Intel 320 SSD on T61, doable?

[SerraAvatar]

Hi Guys,

I'm planning to upgrade my HDD to an Intel 320 SSD, I was wondering if the 320 (most likely a 80gb) will be compatible.

Thanks a lot:)

Jack

[Johan]

Welcome to the forum, Jack!

Your T61 is equipped with a 2.5" SATA drive so an Intel SSD in the 320-series will work fine. Notice that you can increase the speed of your T61 through a "hack" which will enable SATA-II speeds in stead of the default (slower) SATA-I speed... see the links pointed to in the thread SSD Upgrade for T60p How-to? Need suggestions - especially this post.

Johan

[SerraAvatar]

Hi Johan,

Thank you so much for the quick reply. I found the links very helpful:) I'm one step closer to joining the SSD club!

Jack

[SerraAvatar]

After reading through the posts (awesome replies Johan, btw), I've decided to get Win 7 too as XP isn't optimized for SSDs...

My T61 is a 7663 and I was wondering if I could expand the RAMs beyond 2GB. I remember reading it somewhere that all T61s can have up to 8GB of RAM, then on ThinkWiki it says 4GB, and when I shopped for mine 2GB was the maximum I could get. Could someone please clarify whether I can further pump the memories please? I'm planning to using Win 7 64bit and if the system can accommodate 8Gbs of RAM then I'll buying 2x 4GB soon.

Thanks a lot guys:)

[Johan]

Jack:

As to the maximum amount of RAM in a T61/p, please see the thread T60/T61/p memory limitations -- the definitive answer [pics]. Also, see the ThinkPad Notebooks; 2005 to present (withdrawn models)... on page 223/224 you will find the official Lenovo specifications for T61's of the 7663-series stating:

T61 (7663-series) maximum RAM:
1GB std / 4GB max / PC2-5300 667MHz DDR2, non-parity, dual-channel capable, two 200-pin SO-DIMM sockets; standard memory in one socket; one socket available

However, I admit that the above leaves you a bit confused if you see the thread My T61 got 8GB memory?! Also, in this post user jdhurst wrote:

<snip>

I upgraded my Core2 Duo Thinkpad T61p to 8Gb because I run virtual machines. In truth, I rarely run more than one VM at a time, so the 8Gb was probably a waste.

Bottom line: Windows 7 Pro 64-bit runs happily on 4Gb for the vast majority of what people use

The same issue is discussed in T61 and 8GB ram? and T61, GM965, 8gb ddr2?... so I hope that someone with more knowledge and experience will chime in here...

Johan

[Kamika007z]

Yes, the T61/p chipset can accommodate up to 8GB of memory.

I have upgraded a couple of them with it.

[Bánh mì]

What kind of performance boost are you seeing from 4GB to 8GB and with the SSD? Rather than stats, anecdotal day to day observations will suffice. I mean does Outlook "pop" open in blink, etc, you know what I mean. Am thinking of some upgrades of the perfomance boost/cost ratio is favorable with lots of upside. Thanks!

[SerraAvatar]

Thank you Johan very much for the quick and helpful replies and Kamika for confirming it I've decided to get a single 4Gb RAM and keep one of my 1Gb for now, this way I have some room for future upgrade.

Time to shop for the 320 SSD, RAM's and Win 7

Long live the ThinkPad!

[AndrewTo]

Thank you Johan very much for the quick and helpful replies and Kamika for confirming it I've decided to get a single 4Gb RAM and keep one of my 1Gb for now, this way I have some room for future upgrade.

Time to shop for the 320 SSD, RAM's and Win 7

Long live the ThinkPad!

count startup time if u cud

mine T7500 + 4gb ram + Ocz 60g Vertex2 = 43seconds to reach desktop
now aiming to go faster perhapz getting a turbo memory (if it helps?)

[Kamika007z]

Turbo memory doesn't help when you have 4GB or more.

I have tried using but it actually makes the machine wait longer to boot.

With it installed, it would show the BIOS bootscreen, then followed by a quickly blinking cursor for about 10 seconds, then it would continued to boot to the OS.

Did you upgrade the firmware on the Vertex2 to 1.33? I believe that is the newest which improves stability and speed.

Let us know!