memory upgrade

[retired]

Hi - I have a T60 with a ssd , a t7200 @2ghz and 2 gb memory. I suspect I need more memory with some of the heavy websites I visit - facebook etc. Wondering what would be the best memory to get to boost me up to 4 gb - as I understand it that's the limit for my machine - I love this computer.

[Cigarguy]

Doesn't really matter the type of memory as these machines, I found, are fairly forgiving. While you certainly can use 2x2GB DDR2 Sodimms, the chipset on this generation of Thinkpads will limit you to 3 GB. The extra GB will help but still limiting for a machine of this vintage regardless of brand.

[stevenvh]

I upgraded my T60P to T7600 and 2x2GB Samsung RAM. Also hacked a T61 CPU cooler into it which dropped temps significantly. Performance is much better and I can run 64bit Linux with the T7600. Like Cigarguy said, the lame Intel 945 chipset only recognizes 3GB of RAM which limits performance, especially with Window$.
Still a great old Thinkpad, the last of the original P model designs, can still edit photos from older cameras but newer 24MP files are pretty slow. Web browsing with lots of tabs, youtube, etc are no problem. HD movies and some heavy web vids are hard work with high temps though.

The only reason I'm going to replace the old beast soon finally is for photo editing with modern pro cameras.

My comments are on Linux only. I've loaded XP SP3 and Win 7 Pro on the T60P, but only briefly. With Win7 I had to turn off Aero BS and all the other desktop nonsense for fast stable performance. Basically ended up with very stable Win 2000 look-a-like.

HTH and GL,
steven

[steven@steven-pc FS]$ inxi
CPU: Dual Core Intel Core2 T7600 (-MCP-) speed/min/max: 1330/1000/2333 MHz Kernel: 4.19.102-1-MANJARO x86_64 Up: 1d 2m
Mem: 1053.8/2998.7 MiB (35.1%) Storage: 119.24 GiB (25.9% used) Procs: 147 Shell: bash 5.0.11 inxi: 3.0.37
[steven@steven-pc FS]$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7-M Family) SATA Controller [IDE mode] (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV530/M56 GL [Mobility FireGL V5200]
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)
15:00.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1510 PC card Cardbus Controller

[Shredder11]

I upgraded my T60P to T7600 and 2x2GB Samsung RAM. Also hacked a T61 CPU cooler into it which dropped temps significantly. Performance is much better and I can run 64bit Linux with the T7600. Like Cigarguy said, the lame Intel 945 chipset only recognizes 3GB of RAM which limits performance, especially with Window$.
Still a great old Thinkpad, the last of the original P model designs, can still edit photos from older cameras but newer 24MP files are pretty slow. Web browsing with lots of tabs, youtube, etc are no problem. HD movies and some heavy web vids are hard work with high temps though.

The only reason I'm going to replace the old beast soon finally is for photo editing with modern pro cameras.

My comments are on Linux only. I've loaded XP SP3 and Win 7 Pro on the T60P, but only briefly. With Win7 I had to turn off Aero BS and all the other desktop nonsense for fast stable performance. Basically ended up with very stable Win 2000 look-a-like.

HTH and GL,
steven

My Z61p machines are pretty much identical to your T60p, and I plan to install a ThinPC version of Windows 7 that I found recently on it soon, as I have already used it on my sister's old Acer Aspire 5612WLMi with its slow IDE hard drive bus (now SSD fitted). It completely revolutionised that laptop and wound the clock back performance-wise to 2006. It took 2mins to boot before and now takes around 20secs! Modern browsing brought it to its knees and now it is quick and snappy. I'm not sure how installation will fare with the Thinkpad, but with the Acer it found every single driver it needed automatically first time.

Regards YouTube and HD video playback, I installed a cheap Broadcom Crystal HD (BCM970015) card a few years ago, and that can play 1080p 60fps without a sweat, smooth as silk with barely any load on the CPU. It worked with streamed YouTube videos direct from the site, until they removed Flash and moved to another format. So only offline videos can be played now using Windows Media Classic and the K-Lite Codec Pack. I can download YouTube videos in seconds or minutes, so its no big deal playing back from the hard drive. I did a quick video using two identically equipped Z61p laptops, except one used the Broadcom card and you can clearly see the difference this makes. https://youtu.be/Fr8SfUB2UaA