Thinking about upgrading my Lenovo U330

[ghost recon88]

Right now my laptop has a P7350, 4GB DDR3, and a Vertex 2 60GB SSD. I'm hoping I can keep it at least another 2 years. With the price of RAM dropping, I've debated throwing in 8GB. I currently don't come close to maxing out my 4GB so that may be a waste of $ looking at it, however with Windows 8 coming out maybe it's worth it? I've also been looking at CPU upgrades, my current one is 2GHz with 3MB cache and a 1066MHz FSB. The two CPUs I'm looking at are the P8800 and P9600, both 2.66GHz. I can get either for about $100. I'm wondering when paired with the SSD if I would notice a nice speed increase over my current chip?

 

[FwFred]

Good luck, I am thinking of replacing my U330. It has never had great battery life (now with dead battery), and gets very hot--like the GFX get stuck to discrete and don't go to low power.

That said, if you aren't having any trouble the only things I would upgrade are:

1) RAM (if you are using it, sounds like you are not)
2) HDD->SSD

I don't think you'd really notice the CPU. Save your money towards your next notebook Buy a nice Ivy Bridge notebook that comes preinstalled with Windows 8!

 

[JMahon]

I sold my U350 while I had the chance. "Ultrabooks" will soon replace U3x0-like laptops.

 

[FwFred]

Ultrabooks look nice except for the screens. Why is it so hard to find high resolution screens?

 

[zCypher]

Ultrabooks look nice except for the screens. Why is it so hard to find high resolution screens?

I find that ever since the "almighty 1080p" became so popular, we've seen a standardization in the screen technology for computers resulting in actual lower resolutions for higher prices. For example, I paid about $160 for my 23.5" Samsung 2048x1152 brand new (about $170 shipped), today, you'll be hard pressed to find a run of the mill 1080p 22-24" for that price. I could be completely off base though. That and I don't really know if it's got anything to do with the laptop market. Though, when I had my T400 I did have 1440x900 which seems in excess of the norm today. I dunno.

edit: sorry for the total threadcrapping. I think if you've already an SSD, you're probably good to go for a while. I'd go for the RAM if there's a sweet deal, but otherwise you're OK with 4GB unless you're doing things that maxes it out or soon will be.

 

[JMahon]

Quick OT: I do agree with Cypher. Now, 1366x768 is an all too common screen res that I'm not happy with on anything bigger than 13". Even my U350, 13.3" @ 1366x768 didn't have great pixel density. I have NO idea how Apple's 13" MBPs are still at 1280x800 when the MBA is at 1440x900. I love 1440x900 on that 13"!