X60s enhancements

[Speedster]

I bought my X60s (1702 spec, Core Duo 1.66GHz) for home use around three years ago and it has given me faultless, reliable service through that time. I felt the urge to upgrade to a newer machine recently (I typically change once every 3-4 years) but found that:

(i) the MacBook Pros that I was keen on were nice, but ridiculously overpriced, had questionable reliability/ build quality, and OS X felt too gimmicky (having used Windows since I was a kid, why bother re-learning a new OS?); and

(ii) the new Thinkpads (X200/X300) wouldn't have materially better performance than the X60s for my personal usage profile (internet, Office apps, music), and simply did not have the same robust feel that my X60s and previous IBM-generation Thinkpads have had

As a result I've decided not to get a new machine, but keep my X60s.

I have made a number of upgrades to my X60s over the years - 1GB to 2GB RAM, 40GB 5400rpm Hitachi HDD to 320GB 7200rpm Seagate Barracuda, added Ultrabase X6 with Ultrabay DVD writer, upgraded battery, and this week finally upgrading Win XP to Win 7 Ultimate. Interestingly Win 7 seems to run even quicker than Win XP (if I disable some of the graphics intensive features in Win 7)!

The only item that really bothers me is the screen - brightness has always been quite average and the 1024x768 maximum resolution is quite low (especially compared to my old T42's display).

It is quite bothersome that companies which used to have fantastically over-engineered products that would last many, many years - IBM Thinkpads, certain 'premium' hi-fi brands, certain German car manufacturers (!) - all have now succumbed to today's throwaway, marketing-led culture...

I digress - my question is: to get another few years service out of my workhorse, what other upgrades paths are there to bring the computer as up to date as possible?

[billp117]

You pretty much maxed out your unit for upgrades.
How about a new Trackpoint...and perhaps a new Logitech M305 Mouse.
Enjoy it.

[morkli]

How about an SSD? Even though the SATA interface on the X60s is only 1.5Gbps max., you'll be surprised how much difference an SSD makes. No need to go for the latest and fastest SSD either with the X60s, so you can save some money there. You'll will probably have to sacrifice some storage space over your 320GB HDD though. You can always put that in an external USB2.0 case.

Cheers,

[mikemex]

@Speedster:

You're thinking the right way: if something works well for you, there is no need to change it. And you shouldn't worry about your machine braking up either because as time passes more and more people stop using those models and thus become available for parting out (=cheap spares) or if you don't like to fix it yourself, you'll probably be able to get another machine of the same model for very little money.

In reality, newer computers give people power they don't really need. Gaming? Well, it will not run the lastest titles, but your machine will run well like 95% of the games out there. 3D Modeling? Believe it or not, your machine is pretty capable of it. Video enconding? It is not as fast as newer systems, but it's certainly acceptable, you can probably rip a DVD into DivX in a few hours. A dual core processor and plenty of RAM is more than enough. An SSD will help but don't expect miracles. I have both X200 (w/64GB SSD) and X61 (w/60GB 7200rpm HD) and I don't really notice that much difference.

Tell you a secret? I have a Pentium MMX 166 MHz computer with 192MB of RAM running XP behind me. Even my phone is faster than that but it works pretty well for what you mention in your list.

[corona]

1. Put in an SSD. I got a used 2nd-gen Intel and it's amazing. For the missing capacity, I've got an external USB disk. Even with SATA limitations, I'm very pleased.

2. Do a fresh OS install, but only so you can get rid of the ThinkVantage junk. I realize terrorists might steal my computer etc. but I've eliminated all of the ThinkVantage security chip functions, the evil fingerprint reader, the disk defrag and shock protection functions (since I've got the SSD), and the Access Connections wireless manager. I've got a bunch of software on the machine, but it still boots in 50 sec. or so (as compared with something like 2:45 with all the buggy ThinkVantage stuff).

3. You've got the dock; do you have a good monitor? With the firmware up to date, the graphics processor will handle a 1920x1080 monitor. Also -- a good keyboard. I've got an IBM model M.

I generally replace everything every 2 to 3 years but now I don't think so. I'm really pleased with how light the X60s is, how long it runs on battery, how good the keyboard is, etc. etc.

[Speedster]

Thanks guys

Sounds like an SSD upgrade is pretty worthwhile. The extra peace of mind of having a solid state storage unit in my computer is also appealing. Will also look into secondary monitor pricing.

Switched the trackpoint cap with my work computer recently, so that's fresh

I never use my laptop for games or video editing, so it seems I don't need the extra processing power. In fact I was quite surprised that computers with Core 2 Duo chips are still pretty up to date (mine is a Core Duo, despite being >3 years old).

The fresh install of Windows 7 (with only select Thinkvantage components, not the crappy applicaitons like Access Connections) certainly performs as fast as my old Windows XP set up. I have a dual boot set up with each OS on its own partition with 50% of the HDD.

Is it possible to upgrade RAM from 2GB to 4GB - i.e. does the hardware support it?

[marYn]

Is it possible to upgrade RAM from 2GB to 4GB - i.e. does the hardware support it?

Yes, X60 and X60s are capable to use 2x 2GB RAM, although the intel chipset will use only 3GB, regardless the installed OS.