Originally Posted by alect
- I have read some comments about the 15" 1024x768 resolution and XGA - can someone explain why this may be a problem? Do I really need SXGA+ - and if so I have read 15" is not the best for that. True?
- Also is the Radeon 7500 not appropriate for my purposes? Some of the other T42 configs are Radeon 9000.
- I originally thought of going for a 60Gb HD but looked at my current 40Gb and I still have 23Gb unused. I also have an external (USB) 40Gb HD. So have 'almost' decided to settle for the 40Gb for now - and if in the future need a larger HD can trade up for a couple of hundred bucks. Opinions on this?
- is the 5400rpm HD fine for my purposes or should I go for a 7200 rpm HD
- any other issues I should consider?
I think the 32Mb video memory is definitely on the low end, these days, for what you are doing, pics/photos, video streaming, DVDs; ReplayTV; etc. I believe video memory on that model Radeon is not upgradable, so get what you need now.
Video editing takes lot of storage space, and the external USB HD is the best solution. When you're ready, look into a much bigger enternal USB hard drive. They cost app. $1 per Gb, (even less if you buy the external enclosure and HD seperately), and 150 Gb is very common now, topping out at 250 Gb.
On the resolutions and screen sizes, for the 14" TP screens, the 1400x1050 resolution is in direct proportion to the WxH of the 14" screens, and thus it looks quite good. For the 15" screens, there's a different ratio of W:H, and I think the next step in resolution, (1600x1200?) is the correct proportion for the 15" screens -- I'd suggest you verify this to be certain. A previous post mentioning native resolution basically says the same thing.