The FreeBSD Diary

My current laptop is an IBM ThinkPad T41. It replaced the T22 which was stolen. At the time, many people donated cash to help me replace this unit. It was much appreciated. I'm reaching the limit of the HDD and the RAM. Some things crawl to a halt as I run queries on the FreshPorts database. The RAM (at 256MB) is slowing me down when I'm running X.

My plan has always been to replace this laptop with an Apple, when it dies. So in the meantime, I think upgrading the RAM and the HDD is the best approach.

The laptop is an IBM ThinkPad T41 (model 2378 DMU). According to the Lenovo website, these are my HDD options. The biggest fastest drive is a "100GB 5400rpm hard drive", which sells for US$199.

The hardware options are clearly laid out. The RAM options include 512MB for US$65 and 1GB for US$143.

Going for the 100GB HDD and the 1GB RAM, that's roughly US$340 plus shipping and taxes. But let's look at parts from elsewhere. I'll also open up the laptop and see what RAM and HDD is already in there. But, for what it's worth, dmesg shows: ad0: 28615MB <IC25N030ATMR04 0 MOAOAD4A> at ata0-master UDMA100.

I will post more details soon.