Performance issues - Thinkexpert needed

[Insomniac1971]

Ok here is the thing, I had an T61 where the screen went bad and instead of spending a fortune on a new LCD, I bought an R61i instead - then used sysprep to move my installation of Win 7 enterprise to the R61i, and it worked - though it sometimes seem a bit slower than the T61. The differences between the 2 models:

T61 7665-12G: T7300 cpu, IEEE1394, nVidia 140m, 160GB Seagate HDD

R61i 7738-A52: T7250 cpu, No IEEE1394, Intel GM965, 320GB Hitachi Travelstar HDD

Besides that it has the same amount of ram 2GB, and the same Wi-fi card.

But the thing is, that sometimes the R61i seem a bit slower than the T61, so I have to ask if the T7250 Cpu really have that big an influence on speed?

I know it only have 2MB L2 cache compared to the T7300 with 4MB L2 cache - But does that impact noticeable?

The things I experience, is when moving files it can be a bit slow, and when accessing folder while multi tasking(I do alot of multi tasking). It has gotten better after I ran defragler on it and got the nvidia drivers uninstalled. But I can still feel it.


This is my system info:

TEST-PC (LENOVO ThinkPad R61)
BIOS Properties
BIOS Vendor LENOVO
Serial Number L3D8443
BIOS Version 7KETC9WW (2.29 )
Firmware Version 1.8
BIOS Date 04/07/2010
BIOS Size 2048 KB

Property Value
TEST-PC (LENOVO ThinkPad R61)
Computer
Manufacturer LENOVO
Family ThinkPad R61
Product Name 7738A52
Version ThinkPad R61
Serial Number L3D8443
SKU Number [unknown]
Chassis [unknown]
PC System Type Mobile

Can someone clear this up for me?

With kind regards

JBJ

Cpu info by SIW

Property Value
TEST-PC (LENOVO ThinkPad R61)
Summary
Number of Logical Processors 2
Number of Physical Processors 1
CPU #1 Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T7250
CPU Name Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7250 @ 2.00GHz
CPU Code Name Merom
Vendor GenuineIntel
Number of Bits 64
Instruction Set MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, ET64, VMX, EST
Platform Name Socket P (478)
Revision M0
Technology 65 nm
Original Clock 2000 MHz
Original System Clock 200 MHz
Original Multiplier 10.0
CPU Clock 2000 MHz
System Clock 199.5 MHz
FSB 798.0 MHz
Number of Cores 2
Core #1
Speed 1995.0 MHz
Multiplier 10.0
Core #2
Speed 1995.0 MHz
Multiplier 10.0
Turbo Boost Enabled
Virtual Technology Enabled
Hyper Threading Not Supported
Cache
L1 Data Cache 2 x 32 KBytes
L1 Instructions Cache 2 x 32 KBytes
L2 Cache 2048 KBytes

[RealBlackStuff]

Simple answer:
that R61i has a slower CPU and slower (intel) graphics.
And for both: you should install at least 4 GB RAM to run W7 properly.

[Insomniac1971]

Well since this is the 32bit of Win7 it can only address 3.12GB of Ram so even if i put in 4GB it will not see it.

There are some PAE tricks but I have not had any issues on my T61 to try that, I might plug in an 2GB block(when I get some money again:) A bit low on cash for the moment:( )

Would there be any benefits in switching the t7300 from the T61 to the R61i? I know it should be able to handle it, but I read in some studies that there is no noticeable change - but that is studies not real life use.

With kind regards

JBJ
BTW, to other that do the T61 -> R61 switch, The Optical drives are not same physical size - bummer:(

[Cigarguy]

I notice a slight, very slight, difference between 2 MB cache vs 4 MB cache. Having said that, the two systems are different enough for the T61 to be noticeably faster even with 2 GB RAM. 4 GB RAM and a SSD will definitely be noticable but only you can decide if it's worth it for a machine of this vintage. My T61s have 4 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD for OS and programs and a HDD in the Ultrabay. They are still very much useable and run pretty decent.