T40p: Can I upgrade that unit?

[fjs08]

Planning a move and found an old ThinkPad T40p I thought had been lost.
Has XP Pro, version 2002, Service Pak 3 with 1 GB Ram.
Can I upgrade that to Win 7 and add more RAM???
It's a great unit.
Thx.
Frank

[RealBlackStuff]

2GB RAM: yes.
W7: no.
Try Linux instead, even with 1GB.
Or keep XP, see http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=115289

[Cigarguy]

I got a T42 with 2 GB RAM and Win 7. It's just too slow to be used daily even after upgrading the CPU and installing a SSD. Single core CPU is painfully slow compared to even the slowest T60. Only reason I have it around is because of the screen. Absolutely love the 15" Flexview screen. Being non-PAE I also had trouble finding a Linux distro that I like. That was about a year ago and I'm thinking of trying Crunchbang after reading good things about it from another thread on this forum.

I would not put anymore money into your T40. Find a Linux distro to your liking and call it a day.

[ilakast]

Being non-PAE I also had trouble finding a Linux distro that I like.

There is a non-pae flavour of the latest Ubuntu-family distros https://help.ubuntu.com/community/9w I'm running a console-only on a TC1000 with a Transmeta Crusoe CPU

[ajkula66]

I'm running Fedora 20 on my T42p...and loving it.

Obviously, YMMV.

[kge420]

Vector linux for me. Very happy with it.

[Theokretes]

Actually I would like to disagree. You can do a few performance tweaks to Windows 7 to get it to play nicer on older thinkpads (I have done it many times).

#1 Disable useless Windows 7 bloat.
Go into 'Programs and Features', click 'Turn Windows features on or off'. Uncheck the following:
*Internet Explorer (install Chrome or Firefox beforehand)
*Media Features (use 3rd party if needed, like XMPlay for playing audio)
*Tablet PC Components (unnecessary for a T4x)
*Windows Gadget Platform (useless gadget service that guzzles 700 MB of RAM in the background 24/7)
and I usually do XPS Services and XPS Viewer too

#2 Reduce the interface to operate faster.
Go to System (right click my computer, properties). Then click 'Advanced system settings'. Choose the 'advanced' tab. Then under performance choose 'settings'. Choose "adjust for best performance". Windows will readjust all of the settings, give it a minute.

#3 Turn off system restore.
While still in System Properties choose the 'System Protection' tab, turn off system restore-- unless you absolutely need it. But I would advise running actual backups instead.

You can also go into msconfig to tweak other things too.

I actually do this to all of my computers whether they are old or not. But it helps especially for older machines.

[ajkula66]

The problem with W7/T40p is the lack of proper graphics driver for Vista/W7.

While there are tweaked drivers floating around the web, I've never found any of them to perform to my satisfaction...

Obviously, YMMV.

[GACrabill]

The problem with W7/T40p is the lack of proper graphics driver for Vista/W7

Actually, this one has worked perfectly on W7 for me and others for over three years: http://www.mediafire.com/?5tieomimroy#!

It's the correct "6.14.10.6606" version for Vista/Win7 for ATI7500 and ATI9000.

[ajkula66]

Actually, this one has worked perfectly on W7 for me and others for over three years: http://www.mediafire.com/?5tieomimroy#!

It's the correct "6.14.10.6606" version for Vista/Win7 for ATI7500 and ATI9000.

Well you've certainly triggered my curiosity with this info... ...because if it works with Radeon 7500 it will work with FireGL 7800 which opens a world of new possibilities on another platform...

[Temetka]

It should work fine.

I recall having to run modified drivers on my old T41p. Unfortunately, I no longer have that machine so I can't report back on what driver I was using at the time.