Thinkpads Forum

I am calling on the people in the field: programmers, engineers, people in the know, FrankenPad-devotees etc.

In your opinion how long will a max-ed out T601 FrankenPad last until it becomes a burden to use? We reached the point where the A31p was no longer pleasant (or capable) to surf the internet with [in 2013 as seen here http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=110218]. My question to you out there is, in your opinion how long will my super-cool T601 FrankenPad last before I will have to ditch it, because software has become to heavy to run on it?

In other words
if using a nice SSD (e.g.Intel 730), 8 GB DDR2, 2.5 GHz T9500 Dual Core, then how long before the internet becomes to hefty to surf with it?

I'm a mathematician who spends a lot of time working on a laptop, and my answer is they will never be obsolete so long as new laptops only have short screens. There has been little change in the software available for what I do in the last ten years, and so no need for a different machine. In my view, the T601 is currently the best laptop for writing mathematics, and likely to remain so indefinitely.
The screen is perfect for working with two documents, since it allows you to put two 9-inch tall 2x3 documents side-by-side, which no modern laptop does.

Considering that you can install an overclocked Quad Core CPU and opt for a NVIDIA board if necessary, I'd say that it will take a very long time before these things become obsolete.

600X wrote:Considering that you can install an overclocked Quad Core CPU and opt for a NVIDIA board if necessary, I'd say that it will take a very long time before these things become obsolete.

The only problem is that it will run very hot and you won't be able to run the system on sustained high load without external cooling. That said, I can still see these units easily lasting 3+ years for most purposes.

Mine has no problems with surfing and office applications, and Win 10 has no hardware issues.
The only applications where it is too slow are processing RAW files from cameras and video editing.
As long as Windows 10 and Chrome/Blink is supporting the hardware it will be useable as my main laptop at home for a couple of years more.

My only concern is if new web-pages standards will require hardware graphic acceleration in the future.

The laptop closest to being capable of replacing it is my Chromebook Pixel, but it has no Windows support.
I don't want to replace it with my newest ThinkPads (T520/T430s/T440s) due to their "low" resolution FHD IPS screens, but for traveling I use them due to weight and better batteries.

I have had to replace CPU fan a couple of times.
Native USB 3.0 is missing, but I have added a PCI Express card with USB 3.0.
No Blu-ray support, but my T430s can handle that.

I have been using Opera browser (12.17), but as this is getting old I am starting to use Vivaldi instead.

I agree with Frobe, I would think only the graphics processor is the real limiting factor.
Once it gets stopped being supported by OS's, no tweaks/hacks to make it run well & if web pages become too demanding on graphics it would be its demise.
Most top notch Core 2 Duos are 1800+ in the passmark score, I think most sandy bridge processors score 2500 and most people don't need anything more than that.
I use my 1.6GHz L7500 X61T and it runs like a charm w/ its SSD. Used it for a day for menial ebay/craiglist work.

Only video like Netflix/Youtube might bother you if you don't get smooth FPS during video.
Still a long time til 4K will be a media standard. I'd give the laptop 4 more years.
Given how intel abandoned their tick/tock method and new computer sales is grinding down, I think we reached a climax point in the non tablet/smartphone computer market.

If the T70 comes to fruition, potentially a very long time.

What's T70?

If USB3 (or some future variant) becomes the de facto standard for peripherals, I can see that becoming an inconvenience.

evening_hunger wrote:What's T70?

I'm guessing a new motherboard from the guys at 51nb.com, just like the T50 and X62.

T70 is a planned/new mobo for the T60 series, last of the 4:3 Mohicans.
Will it ever come to fruition? No idea...

brchan wrote: That said, I can still see these units easily lasting 3+ years for most purposes.

Absolutely.

I'm more concerned about the route that Windows has taken over the last couple of years than I am over the aging of this particular platform. In other words, which OS will I be running on my FrankenPad in 2021 - presuming that I'm alive in the first place - and not how the machine will cope with it...

As opposed to maxed out Frankenpads, my feeling is that T60s and T60ps are already at the limit of coping with some websites. I'll be phasing out mine except for use as a UXGA slave display in a mirror or extended desktop setup.

Performance wise, I've had no problem at all using my T60 and other 945 based Core 2 Duo laptops. I am using Windows XP though. I suppose it depends heavily on what you use them for, plus your level of tolerance. My tolerance is pretty high, since I still use Pentium Ms. The T60 almost feels like a rocket in comparison!

For me, a T601 would last a long time.

I use XP, 7 and 10. I haven't noticed it making much difference ... the way I surf, a 60 gets hot But, behold, the answer to the Frankenpad. If you can spring for a pair of these, who needs the ThinkPads? http://www.ampronix.com/nec-multisync-p ... aQodrd8F6A

It also depends on what browser you use. I use Pale Moon, and I find it to be considerably less CPU intensive than Firefox and Chrome.

I already have a pair of UXGA S-IPS monitors on my desktop, so no FrankenPad for me. At least not at the moment.

I can understand why you wouldn't bother then Thanks for the tip about Pale Moon, though; it does run video cooler than Firefox on a T60p running XP.

Has anyone ever tried to drive a boe-hydis display (one that belongs to t60) as an external screen? I mean a display + control board + cables?
Would it not be cheaper than getting a NEC monitor for 1000$ ?

