Is it worth upgrading my T61?

[Dawnbreaker]

Hello, thinkpadders!

I absolutely adore my current T61 (bought it second-hand about 2 years ago) - everything is just usable and effective - the screen resolution (1680x1050), the legendary keyboard. I won't talk about the Nvidia GPU, hehe
Anyway, I can't afford buying new [real] thinkpad from the t/w series, so I'm asking you is it worth upgrading my current machine? This year it turns 6 years, since I own it I haven't experienced any problems, I maintain it regularly ( cleaning & etc ), but it's an *old platform* as they say.
What is the best processor I can put on my machine and how much is gonna cost me?
What would be the price of additional 2 gigs of ram (making them 4)
And last but not least, what kind of hard disk I have to buy (500 GB or more required)?

It would be awesome if you include prices as well.

thanks

[aoitenshi]

Hi,

What is the best processor I can put on my machine and how much is gonna cost me?

Intel T9500 or T9300, you can find them at Marketplace in here

What would be the price of additional 2 gigs of ram (making them 4)

I use corsair 2 X 2GB ddr2 pc5300, cost me around US$ 50 last june 2012, you can check newegg.com if you are in USA

And last but not least, what kind of hard disk I have to buy (500 GB or more required)?

You might consider a 128GB ssd (again, you can find them here in Marketplace ) + ultrabay + external case for your optical drive ..

generic ultrabay for T61 will cost you around US$10 - 50 from ebay, and external case for your optical will cost you around US$20 (again from ebay)
Your old hdd will be placed inside the ultrabay and your internal optical drive can now be accessed from USB 2.0 externally (since the ssd will occupied the primary hard drive bay )
---

on top of that : the ultimate middleton bios, lol

[RealBlackStuff]

Not knowing where you live, you need to find your own prices locally (or on eBay).
CPU upgrades: T8100, T8300, T9300, T9500 are the most common updates, where T9300 is the best value for money (~$50.-)
You don't have to buy a new hard disk, but the most effective update would be an SSD in whatever size you can afford.
You can't go wrong with the Samsung 830 or 840 series, and stay away from Kingspec and OCZ.
And of course install the Middleton BIOS: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/ ... ost6501443

[robert213]

install the Middleton BIOS: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/ ... ost6501443

Am I the only one, who is unable to view this link? I am using MS IE 8.0

I receive the graphics logo at the top of the screen and an advertisement. The rest is a blank screen.

Is it required to be a member of the site to view the forum? I tried to register, but I receive just a blank screen.

[RealBlackStuff]

You may get some advertising (Gorilla Glass at the moment, plus a request for a survey), but it works in IE 8.
(I use Firefox, and never IE)
Just look at the bottom left to see if the website is still loading.

[robert213]

Yes, I receive the Notebook Review logo and the Gorilla Glass ad. There must be a problem with my MS IE security settings.

This machine has a copy of Google Chrome pre-installed.

Everything downloaded fine using Google Chrome. Thanks...

[portsample]

I'd been needing to resecure the power jack on my T61 for several months now. To do this requires a complete tear apart of the laptop. So I decided that as long as I had everything out, I'd go ahead and upgrade the 2.0ghz cpu to a 2.4ghz 7700 unit. The cost for one of these on eBay was about $25 including shipping. I did the tear down and swap last night (1.5hrs) with no problems. The machine does report a slightly higher temperature at the cpu, (5 degrees F). BTW, I did clean off and refresh the thermal paste on the cpu and gpu.

I'm still tempted to do the upgrade to 8gb RAM. The native OS on the machine is 64-bit linux, within this, I've also got a VMWare machine running 64-bit Win7 for use when I need MS software. Cheers.

[farmall]

8GB is nice for VMs. You won't be sorry.

[Radioguy]

Ditto.

[systemBuilder]

Three reason to keep the T61 going :

1. They aren't making 'em like they used to. These are $2000 laptops with fantastic materials, the best keyboards ever, etc.

2. Replacement parts are still cheap & plentiful on ebay. Normally the laptop companies "eat you alive" with consumables like batteries or small parts, but China Inc. is being VERY nice to geriatric laptop owners.

3. It's FREAK'IN FUN !! I loved to work on bicycles as a kid. Now, these laptops are systems very much like PC's or bicycles and once you know how to repair your laptop there's a sense of peace and security that's NOT available from a new laptop (many of which I imagine just snap together - NEVER TO COME APART AGAIN !!!)

Best wishes,

- Don

[TuuS]

I have pretty much any parts you could want for one of these systems and I think they are great computers, other then the problems with some of the older nVidia gpu chips and the lid hinges, they are one of the best designed systems. The 14.1 standard and 15.4 widescreen both use the same battery as the T60 and T500, also shared with some R and Z series, so it's nice when you can update from an older system without having to replace things like your battery, ac adapter and harddrive which reduce the cost of the upgrade. The T61 is also commonly accepted to be the last of the great thinkpads, and the first to offer modern performance standards with ability to support upto 8gb of ram and the legendary Penryn processor, which really should have been classified as Core3 line, but for marketing purposes Intel decided to invest interest in the I-series instead, but the Penryn is very similar in performance and efficiency to the i-7 or i-5 processor. One of the major (so called) advancements of the i-series is moving a lot more of the motherboards work into the cpu chip. You can decide for yourself if this is a good thing or bad, but there is certainly reason to view it as both. If you want to build a tiny computer, such as a tablet or ultra thin/small, then the i-series is a better option, but if you want a performance laptop, then I see no real advantage other then the fact that the speeds have increased over time, but cost wise you can get some of the Penryn chips for less then a good meal, and some of the T61 systems are very cost effective computing, and many of us have combined the T61 power with the T60 model that was the last to use the legendary IPS flexview screen.

In summary, if you opt for an inexpensive 14" widescreen, or a fully loaded 15.4 T61p with penryn cpu, you have a widely diverse line of computers that could provide you many years of use (typed on a T61 while I sit among a dozen other computers, many newer).

[Radioguy]

All I took away from that, was that TuuS doesn't consider Applebee's a good meal.

[TuuS]

All I took away from that, was that TuuS doesn't consider Applebee's a good meal.

elle ohhh elle

Believe it or not, I have never eaten at applebees, but I think I did once have some riblets at the bar once while waiting for someone... and it left me feeling a bit of heartburn and a lot of confusion... after all, WTF is a "riblet"??? and what kind of animal has them lol surely now the normal cow or pig, perhaps some genetically modified or cloned animal. Definitely EOR (Eat at Own Risk), much like "baby carrots" that are really just scraps of carrots that are bleached and molded to look cute and sellable. I'd prefer some real food.


ps. don't even get me started on Buffalo Wings... first of all, hunting them would be risky, imagine buffalo falling from the sky when shot??? not to mention how they can fly with wings so small *confused*

[Bánh mì]

I prefer In N Out Burger or a nice bowl of Viet Pho

[haritak]

Definetely worth!

I would suggest :
- Get a better display! (1920 x 1200) You can place it yourself! (http://ych.me/?p=286)
- Go for the 8GB RAM!
- Clean it (http://ych.me/?p=219)
- Put linux on it and start experimenting with raid1 and raid0 (http://ych.me/?p=235)