Is it worthwhile to upgrade a T400 with Win 7 and SSD

[elazarus]

Hello,

I have a 3.5 year old T400 with a T9400 2.53ghz processor and 3gb Ram running Windows XP sp3.

Is it worthwhile to have it upgraded to Win 7, SSD and a new wifi adapter (wifi has always been bad in this computer)? I am just trying to get a handle on the value of doing this vs. getting a new machine. I do not use this every day as it is more for travel and a safety backup for my desktop.

Thank you

Elliot

[ajkula66]

I'd say "yes".

Don't know how big of a SSD you need but there are some pretty good 128GB ones (Crucial, Samsung) for $100 on NewEgg right now.

If you're intent on upgrading to W7 I'd wait with the wireless card swap until you're done with it...it may work better under 7 than in XP.

Good luck.

[elazarus]

Thank you for replying......

I can easily use a 128gb........I just don't know how best to install all drivers etc including Thinkpad utilities if I was to swap the HD with a SSD....or do you just swap the drive and do a full Win 7 install and it will pick up the drivers?

Also, can you download the Lenovo utilities if the drive has been changed and there is no "proof of Lenovo purchase?".....or do I just forget about Lenovo utilities and use Windows as my "guide"

I appreciate your help.

Elliot

[ajkula66]

You can use Lenovo's utilities on any hard drive or SSD.

What would likely be the best option IMO is to get a SSD, do a fresh install of W7 on it and use your current drive in the ultrabay for storage if needed.

Once you've done the basic install of W7, download System Update from Lenovo's website and let it run, it will find most if not all drivers applicable to your machine.

Good luck.

[elazarus]

Wow....that is a lot easier that I would have thought it to be.

Thank you very much for your help. I will order a SSD and Win7 from Newegg and give it a go.

For $250 I may have a "brand New Machine"

Elliot

[bill bolton]

Is it worthwhile to upgrade a T400 with Win 7 and SSD?

That's what I did a while back..... Intel 320 160GB SSD, 4GB RAM, Win 7 Ultimate.

Works very nicely.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[Jakoob]

Buying new ThinkPad is not necessary, I've bought SSD to my T500 and it is fast as hell. Only thing to point out, that you maybe should avoid Crucial. Their SSDs are reliable, but I'm having serious troubles with it (random freeze of whole system) and many other Thinkpad owners have too.

[sarbin]

Buying new ThinkPad is not necessary, I've bought SSD to my T500 and it is fast as hell. Only thing to point out, that you maybe should avoid Crucial. Their SSDs are reliable, but I'm having serious troubles with it (random freeze of whole system) and many other Thinkpad owners have too.

depending on which crucial you've got, check its firmware. there is a "5000 hour bug" in some m4 models. i believe that fw v0309 fixes that.

[Jakoob]

depending on which crucial you've got, check its firmware. there is a "5000 hour bug" in some m4 models. i believe that fw v0309 fixes that.

I have Crucial M4 128 GB 7 mm and the problem is somewhere else, I've tried nearly every solution given on forum or by manufacturer. Nothing helped, still having freezes...

[jayton4]

Corsair Force GT or Force 3 are reliable drives, as is the Intel 520 series, Kingston HyperX, SanDisk Extreme, Patriot Pyro SE, Patriot Wildfire, etc. Definitely stay away from the Crucial v4. As others mentioned, their m4 with updated drivers is good. There has also been a lot of positive things said about the Vertex 4 and Agility 4.

When you get the new wifi card, it will have to be something from the T400 series, such as the Intel 5100 or 5300 card. The wifi card selection is BIOS locked. Also, make sure that the Intel 5300 came out of a Lenovo computer, as there are different hardware ids for the same model card out there. The only other option is to go external USB or to flash a hacked BIOS. You can find what you need on ebay if you use the search terms intel 5300 lenovo.

If your T400 uses DDR3 RAM, then get 8GB RAM to go with it, too, as DDR3 memory is dirt cheap. You will need the 64bit version of Win7 to take advantage of that.

It will be a completely different machine and you will thoroughly enjoy it.

[ajkula66]

I have Crucial M4 128 GB 7 mm and the problem is somewhere else, I've tried nearly every solution given on forum or by manufacturer. Nothing helped, still having freezes...

Interesting. I've used these (not the 7mm version though) in several ThinkPads older than T*00 range with zero issues.

[mikemex]

I'd stay with Windows XP if I were you.

[Cigarguy]

I'd stay with Windows XP if I were you.

Huh?

I like XP, hated Vista but love 7. All my PCs and Laptops are now running Win 7. I'm going to skip Win 8 and see about Win 9.

Recently got a T400 from Canadiandue for a song. Installed a 240 GB Sandisk SSD and my "need" to get a T420 have become a "want". It's that nice.

[mikemex]

Let's just say that I bought a T420 recently and it came loaded with 7. It's nicer but it's not as stable as XP and it became evident in the first days of usage. Unsure about it being a hardware issue, I did extensive testing and reinstalled 7 with a fresh CD with new drivers but issues are still there. It's also considerably slower and not even 100% backwards compatible.

There is a good reason for XP still being widely used 11 years after it came out.

[Cigarguy]

^^ I respectfully disagree. My experience with over 20 different (newer and older) machine have been totally different. Personally I find it's difficult to find "unstable" or buggy OS. The handful of Linux OS I've tried have also been super stable.

[bill bolton]

There is a good reason for XP still being widely used 11 years after it came out.

There were never any good reasons for using XP on a system that was built to support Vista/Win 7(aka Vista SP3) specs..................

[mikemex]

There were never any good reasons for using XP on a system that was built to support Vista/Win 7(aka Vista SP3) specs..................

If you say so. Myself, I've got a Sandy Bridge desktop machine and have zero issues with XP (it even has an SSD).

Also, systems aren't designed for an specific OS.

[stuartf]

You can use Lenovo's utilities on any hard drive or SSD.

What would likely be the best option IMO is to get a SSD, do a fresh install of W7 on it and use your current drive in the ultrabay for storage if needed.

Once you've done the basic install of W7, download System Update from Lenovo's website and let it run, it will find most if not all drivers applicable to your machine.

Good luck.

I would only add, if this isn't too late, that I have done a similar upgrade and needed to have a wired ethernet connection as the wireless card was not working out of the box, with the generic drivers.

This was with a T43 so it may not apply but it couldn't hurt to be prepared. Alternately, download the wireless driver before formatting or do it on another machine and then install it once you are freshly setup.