They sell kits for doing precisely that on AliExpress and perhaps on eBay, if you look. You'd still need a stand. My thought is to use one or more UXGA T60s as mirrors or extended desktops with a program like MaxiVista, so that the heavy lifting is done by a faster system. Of course, you're not getting the 21-inch size, superior contrast, or luminosity of the Multisync. I want two of those Multisyncs in the worst way, but I'm not spending that kind of money on toys right now.

evening_hunger wrote: Would it not be cheaper than getting a NEC monitor for 1000$ ?

While it would definitely be cheaper, I'm not in the least certain that the end result would be comparable...

As good as the Flexview screens are, they won't be able to compare to modern high end NEC Multisync monitors in color, brightness uniformity, gamma, contrast, controls, etc. They are on a whole different level.

I recently bought a P232W-BK monitor last year and it is truly awesome to look at.

I assume you guys are stuck in win7 land? I have a number of T400s with the T9500-T9700 and after a while Win7 bogs them down.

I did a fresh install with Win10 and it breathes new life into them, even with the latest update.

I assume that if you reinstall Win7 it fine for a few months but then it bogs down again.

I'm the type of person who occasionally has taskmgr or process manager up and I feel that the T9000 spends too much time above 25% on just idle.

In comparison my T410s or better sit at below 5%.

Fifteen inches is too small for a desktop monitor, and the best of the new monitors are spectacularly good. However my new (BenQ) monitor has a "text mode" that mimics an aging T60 IPS screen (yellowing).

TonyJZX: Your experience is the opposite of mine. I have never experienced any slowing down of my computers running XP or Win 7 (and I test them), and they idle at 0% CPU. By contrast Win 10 is repeatedly running mysterious operations in the background. Your problem is probably with your software, not the operating system.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think replacing desktop monitor is what I had in mind. I was rather thinking of an external portable screen, like the usb ones Asus produces, but built around this Hydis panel. Indeed, driver board for it is 26$ on Aliexpress. The panel is expensive, but in could be found for 75$ in China, or below 50$ closer to Europe if one has a lot of luck (there's currently some guy from Israel on ebay selling a stock of these screens untested for 40$ each). All in all I've been just toying with the idea.

coolcat37 wrote:In your opinion how long will a max-ed out T601 FrankenPad last until it becomes a burden to use? if using a nice SSD (e.g.Intel 730), 8 GB DDR2, 2.5 GHz T9500 Dual Core, then how long before the internet becomes to hefty to surf with it?

Have you considered switching to a desktop computer instead? A laptop takes up so much valuable space on the desk, and the screen is so small. If you try to solve the latter problem by hooking up an external monitor, you lose even more space, and there isn't a good place to put the monitor. For years I tried to use laptops connected to external monitors but never figured out where to put the darn thing: behind the laptop? Above it? To the left? To the right? None of these positions felt right, and I had so little space left on my desk. I also hated the huge DPI mismatch between the internal and external screens.

If you don't need mobility most of the time, my recommendation is, set up a desktop at work and another at home. Transfer files between them using USB flash drives and/or cloud storage. Instead of having two 1600x1200 monitors which many forum members seem to like, get a 40" 3840x2160 monitor. If you find that too tall (I don't though), get 34" 3440x1440 instead. 30" 2560x1600 would be my third choice, then 27" 2560x1440.

Of course you can still get a T601, but use it only when mobility is necessary. When it's used only 5 - 10% of the time, its sluggishness, tiny screen and low resolution would be much less of a concern, so it would be useful for many more years.

brchan wrote:As good as the Flexview screens are, they won't be able to compare to modern high end NEC Multisync monitors in color, brightness uniformity, gamma, contrast, controls, etc. They are on a whole different level.

I would say Flexview screens are no match for any modern IPS or VA monitors. Some modern laptops do have high-quality screens, but their small sizes still make me prefer desktop monitors.

exTPfan wrote:TonyJZX: Your experience is the opposite of mine. I have never experienced any slowing down of my computers running XP or Win 7 (and I test them), and they idle at 0% CPU. By contrast Win 10 is repeatedly running mysterious operations in the background. Your problem is probably with your software, not the operating system.

You got me curious and so I checked Windows 10's CPU usage on my main desktop over the past half hour or so. Aside from the 1 - 3% used by my browsers (IE and Opera), very little else was going on. If you have lots of "mysterious operations in the background", I bet you haven't disabled all of the optional telemetry. There are like 50 things to disable. Even if you turned off all of them when you first installed Windows 10, new ones might have popped up after some of the more substantial Windows updates.

Just got a T601f from fellow forum member, it should be coming soon in the mail. I hope the 6 GB of ram and T9300 processor coupled with the m4 128 gb ssd will all come together as a great laptop for college.

Does anyone use Matlab and/or Mathematica or do any programming on these? What's that like, and will my t-pad hold up for these sort of things? (thankfully no autocad for me I believe)

I am running Mathematica on my T9500 T61 and so far it is perfectly smooth, but I haven't been doing very heavy computations. Mostly just matrices and linear algebra stuff.

pianowizard wrote:

coolcat37 wrote: I would say Flexview screens are no match for any modern IPS or VA monitors. Some modern laptops do have high-quality screens, but their small sizes still make me prefer desktop monitors.

Allright, that closes this topic for me:)