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> Anyone know whatever this conversion invalidates the ThinkPad warranty?
>
> > 2.....Has anyone dealt with Portable enhancement products in Winchester Ca? they have a
> CPU upgrade for the 701cs, and I was thinking about it, FYI: They offer for $500 to
> replace the DX4-74 chip with an 5x86-100 which would
> > appear to almost double the power of the laptop. I wanted to see what your opinions
> were, if any, about this upgrade. The $500 includes replacement of the old chip if you so
> desire as well, so it seems a pretty safe bet, but I'd like to know if anyone out there
> has done it yet before I plunk down the $500.
I'd question whether its worthwhile to spend $500 on a chip upgrade
for the following reasons:
1) as it's been said a bunch of times already, the bus and cache on
the TP701 sucks - one might "double" their 701's performance with the
5x86, but that would then result in a 701 with the same performance
as a good DX4/75 system;
2) ThinkPads will break down, EasyServ is cool for getting ThinkPads
fixed fast and for free (if within warranty), and the last thing I'd
want is to send my ThinkPad in for a new power or system board
and find out that the repair would cost me another $500 because I
voided the warranty - maybe an exageration but IBM repairs aren't
cheap if you have to pay for them; and
3) if I'm right, the 5x86 doesn't have an FPU, so if you're running
math-intensive apps you're performance might be the same or worse
than the DX4-75 in the 701.
I also think the 5x86 is a clock tripled chip, so the installed chip
would be configured to run 25Mhz externally and 75Mhz internally,
rather than the full 100Mhz that its designed for. The AMD WWW site
has lots of info on 5x86 upgrades.
Personally, I may do the upgrade myself when my warranty runs out, I
know that I can find someone to do the surface mount soldering and
save at least $300. If I'd have to spend $500 on the upgrade, I'd
sooner hold on to the $500 and wait for an eventual TP560
liquidation, seems like a better investment.
On the other hand, I may just leave my 701 alone and pack it away
since it may be one hell of a valuable antique 20 or more years from
now. The 701 is a very unique product worth keeping intact.
Just my 2 cents...
--
Gene <blue@enteract.com>
http://www.enteract.com/~blue
IP #: 206.54.253.122
IP name: blue.sa.enteract.com