advice for buying a laptop

[David Christensen]

On 06/15/2016 10:02 AM, Christian Baer wrote:
> On 06/09/16 23:49, David Christensen wrote:
>> I have a Dell Inspiron E1505 that I bought in 2007.  Mine came with a
>> 32-bit processor, and, as best I could tell, they all did.  I wanted
>> 64-bit.  So, I started looking for a replacement laptop.  STFW I found
>> out that certain later model 64-bit Core Duo processors were known to
>> work in that laptop.  I bought a Intel Core Duo T7400, installed it, and
>> it works.
>
> Ok, that is a way of doing it, I guess. Could you also enlarge the RAM
> to really profit from the 64 bit CPU?

I upgraded the RAM to 2 @ 1 GB modules several years ago, which was the 
Dell specified maximum.  (STFW there are rumors that 2 @ 2 GB works.) 
There are other aspects that I'd like to improve, but I've reached the 
point of diminishing returns.  The laptop works well enough for e-mail, 
browsing, office applications, and light tinkering, so I just keep using it.


> So what you are saying is that nVidia Chips will work fine with the
> drivers provided by nVidia but I am at the mercy of them, should they
> decide to drop the support?

The NVIDIA drivers should work with the hardware and software systems 
NVIDIA has designed and tested them for.  If/ when you find yourself 
outside that scope of support, then your NVIDIA hardware cannot be 
expected to work.


David