speeding up my Thinkpad T60p

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tantalus

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 25, 2006
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Hi all,

I'd like to speed up my Lenovo Thinkpad T60p. It has been super reliable for the 6 years I've had it (only had to replace the fan). It's still going really strong, but it's getting pretty slow. A month ago I got frustrated, reformatted the drive and reloaded Windows XP sp3. It's better, but still slow.

I have the Core Duo 2.16 GHZ processor and 1 gig of RAM.

The main problem is web browsing. Both Chrome and IE are really slow to load multiple tabs. And each page takes awhile to load.

Would more RAM help with the browsing?

I know that an SSD would not help with the browsing, but would it be worth putting one in?

My main rig is in my sig, and I use this laptop mostly when I travel, so I don't want to put much money in it.

Thanks for your advice!
 
I'd definitely look into getting more RAM. I've run Windows 7 on much lower-end CPU's than that. I'm not too familiar with the insides of the T60, but I know that upgrading the CPU in my T40 was pretty easy. Maybe you can get a faster CPU too.

And as for the SSD, if you can spare the extra money on a small SSD I think it would give you a noticeable improvement.

I just looked up the fastest CPU and I think the highest you can go is the Intel T7600, which is a dual core 2.33ghz. Not sure how much faster that will be for you.
 
If memory serves, XP ran best with 2GB or more of RAM. Especially with Chrome/Firefox and as much memory as multiple tabs take up, upgrading memory is probably your best bet.
 
You should definitely max out the RAM with a 2x2GB kit.

If you can afford to, I recommend replacing the hard drive with an SSD. You can get a good 120GB or 240/250GB SSD and it would run cooler, draw less power, and load programs and games faster than the hard drive.

For example, you could buy the following for less than $150 (USD):

$99 - Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD
$42 - Komputerbay 2x2GB DDR2 667 SODIMM

You could double the SSD capacity for about $75 more.
 
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Thanks for the advice. I could get by with a 120 gig SSD, or even smaller, as all I use this thing for is webrowsing and word processing (my Dropbox folder with my Word files is only 3 gigs).

I was curious about interneting and RAM -- I thought that might be a big help, and I'm glad you all confirmed it.

I'm looking to keep my upgrade costs under $100, so that's where I think I'll start.
 
A 60/64GB SSD is a bad purchase compared to a 120GB SSD. The 120GB SSD is oftentimes only a bit more expensive but performs considerably better.
 
tantalus said:
Oh, ok. That makes a 120GB worth it for me, then.
Click to expand...

To the OP. Before you go crazy doing upgrades and such, consider getting a new system. You will get Win 7 (or Win 8), which is a nice upgrade from XP, plus you will definitely get more RAM and a much faster CPU. It will cost more than the upgrades, but it may be worth it.

x509
 
No, I won't go crazy. I don't want to spend more than about $100 - $150. I was just wondering if it would be better to upgrade RAM or to switch to SSD.

I don't use my Thinkpad much, but I love the keyboard, so it's worth hanging on to for when I travel and need to do some writing in a hotel or what have you.

x509 said:
To the OP. Before you go crazy doing upgrades and such, consider getting a new system. You will get Win 7 (or Win 8), which is a nice upgrade from XP, plus you will definitely get more RAM and a much faster CPU. It will cost more than the upgrades, but it may be worth it.

x509
Click to expand...
 
If anyone happens upon this thread, I put in 4 gigs of RAM (though only 3 is recognized due to mobo limitations), and it made a world of difference to my web browsing. No more Chrome hangups. Other programs run more smoothly as well.

Now I'm thinking I'll put in an SSD!
 
tantalus said:
If anyone happens upon this thread, I put in 4 gigs of RAM (though only 3 is recognized due to mobo limitations), and it made a world of difference to my web browsing. No more Chrome hangups. Other programs run more smoothly as well.

Now I'm thinking I'll put in an SSD!
Click to expand...

Are you running Window XP 32 or 64 bit?

Is the memory showing 3 gb in the BIOS?
 
ganesh21 said:
Are you running Window XP 32 or 64 bit?

Is the memory showing 3 gb in the BIOS?
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure that laptop has either the Intel Chipsets 945GM or the 945PM; neither of which will allow more than 3GB. Doesn't matter what operating system he is using.
 
I also have a Thinkpad T60, to be more exact 2 GB of RAM, Core 2 Duo T5600 1.8GHz, Ati X1400 graphics, and a Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 60GB hard drive. And of course the sweet 1400x1050 S-IPS display and a 9-cell battery which still holds up for about 3 hours.

With Windows XP Pro SP3, it runs pretty fast, even with multiple tabs open in Firefox. While my old desktop gaming PC from 2005 with 512MB of Ram cannot handle the new versions of Firefox and Flash Player all that well even on a single tab. I think the Ram is the problem, so add some more and it should run fine.

I myself wonder if I should upgrade my hard drive for an SSD, not only to get some more responsiveness, but also because my hard drive gets pretty hot sometimes and I can feel it under my right hand. The reason why I haven't swapped it for a Samsung 840 Evo 120gb yet is because I'm not too sure if Windows XP will work well with an SSD, and I don't want to upgrade to Windows 7 since it eats the battery faster and takes up more ram.
 
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Skillz said:
I am pretty sure that laptop has either the Intel Chipsets 945GM or the 945PM; neither of which will allow more than 3GB. Doesn't matter what operating system he is using.
Click to expand...

This is correct. My chipset doesn't allow for more than 3GB, regardless of OS.
 
I didn't even know about issues with XP and SSDs, but reading around, I see that the issues are pretty severe. I don't think I'll try it now. Thanks for the heads up!

GodOfGaming said:
I myself wonder if I should upgrade my hard drive for an SSD, not only to get some more responsiveness, but also because my hard drive gets pretty hot sometimes and I can feel it under my right hand. The reason why I haven't swapped it for a Samsung 840 Evo 120gb yet is because I'm not too sure if Windows XP will work well with an SSD, and I don't want to upgrade to Windows 7 since it eats the battery faster and takes up more ram.
Click to expand...
 
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