Thinkpads Forum

I have a T60 (2007-FVG) (T5600 1.83 Ghz) which I have owned from new, and I really love it. It’s so well made and the screen is amazing. However, it’s now really slow now and I am thinking of trying to make it faster. As I understand I have a few options.
1. Upgrade the processor
2. Upgrade to Windows 7 (from XP)
3. Upgrade to both the above
4. Upgrade the motherboard and all above.

I would like some advice about what my options are and in particular, how to get the fastest solution possible within the restrains of the T60 frame.

How much RAM do you currently have installed? Max it to 2+1 GB (maximum you can use on T60), buy SSD (Crucial C300, Intel are good ones), could as well upgrade CPU to T7600 but that costs almost as much as SSD but do not yield the same noticeable result in everyday tasks.
With SSD you should certainly upgrade OS to W7.

Also you could upgrade wifi card to Intel 6200-N or the like to get better performance and at the same time less heat.

If you need better video performance, get T60p system board with Fire GL V5200/V5250 256MB video card.

If you don't need more video performance but want even faster CPU, more RAM and faster disk speed, find a T61 4:3 Intel video system board, this lets you use very fast CPU's (up to Penryn T9500), up to 8GB of RAM and SATAII speeds with SSD's. Blazingly fast machine but system board costs $100+ and it takes some fiddling to get the board in the T60 base. There are lots of topics on this FrankePad build, do a search and have a read.

Thanks for your quick reply.

Very interesting.... so for the cost of an SSD and Win7 I'd have a much better machine!

Is a SSD a direct replacement for the current HD (not too difficult)?

Should I install 32 bit or 64 bit version of Windows 7?

I already have 3GB in the system.

You should install 32bit W7 as you cannot take advantages of 64bit W7 anyway (utilize more than 4GB of RAM).

Sure you could get newer machine but with conventional HDD it would still be much slower than T60 with SSD and when you add SSD to newer machine, it would also cost more.

You already have 3GB RAM, a C2D processor and wifi-N.
The Radeon X1400 GPU is near the top for the T60 series.
The way forward for you is indeed an SSD with W7 32-bit, unless you want different hardware.
And the Frankenpad with above mentioned T61 mobo is the only option if you need more RAM and you want to stay with 4:3 screens.
Nobody makes 4:3 machines anymore, except the (very expensive) Panasonic Toughbooks (You wouldn't like them).

you cannot take advantages of 64bit W7

From my limited experience with a 64-bit Win7 disc, it was completely impossible to install on 32-bit hardware. If it's not advantageous now, it still might be the better purchase in the long-run if it can be installed. Is it even an option on his current motherboard?

I would hesitate to buy a 32-bit-only Win7 disc if there's a chance you might upgrade to a 64-bit-capable motherboard/laptop in the near future.

Since a standalone Win7 license is likely portable to different hardware, is it possible/affordable to buy a disc/set that will give you the option of 32-bit or 64-bit, depending on the hardware you are (re)installing on? That way it's useful now and potentially useful again in the future. It depends how likely you will be upgrading this laptop again and/or keeping it around after its replaced.

Another question...I'm not the expert that others are, but as a teacher I feel questions can often be as helpful as answers.

Can you be more specific than "really slow?" Lots of people here continue to use 32-bit WinXP as a primary OS, but not always because it's faster. There are sure to be countless suggestions here and elsewhere on streamlining/maintaining it. If you've never done a fresh re-install, then that could be a cost-free upgrade, especially if you do at least some minor tweaking.

I guess what I mean when I say 'really slow' is that it's really slow to boot up.

So, Paul, your suggestion to so a fresh install is a good one. However, I'm hoping that Windows 7 and an SSD would help with the speed and ease of use in general.

Is it a strait forward job to replace a HD with an SSD?

You'll be happy to know that one of an SSD's most noticeable strengths is upon boot up. They are basically a drop-in replacement for HDDs, and it can be a very straightforward job. Depending on your choice of OS, there are some settings to look at in the OS. It's all software config and not necessary, but there are at least one or two things that ought to be "turned on" or "turned off" when using an SSD. For instance, SSDs don't need defragging. I believe there is some new OS vocabulary to learn wrt SSDs.

An important question would be if there are any choices to make at the time of OS installation that depend on the SSD.

projanen wrote:From my limited experience with a 64-bit Win7 disc, it was completely impossible to install on 32-bit hardware. If it's not advantageous now, it still might be the better purchase in the long-run if it can be installed. Is it even an option on his current motherboard?

The T60 is a 64-bit capable machine -- it just can't address > 4GB of RAM due to a chipset limitation. It will run amd64 code just fine.

And the CPU that OP has is already a Core 2 Duo - albeit a weaker one - so he could test a 64-bit and see how he likes it...

Personally, I choose to stay within 32-bit realm on these machines, but that's me...

To clarify the 64-bit capability: the T60 needs a 64-bit Core 2 Duo CPU, such as the T5600 that OP has.
The (common on T60) T2400/T2500/T2600 CPUs are only 32-bit Core Duo.
The 3GB RAM limitation applies to the T60 motherboard's chipset, regardless of CPU.

I went through your exact scenario some months ago, regarding cpu, hdd/ssd and OS.

I made a blogpost on what I did. Perhaps you can find it usefull:
http://turbohjelm.blogspot.com/

Regards

HalliHallo wrote:I went through your exact scenario some months ago, regarding cpu, hdd/ssd and OS.

I made a blogpost on what I did. Perhaps you can find it usefull:
http://turbohjelm.blogspot.com/

Regards

I scrolled down too far and saw the Super Pi 1M score of your E8500 and thought it was the T60.

I recall reading an X61s review and it scoring a Pi 1M score of something like 1 minute 10 seconds. Strange as my X61s can do it in 30 seconds, not bad for such a small laptop.

Good job upgrading the T60 too, I performed similar upgrades to my X61s. Used AS5 too.

And you're right about the maintenance manual being handy.

cxd9615gb wrote:
I scrolled down too far and saw the Super Pi 1M score of your E8500 and thought it was the T60.

Hehe well, perhaps I should run it om my t60 with the t7200 and see the results, just for fun

cxd9615gb wrote: I recall reading an X61s review and it scoring a Pi 1M score of something like 1 minute 10 seconds. Strange as my X61s can do it in 30 seconds, not bad for such a small laptop.

Indeed nice.

cxd9615gb wrote: Good job upgrading the T60 too, I performed similar upgrades to my X61s. Used AS5 too.

And you're right about the maintenance manual being handy.

Thanks

Raceboy wrote: system board costs $100+ and it takes some fiddling to get the board in the T60 base. There are lots of topics on this FrankePad build, do a search and have a read.

What keywords to search for this?