Thinkpads Forum

Hi,

Newbie to this forum. longtime thinkpad owner....

Here's what I have
T60 (8744-5BU): Intel Core 2 T7200 2.0GHZ, 3 GB (2GB, 1GB) DIMM, 120 GB SSD, Windows 7 64bit
T61P (6457-AK7): Intel Core 2 T7500 2.2GHZ, 3 GB (2GB, 1GB) DIMM, 240 GB SSD, Windows 7 64bit

GOAL:
With limited budget $$$ available while on sabbatical/medical and only EDD income

can I increase available RAM on current laptops for running standalone ERP software (Oracle JDEdwards E1) & Oracle BI client developer query tool for personal career development. At least one on each machine.

Or invest around $2000 for X series or T series or other?

KNOWN
A. Bought 2x2GB DIMM RAM on ideally running 4GB RAM. Turns out 3GB usable even with 64bit. 1GB reserved for hardware at bios level. Could not find the right solution so I returned and left with 3GB installed with up to 4GB virtualization available.
B. Udated superfetch and other SSD settings using windows KB 2727880. There is a slight improvement
C. Changed my graphics 3D resolution. But don't notice a big improvement. Not sure if this makes any improvement at all
D. Installed Oracle JDEdwards E1 9.1 with Oracle 11g1 database client on T60. Memory is running high roughly around 3GB with the only these running:

• standalone client for report/application devt tasks

• web client version ERP software as end user access/navigation

• Oracle SQL query running with simple joins

• adobe acrobat files to help with my self study

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS/REMARKS
1. Which is better? readyboost USB flash drive vs upgrading internal parts (ie intel/samsung pcie half mini card with 4GB memory built in) since a motherboard upgrade is not tried/tested on laptops?
Specifically on pcie cards, I'm confused on older posts in the forum from 2 years ago and the validity of the products.
2. Anything from KNOWN section worth improving on?
3. Or Intel's Next Unit of Computing Board D33217GKE? Haven't done much investigating....

FINAL DECISION:

Current laptops with some minor upgrades

vs

a new Workstation

vs

a new Thinkpad

Whew, that was a handful but works i hope. Thanks,

$2000 for a new Thinkpad is a very nice budget. Personally, if it comes down to that, I'd spend a lot less and look for a T420, T520 or W520. No idea where you are from but if you live in the US, you can shop at Lenovo's outlet.

As for your current machines; All T60 can only utilize 3 GB due to chipset limitations, even with a 64 bit OS, has nothing to do with any BIOS hardware reservations. All T61 can take up to 8 GB of RAM with a 64 bit OS. If you need more speed I seriously consider a T9300 for the T61p. You already have a SSD, turbo boost or readyboost is a step slower and backwards, just wasting money.

edit - Personally, I love my Thinkpad for portability. While on the road I only need it to surf the web, email and office stuff. Any intensive computing is done at home on my much more powerful desktop. In every way, except for portability, I much prefer to use my desktop with a 27" ips monitor, 3570K OCed CPU, 32 GB RAM, mechanical keyboard and more storage than all my laptops combined. Different tools for different purpose. I've seen a lot of people who never go anywhere with their laptop, always have it plugged in at the office even when they go on the road, and are squinting while looking at a small screen and hurting due to bad ergonomics.

Cigarguy wrote:$2000 for a new Thinkpad is a very nice budget. Personally, if it comes down to that, I'd spend a lot less and look for a T420, T520 or W520. No idea where you are from but if you live in the US, you can shop at Lenovo's outlet.

As for your current machines; All T60 can only utilize 3 GB due to chipset limitations, even with a 64 bit OS, has nothing to do with any BIOS hardware reservations. All T61 can take up to 8 GB of RAM with a 64 bit OS. If you need more speed I seriously consider a T9300 for the T61p. You already have a SSD, turbo boost or readyboost is a step slower and backwards, just wasting money.

edit - Personally, I love my Thinkpad for portability. While on the road I only need it to surf the web, email and office stuff. Any intensive computing is done at home on my much more powerful desktop. In every way, except for portability, I much prefer to use my desktop with a 27" ips monitor, 3570K OCed CPU, 32 GB RAM, mechanical keyboard and more storage than all my laptops combined. Different tools for different purpose. I've seen a lot of people who never go anywhere with their laptop, always have it plugged in at the office even when they go on the road, and are squinting while looking at a small screen and hurting due to bad ergonomics.

Thanks for the quick reply and recommendations. I should really use this more often. Although, I realized quickly after your post that my username was nowhere close to anonymous.

I think you're right. Though, haven't had a desktop in decades. In Nor Cal and my last purchase was one of the two, refurbished for $300. I think you're right, on the road highly unlikely but possible, i don't have personal time on such powerhorse machines. Just in case, I might still opt for easy travel option in case of a longer term trip somewhere near or far. But Intel's Next Unit of Computing is looking sleek.

Canada sounds great. Vancouver was an option for awhile with sabbatical. And a much better health care system. Go figure....Thanks.

I would forget the T60 and concentrate on the T61, primarily because of the 3GB RAM limitation on the T60. But putting 8GB on the T61 is not inexpensive, those 4GB modules are rather expensive (I know because I have 8GB in my T61). And it is still slower RAM than the RAM in the current laptops.

Did you apply the Middleton BIOS update?
That will boost the throughput to the SSD, but you are still limited by the older controller in the T61.

You will have to be brutal about deactivating/removing unneeded programs and services, to free up max resources for your ERP apps.

I dunno about any of the standalone ERP sw. Can't you get the min system requirements for them? That should tell you what they need to run. Just be aware that most sw vendors underestimate the system requirements.

Unless you really want/need portability, I would go with a workstation.
You typically get more performance for your $ by going to a standard PC format (desktop or tower). And they are easier to upgrade later.