Thinkpads Forum

So I got my hands on lovely T61 with T7500 4GB RAM and Intel GPU but I´m wondering what the best OS is? I´m thinking about installing good old Win XP or some Linux distro. So wich one would you recommend or should I even dive into some Macintosh stuff (I have read you can do hackintosh from this mighty laptop)?
Thanks for your replies.

XP is hella difficult to set up from stock and I'd only recommend it for older single core things, since its CPU and RAM requirements are very low. For Windows go for Windows 7, on an SSD ideally.

Seconded. With Middleton BIOS, SATA2 capability unlocked, 8GB RAM, SSD and Windows 7 - these machines can have quite a bit useful life left in them.

Linux world is a whole another world, one where I will not presume to give good advice.

I run both Windows 7 and Linux Mint on my various T61, X61T, T500 and T60. Like both OS. Mint is worth trying, it's easy to to install, user friendly and cost you nothing but a bit of time to learn. Worse come to worse you'll learn a thing or two. There are many other excellent flavours of Linux too. For me it was a slow 2 year transition to Mint. I'm still learning and still transitioning. However, I'm to the point now that I can comfortably use either or. I like learning new things and like having a choice. One of these day I would like to try a Hackintosh as I know almost next to nothing about Apple OS.

Whatever OS you choose, the above hardware upgrade advice is sound and the Middleton BIOS flash is well worth it.

If you are not using it for old games that do not play well with Windows 7, I would recommend Windows XP as the best option. If you are using it for general-purpose applications that require very little power such as: browsing, e-mail checking, or watching videos, then Windows 7 is the best option.

I don't suggest using Mac OS X/macOS for this, unless you have some Mac-only applications that you can not run under Windows/Linux/FreeBSD.

Re: Linux - avoid Mint or Gentoo as both have such poor security understanding that both have had important infrastructure compromised so lose any credibility.

Openbox/Gnome3/i3 work well with the packages in Arch/Debian/Ubuntu in any Middleton machine with 4GB RAM+ and a SSD .

I run W7 64 Ultimate on the T61p in my sig, and it runs like a charm - given its (vint)age - but 8GB of RAM and an SSD definitely help.

If I were to move to something *nix-based right now, I'd likely go with some Debian-based distro, but there are so many other viable choices as well...

My $0.02 only...

The OS choice is usually mandated by what you use the laptop for and the application software you need to run. If you need software that only exists for Windows, then Windows 7 Pro is your best choice.

I'm a software engineer, I don't have my own personal windows support person, and every other machine I use runs some version of LInux, so I run Linux on my laptops as well. In particular, I run kubuntu (the KDE release of Ubuntu) so I can have the same general setup as on my desktops and my servers, but it is a bit heavyweight for such an old machine. FWIW, in a previous job where we were forbidden to have any source code on our laptops, I was running Windows 7 Pro, even though the default laptop OS at that company was a tailored version of Ubuntu (for thinkpads) or OSX (for Macs).

Considering Microsoft, Windows 7 is the only reasonable choice. XP chokes the system too much while W10 has no reasonable driver support.

I have several T61s and all have XP installed with Windows 10 dual boot. XP works very well as far as I am concerned and the display drivers are the best of any OS for the T61 as W10 has no native drivers and looks a bit washed out and amateurish but so does the overdesigned look of W10 anyway.

I am finding that some websites now do not work with XP which is a bit of a drawback as booting to W10 does not contribute to a smooth web browsing experience.
I know everyone on here says W7 is best but when I tried it on my 1024 x 768 displays it just did not look right in the same way that W10 does not either.

Why not just try installing the various OSs one at a time and see which suits you best.

You can try the Windows Classic theme in 7.

I've been watching the youtube channel distrotube, and I like what I see in the linux distros Anti X and Q4OS (low RAM usage, among others).

By the way, how is the T61 with Intel GPU when watching youtube, can it do 1080p with no problems, or is it limited to 720p?

It can do 1080p with no problems, 1080p60 on the other hand can not be done smoothly. Assuming that the T61 has a T7300 with 1GB of RAM at the bare minimum with a light OS like Windows XP or Windows 2000, it should be alright.

I can and do watch 1080p MKV files on my T/X61 machines with no problem.

1080p MKV ≠ 1080p Youtube

I have an issue on my older laptops with XP.
Some software will NOT run on XP.
So you then have 4 options.
#1 - Look for an older version of that SW that will run on XP.
#2 - Look for a similar SW that will run on XP.
#3 - Use a newer OS, if you want to run that SW.
#4 - Switch to Linux. But this is not practical for most of us, as the learning curve is steep, just as it is to switch to a Mac. And you need all new software.
#4a - However, once that old computer is replaced, you can install Linux and take your time learning it. I have Puppy Linux on an old Dell C400, which I play with once in a while.

I am running Win-7 on my T61; 6GB of RAM, 250GB SSD.

When I get around to it I'm going to return my T61 to Windows 7 64bit Ultimate from the Win10 "upgrade" I did. Figure it will stop a nasty trackpad issue it has.

While I have an Intel 180GB SSD in this T60 (runs Windows 10 32bit without obvious major issues -- it had a supremely awful issue being frequent long delays when it was running Windows 7), I don't notice the T61 being slower with it's 640GB HD and I'm not seeing any issues with it and it's been almost 8 years in the machine.

Hello!
im already writing and running Debian 12 32 bits and Gnome in my T61 with T7300 with 3 Gd ram and sata disk
surprisingly run very smooth for the commented specifications!!
im waiting for and SSD another stick of 2 GB (for mach 4 gb) and new processor T9300
also i ordered an intel 4965agn Wifi card!


ps. excuse my english (is not my mother language)