3000 N100 0768 question

Hi everyone. I just bought a refurbished Lenovo 3000 N100 laptop, and my mission now is to upgrade it a little bit.

I have 2 gigs of ram on the way (2 1 gig crucial pc2 5300 sticks), but I am hesitant to mess with the hard drive or processor because of heat concerns. This is the first laptop I have owned, thus I have no experience upgrading them, but I have heard that heat is a primary concern to be considered.

I am interested in a 100 - 120 gig hard drive to replace the 80 gig in here now (I also will need to purchase recovery disks, but I have that covered). My question about the hard drive concerns a couple of factors:

1. Will a 7200 RPM drive run too hot for this laptop?
2. If the answer to the above is yes, do drives with 16 megs of cache run hotter than those with 8 megs?

I also have a couple of questions relating to upgrading the processor (I know this voids what is left of the warranty):

1. I have downloaded the most recent BIOS update. Does anyone know what processor that will allow me to upgrade to? Try as I might, I could not find any info when I downloaded the update other than a vague message about it adding support for newer processors - but not which ones.

2. If I can upgrade to a core 2 duo processor, will the jump from 31w in the core duo 2300 to 34w in the core 2 duo T7200 (the model I am interested in) cause any issues?

3. As far as I can tell, both are rated for a thermal specification of 100 degrees C. Does that mean they will run at around the same temp and that I won't have any heat issues arising from upgrading the processor?

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me!

 

n100 is known to run cool. Don't worry about the heat.
You can put a Core 2 duo on type 0768 with no problem

 

Why do you need to purchase the recovery discs? My Seagate 7200.1 runs very cool and quite. As I recall, the N00 is pretty thick which should help with the heat issues. The review unit I had ran very cool and quietly. I personally don't think upgrading the CPU gets you anything. Maybe if you are you code a lot of video, but Office and Internet will see little if any benefit.

 

Thanks so much for the replies!

As for the recovery disks, none came with my refurbished unit, and when I upgrade my hard drive, I'm thinking I will need them.... Unless there is some other way of getting all the software that came pre-installed back.....

So heat should not be an issue for anything, and it sounds like I will not get much of a benefit by upgrading the processor. Still, I'm trying to get this thing to the point where it will be my primary computer and replace my desktop - which has a core 2 duo processor in it. I'd hate to take a step back even if it is a small one. I will, however, keep in mind that it won't make a huge difference and perhaps hold off until the price comes down even more.

I'm really anxious to see what kind of benefit I get from going from 512 megs of ram to 2 gigs.

Thanks again for the replies, and if there is another way to get all the software I will lose when I replace my hard drive (particularly cheaper than the 45 or so dollars Lenovo will charge me for a disk), let me know.

 

Congrats on your N100. I never thought much of the Lenovo laptops until i saw one a few days ago at circus city. Out of all the notebooks there, this one had the most solid construction and feel to it. It just showed quality all over. I was surprised to see the keyboard had absolutely zero flex and to me the keyboard seemed even better than my own Thinkpad!!

To be honest the build was better than my R-51 which is known to be a tough laptop in the Thinkpad line. The low price of under $700 was an icing on the cake, so if i don't go for the PS3 (for BluRay movies), then i will probably buy the Lenovo lappy.

 

Tough choice. I have both, which is why I'm not really too worried about the gaming performance on this computer.... though it can run Q3 arena like a champ :lol In actuality, other than the Q3A demo, I have no idea how this thing handles games, but I can guess with only 4 pipelines and shared memory on the integrated graphics, it isn't anything to write home about.

As for the PS3, you can't beat the price when it comes to playing blu-ray discs, and if you have an HDTV (I assume you do as you specifically mentioned blu-ray movies), you'll love it - I know I do. The game catalog is a bit lacking at the moment right now, but it doesn't matter, Oblivion has stolen my soul and won't let go.....

 

I had a PS3. I sold it. I see no reason to shell out that kind of money for a player which in a couple years may or may not have discs coming out in that format. Maybe for a player that could do both.

 

That's always a possibility..... Who knows, the PS3 may go the way of the Dreamcast, but as for right now, I'm enjoying it.

Oh, and my ram shipped today and should be here tomorrow (I'm an impatient SOB ), which brings me to another question:

Where does Lenovo get off charging so much for 1 gig of ram when I can get two gigs pretty much anywhere else for at least 30 dollars cheaper? I saw their prices and my jaw dropped. I thought at first that ram was just that expensive for laptops, but then I checked around...

 

Dreamcast there's a sad story. It had more great games than about any other console. It fell victim to the PS2 juggernaut. Well that and it's abysmal showing with the Saturn.

It's not just Lenovo that does it. They all overcharge on upgrades because some people just don't want to open their notebooks. Not me of course, but some people.

 

I also have a 3000 N100 0768.
Mine idles around 45 degrees, with some browsing, benchmarking and Divx movie happening at the same time, the temperature goes up to 60- 65 degrees.
Are yours also like this? This is pretty average, not exactly cool.

 

The fan in my N100 0768 comes on frequently. Sometimes the interval is like 2-3 sec. It seems that at medium load, the fan accelerates whenever the temperature hits 50 degrees.
Does this happen to urs' N100 as well??

 

OK, I'm back

Sorry to ressurect this old thread, but I was hoping someone could help me with this new question...

As I stated earlier, my laptop is a Lenovo 3000 n100, model 0768-6EU. I got my 2 gigs of ram in, and it works great, so I am pleased with that. As I said earlier, I am interested in upgrading the processor in this machine, so I have been tracking T7200s and T7400s for a few weeks now. I noticed that the T7200s are being bought up all over the place, and I figured I should grab one before they are out of stock at any place that offers a reasonable price.

The thing is, I called Lenovo support to verify that this model supported Core 2 duo processors (the T7200, in particular), and was told that they don't. This is contrary to other reports I have read all over the web saying that the 0768 models will allow for a Core 2 duo processor.

Is the guy just wrong, or does my specific model (6EU) actually not support a core 2 duo processor?

 

*sigh*

Anyone?

 

hi zookpw..youve got pm mate....hope you can help