Category: Geeks r Us
Hi all,
Well, my search for a laptop may be coming to an end now. I've decided to go with the samsung x120 notebook. From what i've read, it seems okay for things i'd use it for such as email, internet, voice chat, IM, stuff in microsoft office, etc. I don't need stuff like high-end graphics. The model that's currently available offers 3GB RAM. However, a newer revision is out which offers 4GB RAM. The thing is, the new revision is not shipping until the old stock is cleared, which apparently stands at over 500, so i'm not sure how long it would be before the newer revision is available. They would both be dual core and running win7 64-bit.
So my question is, for the things i'd need it for (see above), would it be worth waiting for the upgraded model to become available, or should I just go ahead and order the current model on Monday?
Any help is appreciated,
Thanks,
Robert
I think you'd be just fine by ordering it now, rather than waiting. The extra gig might make things a bit smoother and faster, but for as little as it sound like you need the extra memory, I doubt it would be worth the wait. Other more knowledgeable people might think differently. I don't know.
Wouldn't the 4gb model cost more once it ships? It is relatively inexpensive to upgrade memory, even laptop memory is cheap, though you may have to buy two 2gb chips.
From what I've heard 2gb would be plenty for what you need so you'll see insignificant difference between 3gb and 4gb memory.
Agree with Wildebrew.
3GB will be fine from what it sounds like, unless with Office you were going to do some serious high-end collaboration stuff which, from your age and descriptions from yuo, looks like not likely.
Go for the 3GB ... the two dual processors are what's gonna save you the most time on loading programs and the like.
Personally what I can't wait to see is solid state drives becoming mainstream and large enough to handle what magnetic ones do; should be fun to see users' reactions to using that ...
Yeah, I wouldn't be doing anything too high-end in office; I have office 2007 home and student which only includes word, powerpoint, excel, onenote (which i'm not exactly sure what that is) and the office live add-in (which i'm not sure about in terms of accessibility). So no, no high-end stuff there. The most high-end thing i'd probably do is play the occasional video off youtube. One question though: Would 3GB be okay for using skype, TeamTalk, etc for voice chat?
Thanks,
Robert
I do all that, and more, and programming with 2gb of memory, although my desktop is still running Windows XP sp3. The only difference is how much more memory Windows 7 takes up, and that is a lot less than Vista did.
I'd be extremely surprised if you find any issues with any of these things and a 3gb memory. I think even 2gb would do the trick just fine.
Mind you, hopefully you get a feedback from a Windows 7 user, but all I have seen on it so far indicates it is a much more efficient OS than Vista was and 3gb should´ve been plenty even for Vista.
OneNote is some sort of a contact management system I believe, sort of like a supped up version of Outlook Calendar.
I really don't get why companies make these notebooks based on the 1.33ghz ulv cpu and then stick lodes of ram in them. Surely, with a setup like this, its the speed of the ram and not so much the amount thats going to matter? Ie: with the comparitivly small amount of cache on the cpu it would make sence if they included some fast ddr3 ram, but surely anyone who *actually* needs 3/4 gb of ram wouldn't opt for a machine with this cpu in it or am I completely miss understanding something here?
@robozork, I'm building a hackintosh and I'm trying to convince my uncle to buy me one of the x25 80gb ssd's as a boot / programs drive which would be sweeeeeet!
@the professional, you really won't see a difference between 3 and 4gb of ram as others have said. One thing to bare in mind though is that the price for this computer seems to vairy hugely dependent on where you purchase it from. When I was looking for the spec of the machine, to give you a ruff idea, I found it for sale in some places for as little as £380 where as some other places were trying to sell it for £560, so in this situation, it really does pay to look around. If you were thinking of spending anything over £450 or there abouts on this computer then whilst this will handle everything that you'll be doing well enough, better computers could be had for the amount that your willing to pay.
Just some food for thought really.
Ben.
My desktop computer is running vista and has 3 gigs of ram, and I can browse the web, use skype, check email and download files from something like sendspace, all at the same time without any really noticeable lag. This is a desktop pc though, dual core, so I'm not sure if that will make a difference or not.
Agreed with Brew; I actualy have a machine for testing that has only 1gb of ram ... and one partition is Vista.
It's not bad; I only kicked it once when I did an on-the-fly compile on it.
Anyway you're totally fine.
@b3n, I hope you get that hackintosh.
As to the question about why manufacturers choose the RAM they do ... probably a price break that you could only notice on a huge scale.
Thanks for your responses; I'll make a final decision on Monday, but unless something dramatically changes, it looks like I'll go ahead and order the current model. I'll update this topic as things progress'''
Thanks again everyone for your excellent responses, they really helped!
Robert
Ok, the laptop has been ordered and I should hopefully have it towards the end of the week. I also found out that it would be running Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit, which explains why the RAM is only 3GB. But apart from the less RAM, should I really be concerned about getting a 32-bit system instead of a 64-bit system? Will I still be able to do all the stuff I mentioned in a previous post on a 32-bit system?
Thanks,
Robert
Robert,
You should be fine with that configuration. Most people do not need 64 bit OSes unless they're doing stuff that can push the cpu and max out the ram. Examples of this are video editing, compiling programs from source, graphics editing, audio editing, and what I do, database administration with Oracle 11G R2. All of the examples mentioned above eat up ram, never mind that 64 bit Windows 7 has DRM built into the kernel that 32 bit Windows 7 doesn't have. That DRM being not accepting unsigned drivers easily. hth
@rob, you've probably never used a 64 bit system in your life, so you really don't have anything to worry about.
@spike, you have a nack of sending me im's when I'm not at my computer.
Naw 64 bit is not a big deal. 32 does what you want. I picked up a Dell for 399, so these laptops are getting as cheap as net books with way better processors, more ram, and well bigger screens. Yes I know so what, can't see it anyway, but. Lol. Heck it's even high def. Lol. This one happens to be a 64 bit machine as well running 7 home, so sweet. Will I ever use 8 gigs or ram it can hold? Nope, but.
Hope you enjoy your computer.
Ok, well I got the samsung x120 laptop on friday and it's pretty cool, though startup seems a little slow for a new machine, but I can deal with that. I'm still setting it up, though a lot of the programs I wanted such as windows live mail/messenger, firefox and the copy of microsoft office home and student 2007 I had, were all installed at the local computer shop. I am having an issue setting up windows live mail where it's rejecting my gmail login when it's definitely correct, but apart from that, things are ok. I've put TeamTalk on the laptop and I was speaking to some friends last night on the Muztech server (http://muztech.podzone.org). For a built in microphone, it's not that bad. I'll probably get skype soon as well. I haven't been able to try windows live messenger cos I don't have a windows live ID yet.
But anyway, that's the current situation
Robert
I don't know about 64-bit not being needed, guys. Windows 8, more likely, will only come in 64-bit and 32-bit is being phased out slowly. In 3-4 years.... I personally dislike 64-bit because of the whole driver signing thing, otherwise 32-bit sucks as far as not being able to use more than 3 gb of ram.
3 GB and a taste. haha.
You should definitely not wait. If you think that you can get laid, go for it! At least try to get to the second or third base even. After all, us the blind people better jump at the chance of "doing it". God knows when the next chance might be?!