New laptop hardware (particularly processor) questions?

[Field Marshal87]

Trying to decide on a processor

Intel Core 2 Duo PP8800 2.66GHZ with front side bus 1066mhz L2 cache 3MB and voltage 25W

Or

(same specs as above but with) T9600 speed 2.80 GHZ, L2 cache of 6mb but uses 35W ($150 more than the 2.66)

My only concern with the better spec one it uses more watts. Does using more watts mean it will drain the battery faster and make more heat? Or is it such an insignifcant difference that its much better to go with the 2.80GHZ?

Also there is an option of processor of T9900 3.06GHZ at an extra cost of $450 (from the 2.66) which has the same specs as the 2.80 but faster speed. Is that even worth it?

Also automatically the latpcomes with the option of 2GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 1GBx2)
or 3GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx1 + 1GBx1) at no extra cost. The OS of Windows Vista 64bit, free upgrade to Windows 7 64bit. Would the laptop be able to use dual channel with the 3GB option?

Also I'm probably going to upgrade the ram to higher amount in the future, max ram is 8GB for this model.

I want this laptop to last me at the bare min of 2 years, does paying al ittle more now save me more money or would I be better off with lower end specs and buying a newer pc in several years?


RAm upgrade to 4GB is $10 more (so would probably do this, cheaper than buying 2x 2GB later)
or for $170 2GB ram + 4GB ram for $170
or 8GB ram for $320
I'm not too worried about ram, since I can always upgrade it in the future, its easy to do and ive changed ram in an old laptop before

Also for the optical drive, it will have CD/DVD burn/play and BD play. However I could upgrade it for $100 for it to also have BD Burn/Play ability. Is that even worth it at this time? I'm leaning towards just BD play

 

[Yami]

My only concern with the better spec one it uses more watts. Does using more watts mean it will drain the battery faster and make more heat? Or is it such an insignifcant difference that its much better to go with the 2.80GHZ?

There isn't going to be a noticeable change in battery usage, maybe ten minutes less of power per charge. I would say it's worth the money to get the better processor.

Also there is an option of processor of T9900 3.06GHZ at an extra cost of $450 (from the 2.66) which has the same specs as the 2.80 but faster speed. Is that even worth it?

At $450 more I would definitely say no, not worth the money.

Would the laptop be able to use dual channel with the 3GB option?

Yes, at least I think so.

I want this laptop to last me at the bare min of 2 years, does paying al ittle more now save me more money or would I be better off with lower end specs and buying a newer pc in several years?

I would say get decent specs but not too high (unless you don't mind spending the extra money). Once you start going too high you find yourself in a sequence of diminishing returns, for example look at that T9900 processor you mentioned, costs twice as much for about 20% more power.

Also for the optical drive, it will have CD/DVD burn/play and BD play. However I could upgrade it for $100 for it to also have BD Burn/Play ability. Is that even worth it at this time?

Considering the price of blank BD-Rs, I would say not worth the money. How many BD-Rs would you actually burn, anyway?

 

[Field Marshal87]

Thank you so much!

Considering I don't even own a camcorder, I don't think I would get that BD-R burn option. I think that would be something for way way down in the future. I own a lot of blu ray movies, so BD play is a must for me.

So only 10 min less of power. That's not too bad. What I primarily use my computer for is webbrowsing, microsoft word, powerpoint, excel, Adobe Photoshop occasionally, uploading pictures from my digital camera, playing WMA & MP3s, streaming video, and DVDs/Bluray movie watching, occasional PC DVD gaming, running various computer apps like anti virus, etc.

For running on battery though, I just use it for those microsoft documents, webbrowsing, streaming video, music player, and occasional movie watching (hardly ever watch movies on battery power but bring powercord too when I do so I can recharge battery)

As for harddrive, at the bare min I'd get SATA 320GB at 7200 RPM. But I could upgrade for $20 more to SATA 400 GB 5400 RPM, and for $60 more to SATA 500 GB 5400 RPM or for $370 more to 120 GB Solid Sate Drive. I need much more than 120 GB, so thats a def no no. Would 5400 RPM reduce performance of my CPU much? Or is it much better to have the more memory?

The laptop I got, I didn't do as good research, but I can still return it, still got like teenish to 20ish amount of days to return. It said it had 320GB 7200 RPM, but on my computer it says 159 GB of 287 for local disk C. What would you pick for yourself? More memory or faster memory?

Also would a laptop with 18" screen use up more battery power than a 16" inch screen?

That's it. That's all I really need to know.