After-purchase M1330 upgrades

I'm looking into buying a Dell XPS M1330 laptop, but there are a few things I'd like to upgrade and was curious how difficult it would be. I'd like the following:
- Replace the RAM with 800Mhz DDR2 RAM
- Replace the HD with a 64GB SSD drive

My reasoning is...if I upgrade the processor to a 800MHz bus, wouldn't I want RAM that takes advantage of it? And for a 64GB SSD...do I have to configure my laptop initially with the 32GB SSD, or can I just buy the cheap-o 120GB drive instead and replace it?

Thanks,
JC

 

stick with PC2-5300 RAM, your laptop can't run at PC2-6400 .
why do you want the SSD so much?

 

No point, the current gen motherboards can't utilize 800mhz RAM, all it does is downclock it to 667mhz.

And no, SSDs should work just like a regular 2.5" HD.

 

What is the real benefit of a SSD anyway?

 

So what's the point of having an 800Mhz FSB?

SSD is MUCH quieter...I couldn't believe it when I (didn't) heard it...and faster. 32GB isn't quite enough once you consider the swap file and hibernation space requirements (even with only 2GB of RAM), you're taking up a lot of space on the HD...so I'd like at least 64GB. I keep all my media on a home server which I can access from anywhere.

Yeah, it's probably a waste of money...but I gotta spend my bonus on something, right?

 

The CPU, and that's pretty much it. Right now, only the current gen AMD X2 processors can utilize 800mhz RAM, and until Penryn comes out at the end of this year or early next, then the modules can be put to use.

 

I believe you are on the right track with upgrades but maybe you are looking at it a little wrong. If memory is just going to be clocked down (didn't do any research as I don't know what your has processor/motherboard/memory wise) the 800MHz memory would be a waste...however a lower cas latency would be helpful over the stock memory. G.Skill makes some memory with a cas latency of 4 (timings are 4-4-4-12) This would be an improvement over the cas latency of 5 that most memory has. I would do this memory upgrade if you plan on doubling memory though. ie going from 1GB to 2GB, as it is hard to justify otherwise though for G.SKILL Memory $99 for 2GB of 4 Cas memory...well thats pretty sweet.

As for the hard drive. Right now I feel as though SSD do have a place in computer history. However I don't think the time is right now. You want a faster quieter hard drive please let me recommend a few. Any hard drive noted as a HITACHI Travelstar 7K200 drive would be awesome. They are quieter then most stock drives and it runs at 7200 RPM. Plus you add on the fact that the power consumption is equal or better then a 5400 RPM drive. Not only are you buying a better, faster hard drive but you might just be getting longer battery life too. My favorite is the HITACHI Travelstar 7K200 200GB drive. For $220 you can have the fastest, largest, quietest, lower power consuming, cooler running laptop hard drive on the market. HITACHI Travelstar 7K200 HTS722020K9SA00

 

I should mind my business but I seem to be one of the only, if not the only here with a SSD....I really think it is that much better...silent, no heat, very little fan, extremely quick, improved battery life and on and on...

my review is below

 

*Ahem*, Running the risk of pushing my own wares... I've written an article on the lack of DDR2-800 support with Santa Rosa and why it doesn't matter.

http://www.randomprocess.ca/2007/07/30/intel-santa-rosa-does-not-support-ddr2-800/

It might give you a bit of insight on why the memory clock doesn't need to match the FSB frequency in this case.