Thinkpads Forum

Hy Everybody,

I would appreciate, if you guys could help me out with your expertise.

I use a X200, which I really do like for the keyboard, the 16:10 ratio, so I recently bought a 5+ hour battery. This X200 has the better display version, that one, that doesnt darken over time. It runs a 2,4 GH Core Duo 8600.

Now, what really pisses me off ist that my HDD 7200 is sometimes for minutes idle, idle, idle. The booting time until having opened the first App takes about 70 Seconds, again the HDD is idle. It has been on Windows 8, 8.1 and now on 10 like this. I browsed a lot of froum threads on this issue of Windows and tried a lot to no avail.

Would a SSD speed up these idle times a lot, or is it the processor that is too old? I would especially like to shorten the booting time (Yes, I tuned on "fastboot")

And in case you guys would recommend a SSD (80 €, Germany) is it worth it regarding the age of the X200... or should I invest in a new X Line Thinkpad? I personally like the X200, but could also think about getting a new X Line Thinkpad, but i dont really see any advantages over the X200 for Office and browsing, except US 3.0.

Thanks for your help. Cheers, Alex

kingcole wrote:Would a SSD speed up these idle times a lot, or is it the processor that is too old?

Upgrading the CPU will not be of much effect, but replacing that "slow as molasses" HDD by whatever SSD you can get will give an impressively immediate speed boost.

Even the fastest processor will always be thwarted by the slowest component of the chain - which is usually the HDD. Adding any SSD will give you a completely different perspective regarding the actual speed of your current CPU and the overall system.

This makes a very noticeable difference and gives a whole new lease of life even for any old T60 with only SATA I. The random access time is what it finally is all about.

[Written on a T61 featuring a Core2Duo T9300 CPU with 8GB RAM and a SanDisk Extreme Pro SSD, which feels very much faster than the X220 provided by my employer due to being severely handicapped by a HDD]

Welcome to the forum.
Any laptop nowadays benefits greatly from an SSD upgrade.
This one I can highly recommend: http://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/zota ... 39830.html
Your X200/X200s can also take up to 8GB RAM.
With a fresh W7-Pro 64-bit install you'd be grand for the next 4-5 years.
Forget about crappy W8 and W10.
Or forget about Windows altogether and go the Linux way.
Sooner rather than later a lot of people will switch over!

Thanks for advice. I bough a 240 SSD and installed it. Feels like a different animal. Booting time is fantastic now. All I needed.

Case closed. Thanks, Alex