Is it time for a new laptop or should I buy a SSD

[yup]

ok so my thinkpad t60 dates back to 2006 if not before (I don't remember any more).
we have had some good times.
hes has gotten a new screen two new fans, ram upgrade (to 2GB) cpu upgrade (to 2.0), and at last count 5 9cell batteries.

now my hard drive is dead, I have a couple of 80GB hdds to put in but seeing as i will have to reinstall everything anyway I was thinking about a new SSD instead and thus getting better battery life as well.

my question is,
A. how many hours would I get out of my battrey when i replace the HDD with a SSD if right now I am getting two hours.
B. do you think it is still worth investing in or should I get an new laptop
C. any suggestions as far as SSD's

thanks!

[ZaZ]

I don't think replacing the hard drive with a SSD will have a significant effect of battery life.

Whether you should replace the T60 I guess would depend on your needs, which you didn't say much about. My R60e, which would be of the same era, has a SSD and it's still a great notebook for every days usage. If you need top performance, then the T60 is past its prime.

I would buy an SSD on price. They're all fast. If you'd like a bit more space, the Seagate Momentus XT is worth a look.

[catalinus]

ok so my thinkpad t60 dates back to 2006 if not before (I don't remember any more).
we have had some good times.
hes has gotten a new screen two new fans, ram upgrade (to 2GB) cpu upgrade (to 2.0), and at last count 5 9cell batteries.

now my hard drive is dead, I have a couple of 80GB hdds to put in but seeing as i will have to reinstall everything anyway I was thinking about a new SSD instead and thus getting better battery life as well.

my question is,
A. how many hours would I get out of my battrey when i replace the HDD with a SSD if right now I am getting two hours.
B. do you think it is still worth investing in or should I get an new laptop
C. any suggestions as far as SSD's

thanks!

A new SSD is certainly going to improve speed (by a huge margin), but probably not so much the battery life - for that much more aggressive settings inside power manager are needed

That being said with a good SSD I expect you to gain at least 5-10% extra battery life (and possibly 25% if now you are very non-optimized and you are running Win7 - which IMHO is important for the TRIM support if you want a SSD).

IMHO if you do not have huge disk-space needs it might be worth paying for the SSD and waiting a little more before getting a new laptop - currently T430 series seem to be still a little on the move.

Samsung 830 (and soon probably 840) series seem to be listed at the very top but are expensive, and also Crucial and OCZ seem OK. Intel is so-so - reliability is ok but speed and price are not great. It might be worth waiting another 1-2 weeks since now there might be a few new models coming on the market and that will probably bring sales for some of the older models.

Since you mention 80GB mechanical disks IMHO you should look around a 128GB SSD disk - something like Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 (newegg prices are today around 80$ for the first and 110$ for the second).

[ZaZ]

I don't know which OS you're using, but keep in mind a XP disc or the recovery disc will not align the partition for best performance. You'll need a Vista or Windows 7 disc for proper alignment.

[Johan]

It is suggested that the OP review the thread Adding an SSD to a T60 as it will be of use in the present context.

@ catalinus: Since T60's (as you may perhaps not know?) will only support SATA-I speed, there is no advantage (in terms of speed) to get a new e.g. SATA-II or SATA-III SSD in a T60.

Johan

[yup]

cool!
thanks for the quick replies. how about compatibility? will any SSD work on the old SATA I port?
will I need a bios update?

I think careful use will get me ten percent and for that + speed I am willing to make the investment. any power management tips?

thanks!

[Radioguy]

@ catalinus: Since T60's (as you may perhaps not know?) will only support SATA-I speed, there is no advantage (in terms of speed) to get a new e.g. SATA-II or SATA-III SSD in a T60.

SATA I may be hard to come by at enough discount while retaining a warranty. SATA II driver are on clearance from many sources and will be under warranty. I think it's the best choice at the moment.

[J888www]

No matter how much you love/attached to/like your T60, sooner or later it will be time to purchase another laptop. As Wins 8 have only just being released maybe wait a little longer for more better options but in the meantime purchase a SSD and maybe at a later date switch this SSD to a newer purchase laptop.

