Thinkpads Forum

Thinking of replacing my T43 with a T60.. Below are my T43 specs:

14.1"
Pentium M 2ghz
2gig RAM
80gig 5400 RPM
x300 PCIE
DVD Burner

Looking at for $1867.00 discounted from $2607.00
14.1: SXGA+ TFT
C2D T7200 2ghz
2gig RAM 5300
160gig 5400 RPM
ATI Mobility Fire GL V5250 256MB
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim
2 Year On Site Upgrade with 2 Year ThinkPad Protection

I use my PC for work mainly for Virtual Machines and Programming. The video card might be overkill so I won't be using it for gaming. Maybe some WOW wouldn't be too bad but thats not its primary use. Any tips? Overkill? Upgrade worth it?

My system is almost the same as yours and I too have been looking to upgrade. It has been mostly used for Visual Studio programming but there is nothing wrong with its performance, I just suffer from Core Duo envy. In the end, I've decide to at least wait for the new Santa Rosa to come out and I'd suggest the same for you too unless you *really* need the boost.

majiklantrn wrote:Thinking of replacing my T43 with a T60..

In the summer of 2006 I did exactly that same transition: I went from a 2GHz T43 to a 2.16 GHz Core Duo (not C2D) T60, equipped with a 100G 7.2k disk.

Well, the difference in boot speed and everyday operation is really astonishing, at the point that when I occasionally use the T43, I think "there must be something wrong here... it can't be so slow...". But of course there is nothing wrong with the T43, it's just that the T60 is really a lot faster.

So, I think you will get a big benefit by going that way, even more if you wait for the soon-to-come Santa Rosa Thinkpads.

Regards
Neb

I don't think the upgrade is worth it. I think you'd be better served upgrading the t43 harddrive to a 7200rpm drive for a significant performance boost and waiting a year or so for new technology. But then again it's your money.

I did try a 7200 RPM drive in this T43 and didn't really notice a speed increase. Then again, I wasn't doing as much as I do now with VMs.

I could play the waiting game for the newest HW, but then again I'm always the lucky person to get the faulty Rev A products.

How well does the ATI x1400 128 perform?

majiklantrn wrote:How well does the ATI x1400 128 perform?

I am completely satisfied with it. Though, I don't have very demanding needs for graphics capabilities, so my impression is probably of little significance.

Regards
Neb

majiklantrn wrote:Thinking of replacing my T43 with a T60.. Below are my T43 specs:

14.1"
Pentium M 2ghz
2gig RAM
80gig 5400 RPM
x300 PCIE
DVD Burner

Looking at for $1867.00 discounted from $2607.00
14.1: SXGA+ TFT
C2D T7200 2ghz
2gig RAM 5300
160gig 5400 RPM
ATI Mobility Fire GL V5250 256MB
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim
2 Year On Site Upgrade with 2 Year ThinkPad Protection

I use my PC for work mainly for Virtual Machines and Programming. The video card might be overkill so I won't be using it for gaming. Maybe some WOW wouldn't be too bad but thats not its primary use. Any tips? Overkill? Upgrade worth it?

I don't think it is worth it unless the T43 is painfully slow.

Wait for the T61 with Santa Rosa. It's only about a month away. I know you can get huge discounts for a T60 right now, but after the release of even faster T61's, you will probably regret the purchase and think about upgrading again.

I can wait a month or two no problem. That might be why all these discounts keep getting emailed to me, new HW coming.

My T43 is actually hanging in there. For running 5 - 6 Virtual Servers for testing I'm very happy with the performance. I can only imagine what a T60 can do.

Thank you all for your input on my thread. I think I will wait for right now since my T43 is doing ok.