If you haven't seen it already, you should check

[Jonathan Schmidt]

If you haven't seen it already, you should check out this great article on Tom's Hardware. It pits the 1.7 Banias against the 2.0 Dothan.

http://www6.tomshardware.com/mobile/20040510/index.html

Bottom line is that there is no change in battery life between the two while still getting an average of 22% increase in application performance. This gives a 5% premium increase over just the expected performance gains from the increase in clock speed. So, the Dothan chips are faster at the same clock speed, but not by much.

If you are a gamer, there was no observed performance difference between the 1.7B and the 2.0D. This is attributed to the same Intel integrated graphics.

I'm still toying with the idea of buying a 2.0 Dothan.... haven't decided what to do yet. Anyone else brave enough?

[foe]

Thanks

[foe]

Great Article

[DavidBeoulve]

Neat. The whole article tells me why Dothans are good, as well as why they aren't worth the cost of being an early adopter. I'll let the Dothans drive down the price of the Briana's.

[eT]

@Jonathan:
- if you do not realy need the tiny extra power: save the money and/or invest it into more memorz! (at least 1 GB RAM)

- if you like 'toys for boys' ... just get te dothan now (but don't complain about extra money burned) AND get extra RAM

either solution: enjoy!!! :)

eT

[dustham]

Hi - Thanks for the link. Very good article. I have bought a new 2.0 Dothan and will get it tomorrow and install and see what it does. I have a 1.5 right now as I couldnt wait for toshiba online and grabbed a deal at best buy and upgraded the HD to the 7200rpm and then bought the new processor. So I will post based on my experience at replacing the part.

There was a great post from someone else who upgraded to the 1.8 Dothan so I do appreciate him posting pics as I will be using that to help guide my hand.

Regards - Dustin

[toydesign]

This whole upgraded processor thing is very intriguing...
I just recently purchased my m205 (with a 1.5 chip) as I needed it right away...
When you have everything succesfully up and running could you please post all pertinent information (I looked through the post of a previous owner who upgraded his processor, but still didn't find all the info I was hoping for...)
If you have the time could you post:
- Cost of 2.0 chip and where you purchased ?
- Ease of installation (any soldering etc. required ?)
- Any "seal" need to be broken in order to install (something that would give away the fact that you did install new chip, thus possibly voiding warranty) ?
- Any changes to BIOS necessary, or does it just boot-up normally and recognise the new chip with no issues....?
- Any observations on battery life, heat, etc ?

I know that there are alot of owners anxiously awaiting any news ...

Good luck and thanks in advance for any info...!

[mtwizard]

I have been using a Dothan 755 2.0GHz for about a week and so far am very happy. There is noticable increase in speed and the tablet seems to run cooler. The fan also runs less. No BIOS change. The battery life seems a very small amount better. My old configuration was M200, 1.7GHz, 2G Ram(kingston)and 7200 hard drive(toshiba). I am not to concerned about battery life as I have a 2 spare batteries and am near a socket or my multi dock most of the time anyway.

Price I paid $785 for 2.0,could have gotten 1.8 for $510 and 400.00 for 1.7.

I have a backup 205 which I will install the old 1.7GHz in.

I am running RC2 and a mixed group of programs from MS Office to AutoCAD 2005, Architectural Desktop, Architectural Studio and some unusual software like Geomagic for 3D modeling. Everything runs perfectly.

Any other questions please ask.

Thank you,
mtwizard

[toydesign]

Thanks for all the info MTWIZARD....
I plan on trying it out as soon as I save up the necessary $$$$....

[maxim382]

To everyone, who is planning to upgrade the processor. Bad news is that the current BIOS does not support the processor stepping. Your processor will se stuck at 598 mgh frequency no matter if it on AC or Batteries. I Should admit that even On this frequency it performs pretty good, saves power significantly,but you can imagine what it can perform when the stepping is working.