increased MTBF will largely be the end of mechanical HDDs as we know them. Still waiting for that day. But for me ATM, flash memory better for a more ROM than RAM usage scenario.

[mockingbird]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

Ratdude:

It occured to me today... I have an Asus M6000 that I was supposed to fix for someone for a while. Basically the DC jack needed to be replaced. I did so, it was a breeze, and everything works great now. The old jack was loose and the connector would get very hot because of the friction, and when I took it out it was all brown and corroded.

But my point is that Asus released a series of "barebones" laptops back in the day (~2004). These are great to work on as they're built very well, the screen on this particular model is the best LCD I've ever seen on a laptop, and it comes with the Radeon 9700 Pro Mobility (Well actually the "mobility" version of the 9700 was really just a 9600). It has a parallel port, firewire, PCMCIA, IR, etc...

This particular model is the M6BNe. The "B" denotes the thankfully lower resolution screen (Goodness I don't like high resolution screens on laptops), and the "e" denotes that this version has the Mobility 9700 and not the 9600.

If you can get your hands on one of these I would grab it. The chipset is 855M and the CPU is the newer Centrino, and in general these are sort of modular in a sense that they're built to be taken apart and put back together easily. The quality is also very good.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

I agree. Flash technology is in its infancy, but it feels like we're between epoch's as far as storage technology goes. Mech. HDDs are mature tech that have to rely on RAID to maintain competitive with SSD's sheer speed. I think the quality [opinion] of disk drives not what they used to be with these terabyte sized drives. Homework really needs to be done when selecting a make and model (even with my recent terabyte disaster, I remain a Western Digital stalwart-just a bit wiser).
Same goes for SSD, but for the opposite reason. Flash chips, both MLC and SLC are dependent on manufacturer, can be found that offer some measure of reliability...but homework needs to be done. I think [prediction] it will only be a few more years until a breakthrough in flash chips will happen where both price, R/W, and increased MTBF will largely be the end of mechanical HDDs as we know them. Still waiting for that day. But for me ATM, flash memory better for a more ROM than RAM usage scenario.

I don't think that's how things will go.
There's a point where the bulk of consumers don't want anymore.
[For example: We have the tech to build cars that can do 100's of miles/hour but the bulk of consumers aren't remotely interested. I also don't see many houses with toilets that flush by themselves.]
I think probably 95% of non-geek PC users would be just fine with using XP for the rest of their life and the ONLY reason they upgrade past XP is the Wintel forced obsolescence 'program'.
[Most non-geeks do email, surf, minor office work, and that's about it.]
Wintel hasn't done anything especially innovative in a decade.
They do a tiny minor change then force the public to buy it with fabricated obsolescence - because they can't sell it any other way.
-
Edit... I'm derailing my own post.... Go figger...
-
I think the average Joe is quite happy with the performance of 7200 RPM mechanical drives and isn't going to upgrade unless the industry forces him to with fabricated obsolescence.
In fact I think the average Joe doesn't have the slightest idea what kind of drive is in the machine. As long as it works it's good enough...
.

[ratdude747]

Re: Laptop upgrade advice try #2

As long as it works it's good enough...
.

hence why we still see morons buying crap power supplies, knockoff laptop bricks, etc, sad but true