Help me salvage the last 'good' thinkpad

[alphascan]

I recently purchased an X220 and I bought an X201 before that.
Previously owned the x40, x60, x61, x61t, x61s
I truly believe that after the x6.. series the thinkpad quality has gone downhill and I will never buy a thinkpad again.

The only functional thinkpad I have today is the x61s and I wanted to request the forum for ideas/advice on how I can beaf it up so that I can achieve better performance.
I have the L7500 version, 1.60Ghz, 4 GB of RAM and Windows 7 32bit, 300gb HDDs
I have very light usage, email, web-browsing. The x61s struggles once I have a few programs open (thunderbird and IE for example), load big webpages (with flash) and is sluggish streaming high-quality videos.

The last time round I had issues with my x61s (alot of heat under the palm-rest) the folks here helped me fix it. http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 34#p683134
I am willing to look at options like re-format, buy more hardware etc.

Thanks so much for your help.

[alphascan]

Was browsing and came accross this post (upgrading to an SSD)
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=105091

[Tasurinchi]

Well, I'll buy a SSD to start... Intel models are a safe bet. Then install Middleton BIOS to allow SATA-II speeds (click me).

Some extras you could do:
- Max up your RAM to 8GB, but that will be ridiculously expensive and only worth if you use a 64bits system
- Swap the wlan card to a half size card like the Intel 6200 or 6205 to reduce palmrest heat
- Upgrade the motherboard with a more powerful CPU

[Neil]

Don't have any helpful suggestions to offer, but just want to add another question out of curiosity.

I see that all models of the X61s shipped with low voltage CPUs...will they accept Penryn chips? Or is one limited to "L" only?

[Raceboy]

If you want your computer to be fast, buy SSD (not necessarily Intel, others are good too like Crucial, Samsung etc) and keep your machine clean of bloatware (don't let programs to startup on bootup like various update checkers etc) and it is plenty fast. My X60 Tablet with L7400 CPU can easily play 1080p videos on youtube.

If you want to play bluray movies or the like, then buy Broadcom Crystal HD and put it in the Wifi slot (not WWAN slot) and use USB wireless adapter (which can be wired to the WWAN slot though).

Don't have any helpful suggestions to offer, but just want to add another question out of curiosity.

I see that all models of the X61s shipped with low voltage CPUs...will they accept Penryn chips? Or is one limited to "L" only?

The system board accepts Penryn chips but there is no point in soldering one in as the boards are physically the same between non S Penryn board and s models. The fan connector is 3pin on one and 4pin on other but the fan works nevertheless (I tried).
Just buy a Penryn board.

[flyingfishfinger]

About what Tasurinchi said, is there any place that still sells reasonably priced 8GB of DDR2 these days?

[Saucey]

Reasonably priced? I wish, such a pain to see DDR3 memory so cheap compared to DDR2 needed for X6x series...
I was considering upgrading my X61T from 2GB to 8GB because it felt a bit sluggish on Photoshop even when I had an SSD in it. After some researching I would find 4Gb would be modest to use for it and no slowdown on some youtube pages.

[ajkula66]

- Upgrade the CPU

Can't be done on X series, short of reballing a new one in or swapping an entire board.

Planars that were shipped with LV CPUs would not accept standard ones either.

[Tasurinchi]

DOH!

I should have known better! Post edited...

[farmall]

Amortized over years of use buying 8GB is cheap, as is an SSD. Get the 8GB and enjoy. I run Linux (Ubuntu, then switched to Centos) so even when I ran a 32-bit distro it would still use 8GB ram. If you love XP, various Windows 2003 server variations have been used for desktops.

http://win2k3.msfn.org/

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... r_2003_sp2

If that's the last machine you'll want, collect others for replacement reserve. If my T61 died today I''d grab another off Ebay, swap 1TB drive and 8GB , and press on. I'm looking into a more powerful machine since mine won't run 64-bit virtual guests, but there's no reason to toss the older notebook.

[flyingfishfinger]

Slightly OT, but why won't it run 64-bit virtual guests?

[alphascan]

Thanks all for the advice!

