notebook usage queries and confusion

[acekay]

Hi all,

I just got my first laptop a week ago. like all, i want the optimum power from my notebook which is a Dell Inspiron 6400, with the Intel Core Duo t2400. 1gb DDR2 Ram, single channel.
and 100 gb HDD 5400 rpm.

my 1st query- should i reformat the system to get rid of all the software that it comes preloaded with, that i might not be using n free the memory ? and also create separate partitions for my system, leavin the C: for the windows components and updates with 25-30gb in there. and the remainng for my media and work related files.
Also, as my previous practice, is it advisable to select a path for installation of my various programs that i use , in the D: (and not the C:, where i have all the windown components and drivers installed, cos i was told and i believed that its best done this way, so that the computer during start up doesnt load everything at once, facilitating faster performance n loading up)

2nd query- when i went into the BIOS of the new system that i got, to my utter dismay i found out that in "Device Info" it showed Video card memory as 128mb and not 256. i got it replaced on calling n reporting this matter. And now, to my shock, again, i find that the new replaced system shows me the same specs of 128mb and not 256mb.

isnt it supposed to show me 256 mb instead of 128 mb ? cos thats what i ordered and paid for-X1400 256 mb ATI Radeon video card.

 

[Marmion]

I don't know about your first question, but for the X1400, I think the dedicated memory is 128mb, and shares up to 128mb of your system ram, hence 256mb "Hypermemory"

 

[acekay]

i thought it was 256mb dedicated....and i also think that i'd asked them this before i bought the system.
how do you think that its going to affect the performance ? the main purpose of the computer is to run programs such as photoshop, premiere pro, after effects, combustion, maya and softimage, z-brush etc.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: acekay
i thought it was 256mb dedicated....and i also think that i'd asked them this before i bought the system.
how do you think that its going to affect the performance ? the main purpose of the computer is to run programs such as photoshop, premiere pro, after effects, combustion, maya and softimage, z-brush etc.

it's not. the 1400 doesn't have enough horsepower to really use 256 megs of ram. dell's sales agents don't know crap about what they're selling, so it's not surprising that they told you it was dedicated. they may have thought that dedicated meant discrete graphics.

all of the video cards available for that notebook use some sort of dedicated/shared setup, where half the memory is dedicated and the other half is shared.

as for formatting, i'd only do it if you can't get rid of the crap via add/remove programs and msconfig.

partitioning is up to the user. the thing about the computer attempting to load everything at once is false, however. it loads what it needs to load regardless of what partition the program is on.

as for faster performance, it is probably faster to leave it as one partition and use a good defragger like perfectdisk to put the most commonly accessed files at the fastest part of the disk. if you partition it, the disk is phyiscally separated (iirc) and so you could have a partition start at the middle (slower) portion of the disk. this would lead to decreased performance.

 

[acekay]

Great...THanks ElFenix and Marmion.
that sure helpful and promt n precise information. now i need to get my hand on a version pf perfectdisk and i'm all set then. also, would it be possible to use the laptop as an external HDD ?...by that i mean, just connnecting some sort of a firewire or a USB cable to another laptop or desktop and access and transfer the files between the 2 systems, rather than setup a network ? cos i kno that the macbook can be used like that for transferrin files back n forth...

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: acekay
Great...THanks ElFenix and Marmion.
that sure helpful and promt n precise information. now i need to get my hand on a version pf perfectdisk and i'm all set then. also, would it be possible to use the laptop as an external HDD ?...by that i mean, just connnecting some sort of a firewire or a USB cable to another laptop or desktop and access and transfer the files between the 2 systems, rather than setup a network ? cos i kno that the macbook can be used like that for transferrin files back n forth...

you might be able to do that. it'd be similar to the null-modem serial networking we used to do back in the day.

 

[Raduque]

They make devices that can do an ad-hoc network using USB cables.

As for your first question, just uninstall all the factory-installed software you don't want. It'll be almost as fast as a fresh install.

It's probably just a driver problem, but my laptop (inspiron 6000) ran faster in it's factory config w/some stuff uninstalled, then it does right now after a format/reinstall. I'm considering restoring it.