Thinkpads Forum

Hi there!

Bought an used T61 (7663-11G) a month ago and I'm really sattisfied, but I'm wondering about hardware upgrade chances. I've Googled a lot but got several very different answers on my questions so I decided to ask people who know ThinkPads better than their 5 fingers - YOU!

Got 2GB RAM installed. Would it boost much if I upgrade it to 3 or 4 GB, is it worth it?
What's the best processor that my laptop supports (with the current or latest BIOS version)? T9300? T9500? T... ?
What sort of cooler would you suggest if I upgrade my processor to maximum?
What's the largest (preferably 7200RPM) HDD that my laptop supports? Heard that 200GB?

To answer, you probably need to know about my current hardware. Here's the Everest report:
http://hot.ee/encoder/Report.htm

Hmm, guess that my motherboard type would help out the most but too bad that Everest was unnable to specify the model... :/

Tho, thanks in advance to everyone!

Since you have XP, there's no point installing more than 3GB.
But if you would install a 64-bit OS, such as W7/64, you can install up to 8GB (2x4GB).
You have the (notorious) nVidia GPU. Because of that I would advise against upgrading the CPU, as it causes even more heat, which will endanger the GPU more.
There is no limit to hard disk size, only your budget.
With a Middleton BIOS, you can improve the HD to SATA II speed.
Rather than a CPU upgrade, installing an SSD will bring much more improvement.

Thank you for your reply, RealBlackStuff.

Whatsoever, about that heat vs performance thing: Would T7500 be an optimal upgrade? Because I sure want to upgrade my CPU.

It really depends on the usage. Unless you push the CPU frequently, upgrading it offers little value. Typical notebook usage like internet, music or office does not push the CPU. I'd agree with RBS if you're looking for a performance boost, a SSD is a better path to it.

Your machine comes with Vista, which can be upgraded to 64 bit and that would allow you to use 8GB of memory, but unless you're running memory intensive applications like virtual machines, 8GB is not worth the effort or cash.

Hmm. Actually the reason why I want to upgrade my CPU so bad is because I wanna play SW:TOR on my laptop and it meets all the minimum requirements except CPU (2.0GHz). I'm sure that my T7100 can run it too but I want to run it clean and nice not crappy.

SSD sounds really nice but I've heard that SSD drives has got some sort of limited amount of writing cycles and when it reaches the limit, the drive is as good as dead - what about that? How long does a general SSD live with 4-10h usage per day?

Unless you have warranty remaining, gaming on any nVidia-based T61/p unit means looking for trouble...

encoder wrote:SSD sounds really nice but I've heard that SSD drives has got some sort of limited amount of writing cycles and when it reaches the limit, the drive is as good as dead - what about that? How long does a general SSD live with 4-10h usage per day?

Longer than your nVidia GPU

Seriously: when it will be death, it's value has already dropped to $1

Minimum requirements on CPU based purely on clockspeed are a joke. That would mean a late 2002 Intel Celeron 2,0 would qualify, but a T7100 does not. In the actual world,

True, warranty on this laptop expired a month ago.

Alright, thanks people, I got my answers.