Windows 7 on T60p - 32-bit or 64-bit

[Garth]

I have a T60p currently running XP Pro but am thinking about upgrading to Win 7, and from posts in the forum this seems quite straightforward. I've installed 64-bit 7 on my desktop PC. I've run the Windows 7 advisor on my T60p and it advises to install 32-bit Win 7. Does this mean that I can't install 64-bit Win 7?

[Brian10161]

First off, what processor do you have in your T60p? If you have one of the Core Duos, you're limited to 32bit, if it's a Core 2 Duo, then you can put on 64bit. But, since the T60s are limited to 3gb of ram, 64bit would be sort of redundant.

I guess if you can run it, why not, but your processor is what you need to make sure will handle.

[Annobanno]

If you have the Core Duo, stick with 32-bit as there really nis no need for you to install the 64 bit as you cant benefit from the extra RAM available

[Garth]

The processor is a T2600 which according to Intel is 32-bit, so I guess that means that I may as well install the 32-bit version of Win 7. However, from another thread in this forum it looks as if I could upgrade to a more powerful processor. Perhaps a project for the future..........

[mpcook]

I have a T60p with T7200 processor C2D 2.00 GHz (64 bit) with 64 bit versions installed of Windows 7 and MS Office. However, I am think of downgrading to the 32 bit versions. I have 4GB ram, which only 3GB is used. So all in all, I don't see any advantage to 64 bit, other than it was installed when I bought the laptop. Maybe someone else knows of an advantage.

I would only upgrade the processor to get a speed advantage, however, throwing in an SSD drive will probably give you more of a noticable improvement.

Mike

[Brian10161]

I would only upgrade the processor to get a speed advantage, however, throwing in an SSD drive will probably give you more of a noticable improvement.

Mike

Plus 1 for that

[Garth]

In the UK, 60 Gb SSD's are about £100, plus as I have a fairly full 160 Gb HD fitted I would need to buy an ultrabay HD adaptor for the second drive for my data. Intel T7200-T7600 CPU's range from £10 to £120 depending on model/used/new on eBay. I can buy Windows 7 Family Pack upgrade for about £100 (for 3 PC's, and I have 2 that I could upgrade as well as the T60p).

I could spend a lot of money here, so needs careful thought especially as the T60p cost me only £240!

My desktop with 4 Gb RAM and an i5 (and Win 7 64-bit) rarely uses all the RAM anyway so the limitation of addressing more than 3 Gb is probably not a problem on my T60p.

[RDKirk]

My desktop with 4 Gb RAM and an i5 (and Win 7 64-bit) rarely uses all the RAM anyway so the limitation of addressing more than 3 Gb is probably not a problem on my T60p.

However, if the T60p is limited by its Intel chipset to 3gb of memory (as my R60 is), then there's simply no advantage to running a 64-bit OS on it. It may not be a problem, but it's also no advantage, and may be a disadvantage with some software or drivers.

In the future a 32-bit OS may become disadvantageous if software shifts predominantly to 64-bit. But that's not likely to happen during the remaining time that anyone is still using a -60 series Thinkpad.

Upgrading my system to a faster processor, a wireless-n cared, and an SSD may be worthwhile--I'm looking closely at all of those...but I've determined that there's nothing to be gained with a 64-bit operating system with a chipset hobbled to 3 gigs of memory.

[underclocker]

Two things to consider;

1) Some machines run faster/better with 64-bit; for instance, I noticed this on my X100e (some of the Windows Experience scores rise on T60's when switching from 32-bit to 64-bit, although I can't say this means too much).

2) If you plan to upgrade to a newer ThinkPad, like a T61, T400, T500, W500, you can just pop the drive out of your T60 (or Ghost it to a faster drive) and use it in the newer machine - saving you the time of reinstalling everything. Once you're above a T60 and 3GB of RAM, you'll want/need 64-bit.

[Bart77]

I will put my question here in order to omit new topic :

Where can i find a complete set of Win7 32-bit drivers for T60p ?

[Annobanno]

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 62928.html

Pick the ones for Windows 7

Or write your serial number in the little window on the right side of the page and then pick your OS to be Windows 7

[DAH]

For what little it maybe worth, I've upgraded my T60p to Windows 7 with 4 GB of ram. I find on the whole it is faster and more stable than the 32 bit OS I've run on my T60p... Me I'm happy with my upgrade, and I still find my T60p meets my needs...

Yes I can not use all my memory, but I can use significantly more than what my T60p came with. It boils down to a mix of things, and what you actually do on your T60p, as well as how much you value having the newest and so called greatest... In my opinion

[TOMSrolla]

same thing here.... upgraded my T60p15W to from 1gb to 4gb and also the 160gb 7200 to Momentus 500gb 7200.4 HDD and an Ultrabay slim adapter for the Hitachi 72K200 as 2nd HDD for archiving files .

OS upgrade from WinXP Pro Sp2 to Win7 Ultimate 64-bit ...... now its like a new unit reborn.... faster loading of OS in seconds instead of minutes and same thing with other programs and file access. I'm planning another upgrade in the coming months to Intel 160 SSD for OS and used the 500gb on the Ultrabay adapter for data files.

