I'd wish I had found this forum before making my

[Ronza]

I'd wish I had found this forum before making my Tablet PC decision but oh well.

Ive ordered an ex-lease TC1000 from a friend of a friend for AU$1100. It will come with 512MB of RAM but after wading through the last 30 Pages of threads on here, Ive realised the Transmeta Crusoe might be slower than I think.

The Tablet will be used for basic office applications like Word, PowerPoint and OneNote along with Firefox. I love to have heaps of applications open and am a pretty big multi tasker. Storage isnt a big concern, I have 320GB in my two desktops at home. I am wondering what would be the most worthwhile upgrade for the TC1000.

a) Maxing the RAM out to 768MB (replacing one 256MB Stick)
b) Buying a 40GB 5400RPM Drive (not 7200RPM as the performance difference seems to be minimal over 5400RPM)
c) Upgrading the WiFi Card to 802.11g (Intel 2200 OK?)

Im not looking to spend too much money but do want the most out of the TC1000. What are your thoughts?

[lithous]

Just some things to think about...

a) I believe the setup for the TC1000 is the same as the TC1100 in that there are two slots, only one is user accessible. I was worried at first when I got mine (I didn't know about this site and didn't see this fact before) and thought I had half the RAM I really did because I only saw the one 512 (mine came with a GIG). So you have 1 non-user-accessible slot with 256 and in the accessible you will add the 512.

This would be the best of all the choices you mentioned, IMO.

b) You didn't give the specs of the drive it comes with but I have two TC1100 and one has 40GB 4200RPM and one 60GB 5400RPM and I don't see that much difference in speed (until the RAM gets used up).

c) Unless you have a super fast connection 11Mbs is plenty. 54Mbs is over kill if your network is 1-5Mbs. Unless you have FIOS connection I would think RAM upgrade is better than wifi.



b)

[DaveTN]

I've done all three upgrades to my TC1000. Of the three, the RAM upgrade is the #1 to improve performance. As Cheap as RAM is getting, you get the most bang for your buck.
Second most important is the HDD. I upgraded to the 60G 7200 RPM 8MB cache and it gave my TC a kick in the butt in performance, but it cost more than the RAM upgrade. Finally, the WiFi is esoteric. I was happy withthe HP WiFi card that came with my TC1000, but being a techno junkie and finding a great deal (about $30.00) on the Dell Truemobile 1400 minipci, I couldn't resist. Range is a bit better than what I had. But like I said, it was an esoteric upgrade.

Overall, I am VERY satisfied with my TC1000. I run the whole gamut of Office XP apps and the run perfectly fine for me. It's not unusual for me to have IE, Acrobat and an office app opened and my TC handles it fine.

I wish you well with your new purchase and welcome to the Buzz.

David

[Ronza]

Cheers Fellas,

Currently the RAM is 2x 256MB = 512MB so I would have to replace the 2nd Slot with a 512MB Stick. I dont know how cheap they are in the US but they aint cheap here in Australia. I take it these are PC133 144-Pin SoDIMMS?

Secondly, the hard drive is the standard 30GB 4200RPM Drive. Ive read the 2 Hard Drive replacement threads floating around, the 7200RPM only seems to bring vibration and heat, not increased performance over the 5400RPM Models. At this stage, a Seagate 40GB 5400RPM 16MB Cache drive seems like my best option.

Im thinking of doing the RAM first, that way the Tablet wont have to go into Swapfile so often. Then again, a faster HDD is going to mean quicker boot up and program loads. Decisions, decisions.

[WNewquay]

Ronza,

I would go for the memory first. Unless your ongoing demands are very modest, you will "use" the memory and appreciate the benefit for most of the time the machine is on. This is in contrast to the hard drive.

[Ronza]

General Concensus is
512MB -> 768MB is better than 4200RPM -> 7200RPM

[WNewquay]

Ronza,

There is only one minor consideration - and I forgot to mention it before.

