T23 upgrades

[Toe]

Hey guys, Long time "lurker"..first time poster.

Anyway, I have a T23 thinkpad. I'm looking into upgrading the following:

-Ram from 512meg to 1024meg

-A burner Drive?

-Better video card? Possible?

That's my list now, The laptop has a:
1.13ghz PIII
512meg Ram
30gig HD
DvD-Rom
etc.....

Got it for school, and it's working fine. But I'm thinking ahead....

Thanks,
Toe

[Plinkerton]

The ram should cost you around $100 more or less. I don't know about the disc drive.

As for the video card, as far as I know, most of the time those are not upgradable. I may be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure that those go a long with the motherboards or something like that.

[Toe]

Any idea where to find the RAM? I've looked at curical.com (sp?), and it's about 109.99 per 512 stick....so 200 bucks for a gig.

Now, anyone know where I can get a CD/RW dvd-rom? (Or, a DVD/RW burner....wishful thinking I know)

Thanks,
Toe

[Rahula]

You've got a bargain! I bought a used T23 three weeks ago off ebay for $670 and it has 4 months left on its 3 year initial IBM warranty. It came with only 384 MB RAM and I upgraded it to 768 MB but I haven't seen any sensational improvement, compared with my 4 year old T20 which has 384 MB. Cost me $100 to buy a used 512MB stick to replace the 128 MB. Seems like you may need to buy 2 pcs 512MB, which would cost around $200 total for used. Unless you're doing a lot of graphics or audio work, it may not be worth the while.

I bought the recovery CD from IBM direct and had to pay $45 plus $7 shipping. I find this cheaper than keeping a cloned HDD aside in case the original HDD breaks down. But, of course, if you have the retail CDs for Windows, then you can always clean install whenever necessary.

How old is your T23? If the LCD has lost a significant level of its brightness, you might need to budget to replace the LCD assembly in the near future, which cost a bundle. Alternatively, replace the "flourescent tube" inside the LCD.

I paid that much for mine partly because the LCD assembly is a brand replacement, and I am very happy with mine, especially with the convenience of built-in wireless. It is almost like new. The only inconvenience is using USB 2.0 pcmcia card adapter to connect to external storage and DVD burning. Those adapters can be finicky.

However, I'm sure you'll enjoy your T23 for work and play as it is without ungrading but, of course, it all depends on what you're using it for.

Have fun!

[Toe]

Rahula,

Not sure the age. The model number is 2468-4PU, does that help? Not sure really. I've been testing it out, and so far nothing has seemed wrong. I looked into the RAM, thinking I had 2X256 sticks....but unless I'm totally blind (which could happen) I have a single 512 stick.

How do I gauge the LCD? I was watching a DVD-Rip for over 2 hours on battery power. (The battery that came with it seems new, even though it's not under warrenty) I didn't noticed anything "wrong" with the screen, watching from 3-10 feet while downloading stuff on my main PC and eating supper.

SO far, I've been very impressed. Little thing boots up fast, doesn't get very hot, and runs half-decent. (and with an empty ram slot, I'm tempted to see how fast it'll go.)

Now,anyone know about a burner?

Sc

[Plinkerton]

As far as a burner goes, I think it will have to be IBM brand. My thoughts would be to look at the IBM site, and find if they make anything that would fit yours. If they make it, then check on ebay for the same thing. I know, for my T42, the regular CD burner is around 150 or so. The Multi burner, which burns DVDs also, is a whopping 350!!!

Good luck.

[Toe]

I notcied that IBM has two types of burners, an "enhanced" and a "slim" bay. Any did which would fit mine?

Oh, and I looked up a 512 stick of RAM, and it's 109 bucks. (And since the battery is really holding a charge, I'm looking at that first.)

Toe