worth it to upgrade t42p from 1 gb ram/xp to 2 gb / vista?

[leland]

Question as in the subject.

Currently have a t42p w/ 1 gb ram (as two 512 mb slices) and xp(see sig). Love it, but it's slowing down and I've been thinking of replacing it. Battery life is down to 30 minutes, screen has some smudges, and the chassis is rickety.

So I had the thought of replacing it with a newer, smaller, faster, cheaper, and <gasp> non-thinkpad...

But what if I spent $70, got 2x1gb sodimms and used that free vista ultimate license I have lying around?

What to do? What to do? That's why I'm asking you.

[defendemus]

My advice is tighten the screws, clean the screen, buy more RAM and a new battery and reinstall XP with SP3.

I tried Vista SP1 on my T42 and even though I like Vista and it was only mildly slower than XP SP3, there were issues that I felt Microsoft still needs to address before I use it again and I'd prefer a dual or quad core machine to run Vista. (T60 or T61)

PM me if you want to know more about my experience with Vista on a T42.

[leland]

BTW, I have SP3 on my T42p. I use Vista on my T60p, and I like it. Then again, this machine is obviously well cut out to run it.

For what I do Vista is quite stable and I have no apps problems. Once I got used to it things have been great. The T42p could be a challenge w/ Vista just because it has no Windows key. The Windows key brings up a whole lot of Vista's better features.

[ajkula66]

I've tested Vista on both T42p and T43p, with maxed out RAM and 7200rpm drives and wasn't pleased whatsoever. Maybe I expected too much...

IMHO, Vista needs a dual core CPU and 3GB (or more) RAM to run the way it should. My T61p with 4GB RAM and C2D was ridiculously fast with Vista 64.

Personally, I'd install 2GB RAM in that T42p, run XP and enjoy it...

[defendemus]

leland,

I missed the T60p in your signature. You'd be sorely disappointed in a T42 with Vista after comparing it to your T60p, that 2nd core makes quite a difference in how Vista runs more so than I expected.

I decided to load Vista after seeing a budget price HP at Wal-Mart running Vista. I said to myself why not, if this thing can run it my T42 should also. And it can and reasonably well at that, but not as fast as XP. If you don't have any software issues and can stand Vista being slower than what you're used to, then go ahead and try it. You do get 30 days to try it before activating (or is that 3 days, I forget).

Also, somewhere on this forum is a post about remapping the Thinkpad keyboard to make one of the keyss act as a "Windows" key.

[Ralf Hutter]

My advice is tighten the screws, clean the screen, buy more RAM and a new battery and reinstall XP with SP3.

I strongly recommend this approach. XP will run like a raped ape on a T42 compared to Vista, especially with 2GB of RAM.

[davidspalding]

My advice is tighten the screws, clean the screen, buy more RAM and a new battery and reinstall XP with SP3.

Ditto. I've heard way to many tales of Vista issues to install it on a "made for XP" machine. I have 2 GB in my T43, and it runs pretty well. For my money, Vista doesn't offer anything but a new headache.

[db130]

frys.com has DDR PC2700 SODIMM 200-pin 1G RAM for $17.99 after a $30 mail-in rebate:

http://shop2.frys.com/product/5475499?s ... IN_RSLT_PG

http://shop2.frys.com/product/4054652?s ... IN_RSLT_PG

The catch is that the rebate limit is 1 per household and the rebate ends today for the Corsair and on 11th for the Crucial. If you want matching RAM sticks, this is not the deal for you. My stance is that RAM is RAM as long as the specs are the same. I ordered 1 of each to give my T40 2G.

[Esben]

I have no problems running Vista on the T42 in my signature. I also have XP installed, and use it whenever I need proper battery life. Even though XP runs abit faster, I still prefer using Vista. Maybe that's because I'm now used to where everything is, and looks.

[First Light]

I thought I read somewhere that Vista needed 6g of ram to run properly? Obviously from the above replies, I am wrong.