Thinkpads Forum

Posted: **Fri Dec 21, 2007 4:37 pm**

Hi,
I want to buy a used thinkpad for my mom. See would use it for wireless internet access & Word & Skype (video and voice). She's new to PC's and is learning about XP so I'd like to find a machine with XP. The computer should also have a USB port and a speaker. What is the oldest/cheapest thinkpad that would make sense for this sort of application? I've seen some ancient thinkpads with XP/wireless/etc but I get the impression that they would be really slow. Is it a mistake to get a machine that came out before XP was widely used (i.e., came from the factory with (98 or 2000)? What would be the minimum CPU and RAM requirements for a fairly responsive system?
Thanks!!

RHZ

Posted: **Fri Dec 21, 2007 4:48 pm**

What is your budget?

Posted: **Fri Dec 21, 2007 5:01 pm**

From the description of the usage of the laptop, I'd say you'd have to go by the recommendation of Skype as that program is the one which needs the most computing power:

http://www.skype.com/intl/en/download/skype/windows/

High quality video seems to need a dual-core CPU but you can get away with a 1Ghz CPU and 256MB of memory for lower quality video. That would be something like a T23 or the fastest T22 or an X24.

Posted: **Fri Dec 21, 2007 5:27 pm**

thanks.

Posted: **Fri Dec 21, 2007 5:28 pm**

If we decided to forego Skype support, what would we be looking at?
Thanks.

Posted: **Fri Dec 21, 2007 5:47 pm**

I personally have a couple of 500Mhz 600X systems running XP. They have a full 576MB installed and runs fine for the usual web surfing and Microsoft Office functions. About the only thing that really slowed one up was trying to run Adobe Creative Suite 2. A lesser graphics program like Paint Shop Pro 7 runs fairly quick even when applying various filters or re-sampling the images.

I understand that some people here have also run XP on systems with 366Mhz CPUs (or lower). It all comes down to how much time the user is impacted by looking at the Windows hourglass pointer while something is working away. Personally, I would try to stay at or above 400Mhz and at least 256MB if you are trying to run Windows XP.

Posted: **Fri Dec 21, 2007 6:31 pm**

rhz wrote:See would use it for wireless internet access & Word & Skype (video and voice).

I have a T22 setup for my mom for the exact same purpose. 900Mhz P3 with half a gig of RAM. Works great for her.

Thinkpads Forum

oldest/cheapest thinkpad for wireless & word under XP

oldest/cheapest thinkpad for wireless & word under XP

My budget is somewhere around $200 (if possible)

Thanks Ray--one more question.

Re: oldest/cheapest thinkpad for wireless & word under X