Thinkpads Forum

Ok...this may sound pathetic, but I love the T42's chassis. I was looking at the T60 in a store and I didn't like it near as much. So, I want to know how far I can modify my current system (or if I can buy an empty T42 chassis) to T60 specs. Can I upgrade the cpu when the merom cores come out? Can I simply rip everything out and replace?

The answers to all the questions are "No". You can put in a 2.1GHz processsor with 400MHz FSB -- that's the closest you'll get, assuming that you are comparing similar memory/drive configurations.

What is the objective? If it's greater speed, then look at the benchmarks which relate to your type of usage and see if there are sufficient differences between the T42/T43/T60 to justify abandoning the T42.

The T42 is a wonderful machine. The performance difference between the T42 and T60 (with similar speed CPU's) is negligible, IMO. Unless there are specific capabilities you need (ExpressCard, PCI-Express, etc) I can't see any good reason to upgrade from a T42 to a T60.

If you're buying fresh then, of course, get the T60.

There may not be now, but I imagine the difference will be more than negligible once the Merom cores drop. Also, I hear the defect rate has risen from 5 to 20% since the Lenovo purchase. Is this true?

yeah,
i was holding back to get a new X60s since you said the repairing rate is ramping after Lenovo taking over.

I'll offer a different opinion - I upgraded from a T42 to the T60, and was very pleased with the improvement in performance.

I don't like the larger case. Like some others, I was surprised by the size and weight of the new model, as I didn't read the specs carefully enough (I focused on components and options, and assumed the case was about the same).

My boot time went down noticeably, and applications run more smoothly now. Just today I did some audio file editing and converting to mp3 for the company web site while running a virus scan. I couldn't have done that before.