R500 upgrades
Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 6:05 am
Early 2009 i was searching for a new notebook because my first one has died. And yes that one was an Acer 
So i was looking around for a nice notebook which was a lot better than an Acer ever could be an cheap, so i was looking for 2nd hand ThinkPad. I had no idea about which type i want so i was just looking around. Til someday i member of my favorite tech-forum offers me an ThinkPad R500 (2733-CTO) for a really nice price. The price was really less the half of what the price for the same configuration was at that moment. So i decided to drive 40km to take a look at this ThinkPad. When i saw the machine it was love at the first sight, so i bought it immediately!
It than had the next config:
Core2Duo T7250 @2hgz (i guess it was this one not sure about it)
4GB's DDR3 @800 (yes it was running under spec.)
160gb Hitachi HDD, 7200Rpm
and further some basic stuff not really exiting, but it did what it needs for me. Oh and a boring 1280x800 screen.
First upgrade,
I found it really annoying that i had 4GB ram installed that was running at 800Mhz instead of the 1066Mhz what it is supposed to do.
So i was in the market to get a proc. with a 1066Mhz bus, and guess what? On the same tech site i was able to exchange my old processor for a C2D P7350, which has actually a 1066Mhz buss! So that was the first thin i swapped. No really a big advantage in speed but im just more comfortable with it.
The next,
So i was carrying my ThinkPad around for a while to school an so. Until a day at school i noticed that my screen was blacked out, it just shows windows an all i need but no background so it was really not useable at this state. The next day i called to Lenovo Netherlands an they asked me fore some receipts, and no i don't have anyone. So then they asked me to the serial which i gave to them. And they told me that there was still 3years all-inn warranty on it! The next day there was a engineer from a repair service an they fixed my screen. And i still don't know why, they installed a Bluetooth daughter card in my ThinkPad too!!
OS:
At some time i could get me a free copy of Windows 7 professional 64bit installed it and WHAT A NICE OS!
There was another long period wherein in nothing change in my ThinkPad, but then: SSD drives getting cheaper an i need a birthday gift so i installed a Intel Postville X25-M SSDSA2MH080G2K5 80GB, and wow that is a heck of performance improvement!
The screen,
There was one thing that really irritates me, and it was the lack of space on my screen! It had just the crappy cheap laptop resolution op 1280x800. So when there was another one on my fav. tech-site offering a W500 screen with the beautiful resolution of 168x1050 i didn't wait a moment and bought it directly! After installing the panel in my ThinkPad in notice there was nothing on it when i tested it, oh [censored]! I got the wrong LCD-cable it was only capable to steer a 1280x800 screen :S After week searching on eBay i finally found a Chinese vendor which actually had the right cable in his assortment! So i let ship it to The Netherlands. And yes MY SCREEN IS WORKING! For me a really big improvement.
Print,
Just for the fun in ordered by the same eBay seller a palmrest with fingerprint reader! Working like a charm!
Sorry for my idiot tall post but i would just show you what are the possibilities of this particular platform. The first next upgrade is a Optibay HDD to work next my SSD as storage. Further i would upgrade the processor to one with Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT) There I'm using vPC's a lot for my school, for the same reason i will upgrade the ram to 8GB's.
And maybe a 9-cell battery but that isn't a priority for me.
So i was looking around for a nice notebook which was a lot better than an Acer ever could be an cheap, so i was looking for 2nd hand ThinkPad. I had no idea about which type i want so i was just looking around. Til someday i member of my favorite tech-forum offers me an ThinkPad R500 (2733-CTO) for a really nice price. The price was really less the half of what the price for the same configuration was at that moment. So i decided to drive 40km to take a look at this ThinkPad. When i saw the machine it was love at the first sight, so i bought it immediately!
It than had the next config:
Core2Duo T7250 @2hgz (i guess it was this one not sure about it)
4GB's DDR3 @800 (yes it was running under spec.)
160gb Hitachi HDD, 7200Rpm
and further some basic stuff not really exiting, but it did what it needs for me. Oh and a boring 1280x800 screen.
First upgrade,
I found it really annoying that i had 4GB ram installed that was running at 800Mhz instead of the 1066Mhz what it is supposed to do.
So i was in the market to get a proc. with a 1066Mhz bus, and guess what? On the same tech site i was able to exchange my old processor for a C2D P7350, which has actually a 1066Mhz buss! So that was the first thin i swapped. No really a big advantage in speed but im just more comfortable with it.
The next,
So i was carrying my ThinkPad around for a while to school an so. Until a day at school i noticed that my screen was blacked out, it just shows windows an all i need but no background so it was really not useable at this state. The next day i called to Lenovo Netherlands an they asked me fore some receipts, and no i don't have anyone. So then they asked me to the serial which i gave to them. And they told me that there was still 3years all-inn warranty on it! The next day there was a engineer from a repair service an they fixed my screen. And i still don't know why, they installed a Bluetooth daughter card in my ThinkPad too!!
OS:
At some time i could get me a free copy of Windows 7 professional 64bit installed it and WHAT A NICE OS!
There was another long period wherein in nothing change in my ThinkPad, but then: SSD drives getting cheaper an i need a birthday gift so i installed a Intel Postville X25-M SSDSA2MH080G2K5 80GB, and wow that is a heck of performance improvement!
The screen,
There was one thing that really irritates me, and it was the lack of space on my screen! It had just the crappy cheap laptop resolution op 1280x800. So when there was another one on my fav. tech-site offering a W500 screen with the beautiful resolution of 168x1050 i didn't wait a moment and bought it directly! After installing the panel in my ThinkPad in notice there was nothing on it when i tested it, oh [censored]! I got the wrong LCD-cable it was only capable to steer a 1280x800 screen :S After week searching on eBay i finally found a Chinese vendor which actually had the right cable in his assortment! So i let ship it to The Netherlands. And yes MY SCREEN IS WORKING! For me a really big improvement.
Print,
Just for the fun in ordered by the same eBay seller a palmrest with fingerprint reader! Working like a charm!
Sorry for my idiot tall post but i would just show you what are the possibilities of this particular platform. The first next upgrade is a Optibay HDD to work next my SSD as storage. Further i would upgrade the processor to one with Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT) There I'm using vPC's a lot for my school, for the same reason i will upgrade the ram to 8GB's.
And maybe a 9-cell battery but that isn't a priority for me.
