what would benifit xp pro most on old tp

[tonepaq]

I WAS WONDERING YOUR OPINIONS ON WHAT UPGRADE TO GET FIRST FOR THE BEST PERFORMANCE GAIN RUNNING XP PRO ON THIS OLD TIMER

I HAVE A P2 300MHZ
2 64MB RAM STICKS (PLUS THE ONBOARD 32 OF COURSE)
AND LIKE A 6 GIG STOCK HARDDRIVE NOT SURE HOW TO TELL THE RPM BUT IM GUESSING IT IS SLOW?

WHAT WOULD BENIFIT ME MOST AND HOW MUCH CAN I EXPECT TO SPEND FOR IT?

THANKYOU

IBM 600E 2645-55U

[tfflivemb2]

The first recommended upgrade would be upgrading the memory. Try 2 128mb sticks, to take your system up to 288mb. You could always try to upgrade with more, but it is a little cost prohibitive IMHO. 128MB PC100 sticks can be had for less than $20 shipped on eBay. The 256mb sticks are running about $50 each shipped on eBay...unless you get a hold of a great find.

If you get a chance, then you could try upgrading the processor. The model that you have should be able to easily go up to a 400mhz MMC-2 processor. There are others in the forum that say that you can go all the way up to an 850mhz processor (which may or may not act like a 700mhz due to speedstep technology).

Another option is to upgrade the hard drive to a 5400rpm or better, instead of the 4200rpm stock.

The memory upgrade to 288mb will make the largest/cheapest upgrade.

[pianowizard]

Before investing in hardware upgrades, I think you should try tweaking WinXP to speed up its performance. Have you done that yet? http://www.pcstats.com/ has lots of tips regarding tweaks for Windows.

I have run Windows XP Pro on a TP600E with 366MHz Pentium II and 128MB RAM and it's fast enough for normal use.

[pianowizard]

The first recommended upgrade would be upgrading the memory. Try 2 128mb sticks, to take your system up to 288mb. You could always try to upgrade with more, but it is a little cost prohibitive IMHO.

However, if he gets a 256MB module (make sure it's low density and PC100!), he can continue to use one of the 64MB sticks he currentsly has, and so he will have 32 + 64 + 256 = 352MB instead of 288MB. By monitoring eBay for a few days, it should be possible to get a 256MB stick for around $45, which isn't much higher than two 128MB sticks combined.

[LtTPfan]

My 770 with 500 MHz CPU and 288mb RAM is still a total slug, takes over 6:30 to boot. It ran a lot faster with Win98.

[tfflivemb2]

My 770 with 500 MHz CPU and 288mb RAM is still a total slug, takes over 6:30 to boot. It ran a lot faster with Win98.

WOW, you might want to check your start up programs, or something. I have XP Pro running on a TP600 233mhz with 96mb ram, and it takes less than half that to completely boot.

I don't exactly recommend XP Pro on a 233mx with 96mb ram, but XP Pro was loaded on this one just to test the PCMCIA slot that was thought to have been bad.

[tonepaq]

The first recommended upgrade would be upgrading the memory

I WILL DO THAT FIRST

Before investing in hardware upgrades, I think you should try tweaking WinXP to speed up its performance. Have you done that yet? http://www.pcstats.com/ has lots of tips regarding tweaks for Windows.

I HAVE TWEAKED THE HECK OUT OF THE OS, YES BUT THIS WEBSITE LOOKS GOOD SO I WILL DEFINATELY GO THROUGH AND SEE IF ANYTHING CAN HELP.

Another option is to upgrade the hard drive to a 5400rpm or better, instead of the 4200rpm stock

WHERE CAN I FIND A GOOD PRICE FOR A HARD DRIVE? I DONT CARE MUCH ABOUT SIZE, THE NOTEBOOK IS IN A NETWORK IN MY HOME WITH THE DESKTOP THAT HAS 320G OF HDD JUST WANT FASTER ACESS TIMES. TRIED EBAY A BIT, MAYBE IM NOT USING THE RIGHT SEARCH TERMS THERE?

I don't exactly recommend XP Pro on a 233mx with 96mb ram, but XP Pro was loaded on this one just to test the PCMCIA slot that was thought to have been bad.

THATS FUNNY YOU SAY THAT B/C THAT IS ONE OF THE REASONS I PUT XP PRO ON THIS ONE AND SURE ENOUGHT THE SLOT WAS FINE!

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP!

[tfflivemb2]

You could try the drives in this thread, though, I still find it hard to believe that they would have 80gb 5400rpm drives for $34.50:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=20228

[serverbook]

the samsung 5,4k -30-40 gb with 8mb cache delivers exceptional performance
battery savings,super quiet and outscored a brand new latest revision fw hitachi 7,2k 8 meg 40gh drive in xp on tp 600e +600x thinkpads.don't ask me how but it did.maybe ata 33 interface limiting situation favoured the samsung in that scenario, because that same ibm gets a geniune 43mps when i connect to ata100 desktop host bus.
from what remmember the samsung nailed around 36 mps on ata 100 host bus.