T7200 CPUs are crazy cheap on eBay, upgraded my Z61t for less than a buck!

[GnatGoSplat]

I hadn't really cared about upgrading my Z61t, it's always been fast enough for my needs.
But a couple weeks ago, I was looking at CPU upgrades for my wife's ancient laptop as she's been complaining it's too slow. I saw the Chinese are dumping T7200 CPUs.
Just $2.36 shipped.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Mobile-Co ... Swqu9VBvxe

That was cheap enough I decided to upgrade my Z61t's T5600 to T7200 even though it's just a tiny step up.
However, I saw other Chinese sellers were starting them at 99-cents shipped, with no bids. Pretty much, you bid, you win. So I got 2 for $1.98 total, shipped. One for wife's laptop and one for my Z61t. Just installed them last night. Even came with a couple packets of heatsink grease. Ran OCCT for an hour to test them and they're good.

Anyway, I don't see them for starting bids of 99-cents any more, but even $2.36 is a bargain. If you have a socket M Thinkpad that's slower than a T7200, might as well upgrade it for $2.36.

Crazy how the Chinese can ship stuff halfway around the planet for less than how much it costs me to ship something down the street.

[kfzhu1229]

Well the shipping is really slow... I usually choose US, UK, or Canada sellers so that I can get my item within a week.
The reason they are cheap is because they aren't the highest available. I spent CA$15 to get a Pentium M 780 which is the fastest for my T43. It is still cheap, but 6× more cost than your US$2.3

[GnatGoSplat]

China to USA usually is pretty slow, around 2-weeks typically (vs 1 week from within the US). However, this time they managed to get it to me in a week and a day (May 2 to May 10).

[Adda]

They sure are, I bought three of them a while ago, one of them runs at very very low voltage.

[TonyJZX]

The problem with laptops of this age is that the fastest cpu they can take is a T7700/7800 which isnt all that fast in this day and age and they are 2.4 etc.

Few people want to upgrade to a 2.0 cpu.

[GnatGoSplat]

I think T7600 is the fastest these socket M laptops can take. T7700/7800 are socket P.

[jimwg]

Greetings!

How difficult is it installing this CPU and what is the % performance difference from a stock Z61t?

Thanks!

Jim in NYC

[Cigarguy]

Greetings!

How difficult is it installing this CPU and what is the % performance difference from a stock Z61t?

Thanks!

Jim in NYC

Fairly easy to install. Just follow the step by step instructions in the maintenance manual. No such thing as stock so how much better will be dependent on the existing CPU in your machine. There are performance benchmarks between your existing CPU and whatever you want to get, just Google it. I like the T7200 as I find there's a noticeable difference in both performance and efficiency. The T7600 is even faster but uses more power and runs hotter. I run with both.

[brchan]

T7200 is a bit slow, even for standard web browsing. A T7800 ($20 on ebay) will give your Z61t pretty decent performance for couple more years.

[GnatGoSplat]

T7200 is a bit slow, even for standard web browsing. A T7800 ($20 on ebay) will give your Z61t pretty decent performance for couple more years.

Except for the T7800 won't fit a Z61t because it's Socket P and Z61t needs Socket M.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_I ... processors

[jimwg]

This has been very helpful. When I soon receive my eBay Z61t I'll determine if and how it can be maxed upgraded by a relative non-techie!

[GnatGoSplat]

The T7200s starting at 99-cents with free shipping are back, pretty much bid on one and you'll win it. Pretty hard to beat the price/performance ratio of one of those!

Although I'm almost certain T7600 is the max for Z61t, unless Socket P CPUs work in Socket M, but I don't think so.