Looking for a laptop to run vmware

[cmosbjt]

I am running vmware on 1.7G PentiumM + 512M, it is slow. It drives me crazy when switching between system. I am thinking of getting a new laptop. I prefer dell for their reasonable price. Waiting for their deal. Any suggestion? Thanks.

 

[AmigaMan]

there's nothing wrong with your existing laptop except you don't have enough memory. If you think about, Windows XP needs around 256MB just to be happy and load up fine. That leaves only 256MB for VMware+your hosted OS which is definitely not enough unless you don't do anything else. I had a Linux laptop (P-M 1.8Ghz) with 2GB of RAM and Windows XP running in a VMware window just fine. Now any virtualized OS is not going to be as fast as if it were natively booted, so I hope that's not what you're after. But if you increase the size of your RAM (at least 1GB) you should be fine.

 

[cmosbjt]

thanks AmigaMan,

512M ram is the max of my laptop.

 

[6000SUX]

Originally posted by: cmosbjt
thanks AmigaMan,

512M ram is the max of my laptop.

Are you sure? That might be a dumb question, but honestly... I didn't know there were ANY Pentium M machines that were that restricted. What model is it, out of curiosity?

If you have to buy a new machine, and cost is your biggest priority, I don't think you can go far wrong with any new low-priced model from a major manufacturer. I've had bad experiences with Dell to the point that I won't order from them any more, but their machines usually do pack a lot of power at a low price point. HP and others also have low-priced models.

 

[cmosbjt]

My laptop is ASUS M2C. It has a embeded 256M ram and I add another 256M.

I have seen many complains on Dell, but I bought an IBM T43, the fan noisy drive me crazy and I give it to my wife . Many friends of mine have Dell, they don't complain much. Dell has many deals and we can get a powerful machine with reasonable price, that's why I prefer Dell. Any paticular reason that I should not go for Dell? Thanks

 

[6000SUX]

Originally posted by: cmosbjt
My laptop is ASUS M2C. It has a embeded 256M ram and I add another 256M.

I have seen many complains on Dell, but I bought an IBM T43, the fan noisy drive me crazy and I give it to my wife . Many friends of mine have Dell, they don't complain much. Dell has many deals and we can get a powerful machine with reasonable price, that's why I prefer Dell. Any paticular reason that I should not go for Dell? Thanks

The only real reason that I know of is that their support isn't the greatest, and the durability of their lower-priced models has historically not been the greatest. YMMV and hopefully it will. The last Inspiron I bought was a couple of years ago, and I'd bet they've improved the case design etc. since then.

Wow, that is a bit of an oddball configuration on your current laptop. It does look like you can switch out the one 256MB module for 512MB, though. At $60 or less this might be an easy way to increase performance-- it could help a lot unless your RAM requirements are so great that you'd be paging heavily anyway. You could hopefully recoup some of this expense by eBaying the 256-megger.

On the other hand, you could probably still get something for that laptop on eBay or some other way, and apply that cost towards a new laptop. That's probably what I'd do in your shoes. You could also just keep it as a beater or give to someone, like a kid or family friend.

 

[andyfasthands]

What's your budget? Just look for something with 1GB at least and if you're willing to go in the $1000-1500 range check out some laptops with dedicated video memory.

Click here to see a list of laptops I am considering in my thread.

 

[dnuggett]

The M2C has one free slot. Add 512 to that slot. Viola - 768 I'm not sure if it can handle a 1GB stick. But that would be your best bet.

 

[6000SUX]

Originally posted by: dnuggett
The M2C has one free slot. Add 512 to that slot. Viola - 768 I'm not sure if it can handle a 1GB stick. But that would be your best bet.

Advice already given. I looked into it and don't believe it can take a 1 gig stick, either.

 

[cmosbjt]

my ibm t43 has 512M ram, instead of adding another 512M, can i add 1G ram? so totally it will be 1.5G, can I?

 

[6000SUX]

Originally posted by: cmosbjt
my ibm t43 has 512M ram, instead of adding another 512M, can i add 1G ram? so totally it will be 1.5G, can I?

Gonna get some earlplugs and deal with it, eh? The T43 can take up to 2 GB. I'm pretty sure that they don't have to be the same size, but I'd check the manual.

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: 6000SUX

Originally posted by: cmosbjt
my ibm t43 has 512M ram, instead of adding another 512M, can i add 1G ram? so totally it will be 1.5G, can I?

Gonna get some earlplugs and deal with it, eh? The T43 can take up to 2 GB. I'm pretty sure that they don't have to be the same size, but I'd check the manual.

They don't have to be the same capacity.