Based on what most of you have said, the first upgrade I'm going to make is the hard drive.
I have a couple of questions:
- apart from a 2.5 internal laptop SSD drive is there any other spec I should check for before buying? I see quite a few floatig around on ebay - http://www.ebay.com/itm/160929148951?ss ... 1438.l2649
- once I install the new drive and the Middleton BIOS will I be able to switch back and forth between the SSD and my current HDD?

thanks for all the help!

[alphascan]

Based on what alot of SSD reviews, the Crucial M4 works great with lapotps.
Does anyone know if it will it work on the X61s - anyone with experiences to share?
http://www.amazon.com/Crucial%C2%A064-2 ... crucial+64

[Tasurinchi]

Any 2.5" SATA SSD should work. I have currently a Crucial M4 in my X200 and it works without any issues. That model has very good feedback on internet.

But there are also several brands making good SSD's like Intel, Samsung, Corsair to name a few, OCZ seems to have mixed reputations, (but I have one working fine since 4 months, knock on wood )

So unless you need every single transfer bit from an SSD, I would buy based on price, but that's just me...

[alphascan]

Thanks for the advice Tasurinchi
Alot of folks have posted great improvements after the SSD upgrade (especially with respect to boot times)
Do you think the SSD upgrade will also help with my problem of sluggish performance while streaming high-quality videos on the X61s? Or is that more a graphics card thing?

thanks for your help, and btw I greatly appreciate your advice on the wireless card replacement that fixed the heating issue

[Tasurinchi]

Well, I'm not an expert in streaming videos, but I would guess that if the streaming software has to read a lot from the SSD then you will see some improvements, otherwise nothing will change much I guess.

[Fixed_Rider]

I have an x61s (1.6ghz, 2gb Ram) with an Intel 330 SSD. It is dual booting Win8 and Ubuntu 12.04.
It out performs in every way my Win8 X61 (2.0ghz, 4gb Ram) with a WD 640gb 5400rpm.
The single best thing I ever did to a laptop for performance.

Go forth to SSD land and rejoice!

[alphascan]

Thanks Fixed_Rider!
Placing my order for the crucial right now.
Just curious - did you downgrade to 2GB of RAM intentiaonally or was 4GB not supported after your SSD install?
I read on another forum where someone mentioned that their new SSD worked with only 2GB of ram, they had to get rid of the second 2GB stick.
"One interesting thing: x61s would not work with 4gb and vertex2. Works flawlessly with the old hitachi hard disk and the new vertex4. Weird but tested multiple times."
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum ... Lenovo-x61

[Fixed_Rider]

When I bought the x61s it only had 2gb of Ram. I have not added the 4gb to it.
I'll try it tonight and report back. I do not foresee any issues though.

[Tasurinchi]

I've never seen any issue between RAM and SSD, in fact my SSD's are all working fine with different RAM setups (4GB, 3GB, 2GB)

[flyingfishfinger]

Continuing along the lines of things you might want to add to pimp your machine, does anyone have experience with something like these?
http://www.habeyusa.com/EDM/7-2-2010_Ha ... 4_EPR.html

R

[milstein]

I recently purchased an X220 and I bought an X201 before that.
Previously owned the x40, x60, x61, x61t, x61s
I truly believe that after the x6.. series the thinkpad quality has gone downhill and I will never buy a thinkpad again.

The only functional thinkpad I have today is the x61s and I wanted to request the forum for ideas/advice on how I can beaf it up so that I can achieve better performance.
I have the L7500 version, 1.60Ghz, 4 GB of RAM and Windows 7 32bit, 300gb HDDs
I have very light usage, email, web-browsing. The x61s struggles once I have a few programs open (thunderbird and IE for example), load big webpages (with flash) and is sluggish streaming high-quality videos.

The last time round I had issues with my x61s (alot of heat under the palm-rest) the folks here helped me fix it. http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 34#p683134
I am willing to look at options like re-format, buy more hardware etc.

Thanks so much for your help.

Hi alphascan,

I'm currently using a X61t with heat-related random shutdown problem - I even have bought an SSD ready to install on that but then the random shutdown gets really serious and I am thinking of getting the X220 tablet.
How does your X220 compare to your X6* series? In terms of built quality, speed and keyboard (feel to touch). Is that a worthwhile purchase?

Thanks.