When it comes time to move on to a newer machine,
- for the memory - you can't take it with you (most Tablet PCs introduced in the last year AND the TC1100, cannot use the memory that you are going to add to the TC1000)
- for the bigger/faster drive - you can probably move it to another more recent Tablet PC (except an NEC)

[lithous]

Do you have to buy from Australia?

If not this seems like a decent deal with world wide shipping:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=80201&item=6754633005&rd=1

[bcdechert]

I've been using a TC1000 daily since Nov 2003. Definitely memory FIRST! Then the hard drive - I'm not sure the bios will be happy with a HDD with 16MB cache - but it seems you read a post that supported it. A couple of things to be aware of - the code morphing used by the Transmeta is what makes it appear to be slow, but once apps are loaded and running I've found little hinderance in operations. Battery operations, if set to maximize battery life will have deleterious effect on software operations - GoBinder and OneNote; at least they have for me. The longrun monitor and battery aid that Chris describes in TC One-Thousand.com are very useful. Hibernation is the most useful way to preclude long load times but at least once a week I found it useful to do a complete shut down, otherwise weird things would occur.

[DaveTN]

Ronza,
I know it was mentioned in the hard drive thread, but I have absolutely no vibration issues with my new HDD (Hitachi 7K60). Still, I would go for the RAM first and the HDD second, but keep in mind, that the HDD (in my opinion) does make a difference too.

David

[fanoush]

Hi Ronza, if money is not a problem TC1100 would be a better choice. However for office and web browsing it should be fine. Especially if you don't close applications, leave them running and only hibernate. My machine had 256MB so I upgraded to full 768, but I would say 512 should be enough too. I would suggest to try to use it with 512MB for a while. Going from 512 to 768 is probably not such speedup as going from 256 to 512.

I also had model without internal wi-fi just with modem so I bought cheap (~30$) gigabyte miniPCI GN-WIAG01 card (I don't need modem). But the range is not great with internal antena. I wish I went for PCMCIA model with external movable antena instead. But maybe it is not problem with wi-fi in tablet after all. I use it only in ad-hoc mode with dell 1300 miniPCI in my notebook so maybe the poor range is fault of the dell card. The good thing is that the gigabyte one I bought has atheros chipset so it is OK with madwifi drivers in linux too.

Also if you have plenty of RAM, turn off the swapfile completely. It uses more RAM but don't use harddrive so often. With swapfile turned on XP uses memory conservatively. It always tries to keep it free and swap to HDD instead. IMHO it is better to fill the ram, not keep it free and swap.

I don't know about harddrive upgrade. I like the one my unit came with (30GB). It is very quiet and I prefer that over speed.

F

[Ronza]

quote:Originally posted by lithous

Do you have to buy from Australia?

If not this seems like a decent deal with world wide shipping:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=80201&item=6754633005&rd=1


Nice find...AU$116 shipped. Stores in Oz sell them for AU$220ish and there is only one on eBay.com.au

When making my decision for the TC1000 over the TC1100, I figured the money I saved would buy upgrades. Obviously the Transmeta CPU is a wee but slower than what I originally percieved.

Ive had yet another read though the replies in the hard drive threads. It seems the Hitatchi 7K60 isnt as bad as I think, Toms Hardware tells me it uses less battery life than the 5400RPM Seagate and load times are increased which would help compensate for Transmeta's below par app loading like bcdechert descirbed.

Right now though, I am starting to lean toward the Hard Drive upgrade as the laptop Im using now is 512MB (same as the TC1000 which Ill be getting) and the only lag I get is when it is loading applications and going into swapfile (hard drive...).

How much is the 40GB 7K60 over in the US?

[lithous]

About the price, so which do you choose? :-)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=80201&item=6754932122&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=42183&item=6755554363&rd=1

[lithous]

I was joking in my last post because I already showed you a lower price but, man, look at this deal...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=42183&item=6755554363&rd=1

Infineon is the brand mine came with from the factory (refurbished)!

