topic UPGRADE ADVICE in PCs & Accessories

UPGRADE ADVICE

benmaredia — Sat, 17 Jul 2004 12:52:15 GMT

Hi Guys, although i have owned my vaio for nearly 3 years i am rather new to all this, i am seeking some advice about a couple of problems on my laptop, and about what if any upgrades i should invest in. Bearing in mind i have a full extended warranty until november this year.

Firstly i have a few black spots on my screen i gather this is due to faulty pixels appearing, how many do i need before i can get some action taken.

Secondly, my dvd/cd-rw combo is not working very well these dyas, havent been able to burn cds for over 6 months, cant play dvds and wont even recognise some cds (audio or s/ware).

Thirdly, my battery gave up the ghost a long long time ago and is good for about 2 seconds of use, unfortunately i dont think this is covered by the warranty so i might need to buy my own, any advice on which batteries are best in terms of battery life.

Finally i was contemplating a memroy upgrade, on two fronts, want some new ram as my comp often slows when i am using a few applications at once; i currently have two 128mb cards in my only two slots so what would be the best way forward? I have also been considering upgrading my hdd space, but i am tempted just to get an external firewire drive for storage, what are peoples thoughts on this subject?

For the record i have a:

PCG-FX405(GB) 01
256mb installed memory
1000 megahertz AMD Athlon XP
32 kilobyte primary memory cache
256 kilobyte secondary memory cache
MATSHITA UJDA710 dvd/cd-rw combo

Thanks in advance for any help you guys may be able to offer.
Ben

Re: UPGRADE ADVICE

kee-lo_ — Sat, 17 Jul 2004 13:49:25 GMT

Firstly i have a few black spots on my screen i gather this is due to faulty pixels appearing, how many do i need before i can get some action taken.

Something you'd have to ask Sony, it changes from time to time.

Secondly, my dvd/cd-rw combo is not working very well these dyas, havent been able to burn cds for over 6 months, cant play dvds and wont even recognise some cds (audio or s/ware).

Have it fixed under warranty, the best thing to do.

Thirdly, my battery gave up the ghost a long long time ago and is good for about 2 seconds of use, unfortunately i dont think this is covered by the warranty so i might need to buy my own, any advice on which batteries are best  in terms of battery life.

Batteries are not covered by warranties. You would have to buy a new one. I suggest staying with official batteries.

Finally i was contemplating a memroy upgrade, on two fronts, want some new ram as my comp often slows when i am using a few applications at once; i currently have two 128mb cards in my only two slots so what would be the best way forward? I have also been considering upgrading my hdd space, but i am tempted just to get an external firewire drive for storage, what are peoples thoughts on this subject?

Well going to Crucial is the best start. Get 2 x 256MB RAM.

As for the hard disk, I'd go external if you don't need to take it everywhere and only need a backup device.

Re: UPGRADE ADVICE

vaiodon — Sat, 17 Jul 2004 22:21:18 GMT

Agree with Kee-Loo on the pixel, battery and dvd issue.

However, you'd need Windows XP will ensure pain free use with an external disk. My experience is that the disk is the performance bottleneck on any PC get the fastest, biggest you can find!!

I recently got a USB + Firewire enclosure to house a 60GB disk from my previous, failed laptop and I had a few issues with that. 'Cos the new laptop has only 2 USB2.0 ports I preferred to its Firewire for the disk but got errors after "a while" - it was the power profile that was the issue so I re-set it such that disks were not spun down/put into standby at any time if I was running on AC. The AC power management default was spin down disks after 30 minutes idle time and that caused problems with Firewire connected disks

If you do go for a second disk, get Symantec/Norton Ghost or something similar to allow you to create images of your disk partitions for backup.

Re: UPGRADE ADVICE

kee-lo_ — Sun, 18 Jul 2004 14:53:54 GMT

Norton Ghost is very useful.

Re: UPGRADE ADVICE

benmaredia — Thu, 22 Jul 2004 23:05:36 GMT

Thanks for the advice guys