Advice to upgrade my poor t61

[wanderbid]

I have layed my hands on long desired cheapo t61. it is t7100 2,5ram, onboard vga and 80gb hdd.
Just wanted an advice which way would be better to upgrade it- put all bucks in SSD(intel x25-m) or buy another 2gb stick and Hitachi 7k500/320? hdd capacity is not primary here, but performance. would i benefit more from just ssd or a little faster hdd+ram?
if i go SSD way i need to upgrade to middleton bios, right? no problems here?

also in tech specs it says max 4gb ram, but i see people using 8, do i just stick 2x4 ram in, or theres more to know?

thanks in advance!

[richk]

First, I would need more info to answer. As far as memory, it depends on what OS you are running. If you are running XP, 1 - 2 GB should be plenty. Vista or Win 7 prefer more. To use more than 3GB, you need to be running a 64-bit OD. If you are running 32-bit-anything, memory beyond 3GB is extra. An SSD always improves throughput, but how much depends on how you use the machine.

[wanderbid]

sorry i did not provide enough info- i will definately switch to 64-bit WIN7 in near future. as for applications- mostly acad, Adobe- PS, LR and AI, internet, word, movies, some older games

[richk]

The older games will have trouble running on 64-bit anything. Photoshop is a real memory hog and certainly works (better) under 64-bit. The SSD gives you a real boost for disk-intensive applications (not the games and not photoshop). An SSD also speeds startup.

[dr_st]

The older games will have trouble running on 64-bit anything.

Well, only if they are 16bit applications (DOS). And even then, it is possible to use DOSBox. Older Windows games typically run fine.

[ZaZ]

The Momentus XT might be worth a look if you want more drive space.

[Tasurinchi]

Having a similar T61 as yours I would say an SSD as first step wouldn't be a good idea. You can max out the memory to 8GB as well, but that cost some money (at least here).

I was using my Intel X25-M SSD with the "standard" BIOS until yesterday. After applying the new BIOS mod to enable SATA-II speeds (which is really easy) I'm not experiencing huge changes in performance, but I'm just using it for web browsing, watching videos and basic office tasks.

[techweenie]

Start with a new CPU such as the T8300. It is very noticeably faster, cooler, and power efficient. If you are running Vista or 7, upgrade to 4GB RAM next. Otherwise, a SSD is the ideal next step.