M

[alphascan]

Hi milstein, Everyone will have their own opinion and here's mine.
I would not recomend the X220 only becase of its build quality. And its not just me, if you google around you'll find alot of people posting issues they have had - battery loose, uneven gaps between bezel and the screen, card slot seemes bendy etc.
The X201 was better than the X220 but not as good as the X6* series.
My X201 fell from the table and the screen cracked so easily. I used my leg to try and break its fall but that did not help. My X6* series are brilliant in that respect and have taken alot of abuse.
Also, I felt that the X201 and X220's keyboards are not as good as the X6*
If you really need more processing that anything in the X6* series could offer I would suggest saving some money and getting the X201t and using the spare cash for upgrades.
Again, thats just me.
I just bought an SSD for my X61s and I cant wait
Best of luck.

[milstein]

Hi alphascan,

Thanks for sharing.
One major reason that I haven't upgraded to another model is that I love the SXGA+ (1400x1050) IPS screen for writting codes a lot --- upgrading to any subsequent ThinkPad tablet model is indeed a downgrade for me (only 800 vertical pixels) unless there is a way to transplant higher resolution IPS screen to it with at least 1000 vertical pixels.

If it is not the heat-related random shutdown issue, I and my X61t would never part.

Cheers,

M

[pianowizard]

Based on specs, I consider the X201s with 1440x900 to be the last "good" Thinkpad. It's even lighter than the X61s and the resolution is a huge improvement over the 1024x768 of the X61s, and of course it's faster. IMO, 1024x768 is too low even for reading standard PDF files. I can't comment on the build quality or keyboard quality of the X201s though since I have never actually used one, but I suspect that no matter how bad they are, they can't be that bad.

The X61 tablet has an even higher resolution of 1400x1050 but it weighs over a pound more than the X201s. I did own an X61 tablet but only briefly because I found it way too heavy and disliked the grainy appearance of the screen.

If I were you, I would rather upgrade to an X201s instead of upgrading your X61s, but that's just my opinion.

[alphascan]

If I was you, I would look around for solutions for the heating problem.
I have an X61t and have never faced any problems with heat (i use it less since I find it heavy) My x61s on the other hand drove me nuts before folks here helped me fix the problem by swapping out the wireless card.

Another thing that kept me with the X6* is the screen dimension / aspect ratio, but there are mixed options about that. When i moved to the X201 that was one the most important things that I missed...

If you get a good deal on an x201s I would go for it.
If you like the aspect ratio of the X61 then try to find a solution. Spares for the X6* series are cheap on ebay.

[Tasurinchi]

If it is not the heat-related random shutdown issue

There's plenty of help in this forum, check a little bit the threads around here, I'm sure you'll find some useful information

[milstein]

Meanwhile, when I will keep on looking for solutions to the heat-related random sudden shutdown problem, even after I have already totally dissembled it to remove all the dust from every parts including the fan and reapplied fresh Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste to the heat-sink components etc, I will also look a bit forward and patiently wait and see if this thingy with 1080 vertical pixels (ThinkPad Helix) is reliable or not.
https://www.google.com/search?q=thinkpa ... sgbY94CwAg

I'll keep staying positive with my X61 Tablet. It's like a girlfriend that I like a lot but there are annoying things that make me want to break up with her: whenever it randomly shuts down again, I'll immediately think, "I am totally done with it!!!"; and then if it stays nice and only a bit warm for the whole night with me, I'll think, "OK, I think maybe I can bear with it a bit longer, there is nothing nicer out there...".

Keep looking!

- M

[pianowizard]

Milstein, you may not need to hold on to your X61 tablet for much longer. There are several 1920x1080 tablets that either come with keyboards or to which keyboards can be attached. For example, Microsoft's upcoming Surface Pro tablet, Dell's XPS 12, the Thinkpad upcoming X1 Helix, and Samsung's ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T.

[alphascan]

Installed a 64GB Crucial M4.
Battery life is about 20minutes more
I used to get 3.30 hours now I get 3.50-3.55 (BatteryBar Pro)
The performance has improved, videos play smooth, Netflix, YouTube HD etc (not sure if this was a result of the SSD or the BIOS upgrade - I was running a really old version)
I guess I'll need to test for a few more days before I can draw some conclusions.

Thanks everyone for your help and advice.