I can now forego the plan upgrade to Thinkpad W520 for a year or so......Its worth every cents that I spent for this upgrade this is the main reason why I love the THINKPAD Series....... upgrade ability and this forum...... thank you guys

[J888www]

ThinkPad T60p 2007WUK.

Upgraded to :-
Core 2 Duo T7600 : 120GB SSD : 4GB RAM (2x2GB) : Win 7 64bit : NMB US keyboard

Modified:- Heatsink using Copper Shim in place of the Thermal Pads : replaced any servicably parts with new parts

It is performing demurely at a blistering pace.

[chazz]

Boy, alot of people are maxing out their T60Ps...

[Garth]

As the originator of this thread, I thought you would like to know what I did in the end.

I've now installed Windows 7 32-bit. The Win 7 64-bit installer refused to install this version onto my T60p, saying that the hardware was incompatible. However the 32-bit version installed just fine and I would recommend this as an upgrade to a T60p. I downloaded the Lenovo utility to check through the installation and install the appropriate drivers, which was painless, so now it's all AOK.

Although in theory a more demanding operating system than XP, Win 7 doesn't seem to have slowed down the T60p which is just as usable as before. The Windows Experience Index is 4.3, these lowest scores being for graphics using Aero, which of course I could disable if necessary.

[kevroc]

I have (and love) a T60p. I upgraded the wireless card to 802.11n when I got it and have an SSD drive in there. I'm running Windows 7 32bit with 2gb Ram. Overall I'm happy with the combination, but the screen refreshes seem a little sluggish to me and sometime the brightness hotkeys don't work when going in and out of sleep or after having the lid closed.

I'm putting 2x2gb ram in today, hopefully that will speed things up a bit. I also just bought a T7600 that I'll be putting in next week. Hopefully that's pretty straightforward.

I've been thinking lately though that XP might be faster on it. Since I could use the regular ATI Driver and I'm sure there's less "going on" in the OS it might be a little snappier, but I've never had XP on it.

Any experiences here from people that switched from XP to Windows 7? Overall how has the speed and day to day operation been and which OS seems to perform better on it?

Thanks!

[sarbin]

The Win 7 64-bit installer refused to install this version onto my T60p, saying that the hardware was incompatible.

interesting. i had no problems whatsoever installing win7ult x64 from retail media on my t60p. wonder what held you up...

[sarbin]

Any experiences here from people that switched from XP to Windows 7? Overall how has the speed and day to day operation been and which OS seems to perform better on it?

welcome to the forum!

i'm running a maxed out t60p and win7ult x64 is a champ. better than xp from an every-day feel, for sure. no glitches to-date and lenovo is seeming to keep up well with new drivers.

[kevroc]

Excellent. Thanks for the follow up. I love Win 7 as well, but thought I'd give XP a run through anyway. Got it installed with all drivers on a separate drive so I can play around with it whenever.

Thanks!

[Garth]

The Win 7 64-bit installer refused to install this version onto my T60p, saying that the hardware was incompatible.

interesting. i had no problems whatsoever installing win7ult x64 from retail media on my t60p. wonder what held you up...

I don't know why Win 7 64-bit refused to install. My only idea is that I have 2 Gb memory installed instead of 4 Gb. I used the Win7 home premium family pack upgrade (to upgrade 3 PC's) and this installed Win7 64-bit OK on 2 desktop PC's. However the T60p works just fine with Win 7 32-bit installed, and one advantage is that it will run old 16-bit programs in compatibility mode, while 64-bit Win 7 won't do this.

I would also recommend downloading the Lenovo Thinkvantage driver utility which examines your TP and installs the correct drivers so making installing a new Windows op system easier. This also works on a T22 with Windows XP.

[dr_st]

interesting. i had no problems whatsoever installing win7ult x64 from retail media on my t60p. wonder what held you up...

The fact that his CPU is 32bit, and yours is 64bit maybe?

[sarbin]

^^^
ummm... yeah, that would be it.

[ThinkRob]

In theory, 64-bit Windows should be ever-so-slightly faster for some things.

In practice, the potential for software compatibility issues and the 3 GB chipset limit make it a poor choice for your machine.

[kevroc]

Just upgraded the CPU to the T7600 from the stock one (T2400??)

WEI for CPU/Memory went from 4.7/4.9 to 5.6/5.6
Those aren't bad increases. The other nice thing is my temps were in the mid 60's before and now they're floating around the mid-40's. That's a great additional perk I wasn't expecting.

The upgrade wasn't too bad, didn't look like the thermal grease that was there wasn't on very well. Not much of it at all and very uneven.

[dr_st]

Well, congratulations! Sounds like a great upgrade.

[ThinkRob]

Well, congratulations! Sounds like a great upgrade.

Agreed!

You don't need much thermal paste (you should always try to use as little as possible), but uneven application coupled with non-silver-based paste could certainly cause the machine to run warm. Replacing the paste as you did during the upgrade undoubtedly played a large role in dropping the temps.

Enjoy your upgraded ThinkPad!

[Garth]

What's the rest of the spec on your upgraded T60p? XP or 7? 2 Gb or 4? Decent normal SATA disc or SSD?

Does the T60p seem zippier in normal use?

I think it's a great TP anyway (confirmed TP user for some 8 years), and therefore obviously a brilliant laptop.