Latitude E4300 & E6500 why not both DDR3 ?

Hi,

I'm very surprised that Dell only provides DDR2-800Mhz memory support for Latitude E6500 instead of E4300.

I don't understand, the built in chipset of E6500 is a Mobile Intel® PM45 Express Chipset that support DDR3 Memory so why the E6500 don't support it ???

Intel tech specs :

Does anyone try to upgrade E6500 memory to DDR3-1066Mhz ?

Thanks !

 

We compared DDR2 and DDR3 some months back in this thread. The Intel chipset can't handle the full bandwidth of DDR2 PC6400, so adding faster RAM won't provide a lot of performance benefit but will add to the cost until DDR3 matches DDR2 pricing.

DDR3 runs at slightly lower voltage, but the potential power saving is largely offset by the higher frequency.

I think Dell did their homework and decided that the time to migrate to DDR3 is not quite now. Maybe at the next hardware refresh.

And don't bother trying to fit a DDR3 module into a DDR2 slot. They are intentionally physically different.

John

 

next hardware refresh should be at the release of arrandale CPUs, and being nehalem based they'll require DDR3.

DDR3 modules cost more. The lesser power requirements are a boon to the higher costing but more battery life conscious ultraportables, the benefits to the 14+ models is less. Speaking of which, why are there NO threads about the e5400/e5500 models? Maybe Ill make one.

 

There are some, but they are less active and sink out of sight. This, this and this for the E5400 and there's an E5500 owner's lounge.

John

 

From what I understand, DDR2 can outperform DDR3 in a lot of use cases due to better latency, but DDR3 comes into its own when the frequency increases beyond what DDR2 can do.

Of course, some people see that 3 is greater than 2 and think it is better every time.

 

DDR3 is overrated and not worth the cost right now.

 

I believe the E4300 and E6500 were developed/designed at different times by different contractors, hence the differences.

 

The E4300 needed some differentiation to substantiate its higher price. That may have been a factor in using DDR3.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X301 also uses DDR3. It may have been a factor in making the E4300 look competitive on paper?

 

I doubt it. The competitors of the E6400 and E6500 (Lenovo Thinkpad T400 and T500) also use DDR3. And if Dell looked at the competition, you would have switchable graphics on the M4400 (on the E6400 and E6500 it might not be worth it as the GPUs are not very powerful).

 

I am wondering why there are no DDR2 - 8500 out for Laptops. Any ideas or if they are out, where I can buy them.