Thinkpads Forum

Greets all,
I'm in the market for something new -- maybe the W series?
and I've gotten to wondering if I couldn't upgrade my
T60p (8744-C9U).

I'm not very hardware savvy so I may be asking a stupid question.

Is it possible to:

1. install a 64bit OS so I can cram in more memory? (like 8megs)
2. upgrade my graphics card (FireGL V5250) to something faster?

Possible? or sell this one and upgrade to a whole new machine?

Thanks,
-Tony

1. The current state of knowledge is that the T60p is limited to 3 GB of RAM. This would be a hardware limitation, not something that can be fixed with a 64 bit OS.

It's been suggested to me that the chipset used in the machine, as it comes out of Intel, is in fact capable of supporting at least 4 GB. I have not investigated further; for now, take 3 GB as the limit.

2. No, the graphics card is soldered on the motherboard and the V5250 is the fastest T60p motherboards were equipped with.

thanks qviri -- guess its the same old song and dance and
I'll just wait and upgrade to the W-series.

last grab: do they make high end graphics cards for
express card slot?

or am I talking smack?

thanks again.

I think they do, or are starting to, but the expresscard is for connection only, and the actual graphics "card" would be in a separate box outside the laptop. Not sure if that kills the deal for you.

Also, I'd expect prices for that to start on the other side of $300.

do a search of marketplace for for-sale posts for t60p's. if yours is in great shape, you might be able to come up with a good chunk towards your next machine by selling it here.
just a thought...

You can max out a T60p with

- Big, fast hard drive. One of the new 7200RPM 320 GB drives should do the trick.
- T7600 CPU
- Vista 64, once you spend two or three days ripping out all the fluff, is really nice. If you're not that patient or knowledgable, stick with XP.
- 4GB Memory. The system will only recognize the first 3GB, but having two matching modules will allow your system to run in dual-channel symmetric mode, which gives you slightly better memory performance.

Of course, you can always get an Advanced dock, add a video card, add big external monitors, etc - but that's getting a little off point.

now scratch all those suggestions above .. and buy a SSD to replace your HDD

you'll be amazed

Looks like the "upgrade" option might be the W500 --
but unfortunately it seems to use the same graphics card.

the W700 -- while much too expensive -- is hardly portable
at 17".

I'm wondering if my best upgrade option isn't just a T61p.

Thanks for the input all.

As a side point, the T60 takes Atheros' AR5008 chipset, giving you 802.11n.