Zweiblumen

Hi all,
I'm facing the problem of giving couple of laptops an overhaul to add some "bang" to them. They are all Intel T7200 @2.00 Ghz with 2 Gb ram and currently running XP. I know that adding some ram would be a good way to improve their performance.

The idea that I got was to do a clean install of Win7 and add a SD (2 Gb) card configured for Readyboost.

So the question is does ReadyBoost work ?.

Yours
Zweiblumen

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God of Thunder

I run Compaq laptop with an AMD Athlon dual-core 2GHz processor with 2GB of ram. I run Windows 7 Home Premium.

I took and unused 2GB SD card and have been using it for readyboost for a couple of months. My overall reaction is "meh". If you're expecting a "wow, that is much faster now" then don't use it. But I can see a little improvement in some apps like photo editing.

The read/write light on the card reader lets me know when their is activity, but I have yet to notice any kind of trend.

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Anxst

I don't care for readyboost. I think it's mostly a gimmick, and in some cases it can actually slow programs down.

It does almost always improve boot times, though.

Here's some testing that was done a while back:

ActiveWin.com: Windows Vista ReadyBoost Test Round-Up - Review

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Martian

Yeah, readyboost isn't so hot. Nice in theory, but the practical truth is that Flash drives aren't fast enough to offer substantial benefits.

A T7200 with 2 GB RAM ought to have plenty of bang as it is for most day-to-day tasks. You could add another 2 GB RAM, but depending on the config that could be pricey (2x2GB SoDIMMs are going for ~$100 right now).

Honestly, I think your best first step is to just start with a fresh windows install. You can also use nlite to remove some of the extra crap Windows normally installs. See how that does, then start considering upgrade paths.

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snowy

The laptops you're upgrading to 7 sound similar in specs to mine. I have 7 Professional; I tried ReadyBoost and didn't notice any difference.

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Zweiblumen

Thanks to you all for your input.
Since these machines all have SD card readers I just wondered if that could be used to gain performance cheaply.

Based on that and the experience with those laptops running XP Pro I think that the Win7 and faster HD would be the best option.

Yours
ZB.

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