[lithous]

Sorry, wrong URL in my buffer...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=11172&item=5177022144&rd=1

[Quinny]

Hi from NZ. I have a TC1000 with maxed ram and love it. I think most people who complain did not start from a realistic base point - the advantages of the tablet - and expected too much. You are going to love it if you know the limitations and work WITH them.

One of the best upgrades you dont even mention -

Buy a second battery. This is a very useful upgrade! Grab on ebay and away u go.

Buy a second pen. If one pen dies voila swap it over and no wait while you track one down (however I had one die within 2 weeks of getting the tablet and now years later still have not needed to swap again).

Look at the docking station. Did 2 years without it and still dont use enough but good for recharging and using as a second monitor setup to your main pc.

Buy a multi bay (and cd rom/dvd which then also goes also in docking station) And with the correct cable no power is needed to use in multibay.

Do all the suggested software upgrades inc xp sp2 and those on the compaq site. Takes time but mass improvement.

Now my donts -

Dont put software that wont run on. The more stuff on and off the more windows itself bogs down. I limit what goes on and are still running the orginal install. All the staples run fine. I use all office programs with no dramas. I watch movies from the dvd drive or from harddrive in avi format with no problems. But some stuff I dont install cos I know it wont be happy. Some old games are great and just as good as the new ones - find the threads on what runs well and enjoy.

Do not bother with upgrading the drive. Buy a 2.5inch usb caddy and instant upgrade. If u ever sell the tablet then u keep. If the drive in it dies (and they do - I have gone thru a couple) then swap a new one in. I have a 40gig that I put movies on and the tablet plays via usb fine. You can also use to make a full backup of the tablet and save incase u need it.

Anyway your mileage may vary but hope you find the thoughts of someone in this corner of the world helpful. I brought the tablet to surf the net wherever - outside, while in bed. To be portable. Because it was light to hold (I wanted something lighter than a laptop which was heavy to hold after a while). I have done classes with it, taken overseas and even dropped it (cringing the whole way to the ground). I love using the pen (but not for pages and pages of notes) and there are times when I want to use the pen on my main pc. I paid over $5000NZ for my tablet and dont regret a cent.

[flecrone]

[David,

What is an "esoteric upgrade" ?

[DaveTN]

quote:Originally posted by flecrone

[David,

What is an "esoteric upgrade" ?


oops...bad choice of words...been a while since High School.

Basically, what I was trying to state was that I really didn't need the Dell Wifi card to improve the overall performance of my tablet but I wanted it anyway. (however, performance did improve).

Next time I need to look up words that I don't use often before I use them. [:I] [B)]

David

[Ronza]

Thanks Guys, logged in today and surprised to see my original thread still kicking. The inital novelty not only a Tablet but a AU$1100 purchase has now worn off and I am using this as a workhorse. Ive upgraded the wireless card to the Intel2915ABG, its nice, I dont receive any further range from it unfortunately which is $50 wasted. Nevertheless it is still quicker and the Intel Software is nice.

As for the other upgrades; Ive thought of accessorising, losing the Stylus is one thing that scares me so I might consider purchasing a spare stylus now rather than later. I dont need a second battery, this one lasts a good 3 hours and carrying a spare around hinders mobilty; and with Li-Ion batteries, if you dont use them they die off. I have purchased an External CD/DVD-ROM which has been used about twice (whoever knew you could share an optical drive in XP) which is another $40 wasted :(. The docking station idea is a good one as when this laptop is on my desk, it has 3 wires which usually get plugged in...External Optical Drive, Wired 10/100 and Power....perhaps a docking station would give my TC1000 a 'place' on my desk.

End of the day, I still like the idea of the Hitatchi 7K60 and I reckon thats going to be my next upgrade.

[Zipf]

Ronza - please let us know when you go for the HD upgrade, and your overall impression. Also, I found that using the newest Sound Card drivers on HP's site really gave me a speedup.