As the Samsung 840 have just reached retail, their 830 SSDs have dropped down in price.
I recently purchased a IdeaPad Y580 and swopped the 1TB HHD for a 256GB Samsung 830, similar weight to the T60 so it isn't too good when travelling but the performance is difficult to surpass (3rd Gen Core i7, GeForce GTX 660M, 4x4GB RAM).
Yet again, I still spend more time on my T60p...............why ? it has je ne sais quoi.

[ceb]

No matter how much you love/attached to/like your T60, sooner or later it will be time to purchase another laptop. As Wins 8 have only just being released maybe wait a little longer for more better options but in the meantime purchase a SSD and maybe at a later date switch this SSD to a newer purchase laptop.

As the Samsung 840 have just reached retail, their 830 SSDs have dropped down in price.
I recently purchased a IdeaPad Y580 and swopped the 1TB HHD for a 256GB Samsung 830, similar weight to the T60 so it isn't too good when travelling but the performance is difficult to surpass (3rd Gen Core i7, GeForce GTX 660M, 4x4GB RAM).
Yet again, I still spend more time on my T60p...............why ? it has je ne sais quoi.

I suspect that a SSD can eke some time out of an old laptop. I got an extra half year or so out of an old HP by adding the cheapest SSD I could find.

In this case, I'd add a SATAIII drive that you could recycly in your new computer a half year or so down the road.

[J888www]

In this case, I'd add a SATAIII drive that you could recycly in your new computer a half year or so down the road.

That was also my original intention, I always like to salvage/cannibalize old equipments/devices........no waste.........my family call me a human dustbin.

[WarMachine]

Hello,

You should consider the replacement of you hard drive by an SSD. I did that on my T60, and it runs like a charm. Even if it's SATA I, you get an huge increase of the performances with the reduced access time. A classic 2.5" HD has an access time of approximatively 10 / 15 ms. An SSD has an access time of .1 ms. It makes a biiiiiiig difference.

The read or write transfer rates of your SSD are not exploited to the max, but the speed offered by the SATA I interface is still interesting, and a little better than what you get with an HD, which is limited by its technology.

As I don't use my machine too much on battery, I couldn't tell you what to expect in terms of battery life, but you'll necessarily get something a little better.

I work as an hotliner for a big french site, so I have a lot of questions about SSDs. At these times, the two best options are the Crucial M4 and the Samsung 830. The 840 is supposed to be as good as its predecessor, but I don't have enough feedback about it to recommand it with my eyes closed. Avoid the OCZ, and particularly the Petrol and Octane Series, it's major crap ! Agility or Vertex can be a good choice though. Intel is good, but expensive.

I made a machine for my aunt last summer, it's based on an i3 2100, with 4 GB and a 500 GB WD Black HD. It's made for office use and light multimedia. Of course, the benchmarks on this machine are far more better than what I get with my T60 (T7200, 3 GB, SSD Vertex 2 60 GB), but I still prefer my T60. The SSD makes the difference, this laptop is a real pleasure to use day after day. Everything is so smooth.

I will buy a T61 in the next days (T7100, nVidia Quadro NVS 140m, 14.1" SXGA+ screen, 2 GB RAM). You can be sure the HD will not last long. I plan to replace it with a 128 GB Crucial M4 as soon as possible, and put 4 or 8 GB of memory in it.

Nowadays, SSD is a really good means to increase the performances of any machine which can accept it.

W.

[hhmcsv]

My T60 still runs like a charm after the developments in this thread:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=105987

[TuuS]

the ssd is a huge help on the T60 line because their limited ram capability see them using virtual memory more often and an ssd can really make a big difference there, when your hdd is running the OS, apps, and bogged down with pagefile read/writes, it can really slow you down, and and SSD will really shine in these situations as well as boot time.

[miro_gt]

I don't know which OS you're using, but keep in mind a XP disc or the recovery disc will not align the partition for best performance. You'll need a Vista or Windows 7 disc for proper alignment.

or you can also get Partition Assistant Pro and use that to align as needed, I just did it on both my laptops running XP.