Thinkpads Forum

I placed an order for a T60 15-inch (w/ Flexview) last week during the 'graduation' sale (before prices dropped again this week for the 'Memorial Day' sale). The computer should arrive tomorrow. I'm wondering now if it would be worth the time and energy to return the system and reconfigure it w/ a few upgrades, since those upgrades are now cheaper than they were last week. Here's what I have coming at the moment:

Core 2 Duo T5500 - 1.66Ghz
1GB memory
60GB 7200rpm
ATI X1400 128MB
CD-RW/DVD-ROM
ThinkPad wireless

I am a student with fairly basic needs. I'm sticking with Windows XP Pro, not Vista. I basically use MS Office, the Internet (a lot), listen to music, watch DVDs, etc. No gaming whatsoever, no graphically intensive programs like Photoshop, no video editing or any of that. I do like to watch video clips off the Web and streaming video broadcasts of tennis matches... that sort of thing. I am looking for this computer to last me a while. Will any of my current specifications prove to be insufficient? Is it silly to be getting a 7200rpm hard drive and not opt for a faster processor?

I do suspect I'll be OK as far as storage is concerned. I have been using a 40GB hard drive for the past four years and I'm not yet close to filling it up; the only music I put on the hard drive is stuff I already own on CD or purchase through iTunes, and I only watch movies off DVD. Any thoughts/suggestions would be much appreciated, specifically: would I notice a boost with the 1.83Ghz C2D, given my fairly limited needs? Should I consider spending even more to bump up to the 2.0Ghz processor w/ 4MB L2? Or is all this overkill b/c I wouldn't be maxing anything out to begin with. Thanks a lot!

Fast hard drive gives more of a performance boost than a faster processor does, but on teh flipside, its very easy to upgrade a hard drive, and a bit tougher to upgrade your processor (though still possible).

If you don't game (the most demanding thing most computers ever do) your T60 should be more than adequate for years to come.

This is a somewhat unrelated question, but relevant/simple enough that I didn't want to start a new thread:

I've been looking at buying a new T61, and I've decided on all the components except the graphics and hard disk options. If I'm running on Vista business with a 7200 rpm HD, would the Intel integrated X3100 graphics be so much of a bottleneck to performance that the boost from the faster HD would be largely negated? All I'm concerned with is the Vista graphics requirements, as my other graphics needs are absolutely minimal (no games, movies, etc. at all on my laptop, just some statistical/scientific programs that would mainly benefit from a faster HD).

Right now my choice is between:
Integrated graphics + 7200 rpm HD (preferred)
Integrated + 5400 rpm (second best)
Dedicated + 7200 rpm (concerned about power consumption here)

I run Vista business on a Toshiba tablet PC with GMA950 integrated graphics (older version of Intel integrated) and have no complaints about vista's graphical effects.

Graphics and disk access have little to do with one another and a slowdown or speed boost in one won't do much to help compensate or drag down the other.

I play games on my computer, and so GPU is important to me. My tablet is strictly used for business, and so the integrated GPU doesn't bother me at all. Actually, for a work machine, I prefer the GMA graphics because it uses less battery power than a discreet graphics card does.

asiafish wrote:its very easy to upgrade a hard drive

To anyone who has actually upgraded the HD on a T60...

Does the Active Hard Drive protection or security features cause any incompatibility, or will any 2.5" SATA work on a T60?

Thx.