Thinkpads Forum

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

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

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

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:)

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 Also, see the ThinkPad Notebooks; 2005 to present (withdrawn models)...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

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

I have upgraded a couple of them with it.

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!

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!

SerraAvatar wrote: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?)

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!