[sf-lug] seeking laptop recommendations to upgrade from thinkpad t61p

Mon May 26 13:09:02 PDT 2014

Thanks Ken this was super helpful. I spent a couple of hours yesterday 
educating myself.

I'm using about 300GB of my 1TB drive, and lots of that is duplicate 
massive stuff I should clean up. I'm confident that I don't need (nor do 
I want) more than about 500GB; too much space and I leave it cluttered 
with junk.

I'm leaning towards a 500GB SSD (e.g. Crucial M550) for about $300. It 
seems I need to update the BIOS on my T61P with a hacked BIOS to allow 
SATA2 speeds; the Lenovo BIOS disables SATA2 due to incompatibility with 
something UltraBay related.

Faster SATA3 doesn't help me since the T61P can't do SATA3.

Next, I'll purchase another 8GB RAM for about $100 bringing my total up 
to 16. That's double the maximum 8GB officially supported, but numerous 
sites document success this way.

A suggestion was made regarding graphics card memory. My system has an 
nVidia  Quadro FX 570M using a G84GLM core and a "massive" 512MB of RAM. 
Of course this is soldered onto the motherboard and so can't be upgraded.

Finally my current CPU is a Core 2 Duo T7500 (2.20GHz, 800 Mhz FSB, 4Mb 
cache). It looks like a T9500 (800MHz FSB) should work. The T9550 
(1066MHz FSB) and above will not as the 1066MHz FSB is not supported on 
the T61 models. The T9500 was the fastest available processor that could 
be ordered with the T61/T61p.

I can get a T9500 (2.6 Ghz, 800Mhz, 6MB) for about $260, or a T9300 (2.5 
Ghz, 800Mhz, 6MB) for about $100. (I could get the T9500 for less on 
EBay but I'm afraid I'm too naive an EBay user and would get screwed.)

I'm not sure whether the high price of the T9500 is worth it, but the 
$100 for the T9300 sounds good.

Thus for about $500 I:

* move from spinning disk to SSD
* double the amount of RAM
* upgrade processor from 2.2Ghz to 2.5Ghz and from 4MB cache to 6MB cache.

The trick of course is not to upgrade above some limiting factor that 
can't be changed.

Do any of you think the upgrades detailed above would do that?

Another way to ask this question: Having made these upgrades, what would 
be the limiting factor on performance?

The alternative of course is to buy a new computer. I've read reviews 
and followed up on all the suggestions this list has provided. I'm not 
sure I like what I see.

All the new T series seem to have done away with the mouse buttons, and 
I'm afraid that I spend way too much time using my laptop to have to 
deal with inferior clicks.

The alternative to the T series is the Carbon X1, but only if I can get 
a gen 1, following Kenneth's review 
(http://wiki.ylayali.net/doku.php?id=hardware:carbonx1). I presume you 
can tell a gen 2 from a gen 1 by the lack of trackpad buttons. Cost: 
about $1600, and having to find one is a challenge as they are discontinued.

If I need to hunt for a gen 1 X1, I could also hunt for whatever the 
last T series was that used real mouse buttons. Anyone know what that 
would be?

In conclusion, I'm leaning towards the upgrades to my old T61P.

Thoughts?

On 05/23/2014 08:44 PM, Ken Shaffer wrote:
> Newegg gives pretty good info on the SSDs they sell.  Check the Amazon
> Reviews before buying.
>
> Selecting an SSD
> There are many criteria for SSD selection, figure out which are most
> important to you (weighted average?), but realize, you are working with
> incomplete information.
>
> I.  Size -- Figure 10-20% to be left unallocated to a partition
>
> II. IO Speed
>   A. Random Access -- Given in 4K IO operations per second.
>      Varies from 7,000 to 90,000+  Be careful, SSDs can be
>      much slower than you'd expect.
>    1. Read
>    2. Write
>   B. Sequential -- Typically 400-500MB/sec claimed, but this is a
>      totally artificial number from a benchmark, which includes
>      compression to reach those numbers.  A copy from the device
>      to null will be around 1/4 of the claimed read speed.
>    1. Read
>    2. Write
>
> III. Longevity -- Different manfacturing greatly influences this.
>     Triple layer makes for more storage, but doesn't last as long
>     as single layer.  The more writes, the faster the SSD wears out.
>     Treat your SSD installation the same way as an installation to
>     a flash stick, i.e. move as much into memory as possible, to
>     extend the life of the hardware.
>
> IV. Power Consumption -- Any SSD will probably take less power
>      than an existing hard disk, but SSDs will differ among themselves
>      by a factor of 10.  Consider the effect of the heat, on components
>      or on your lap!
>
> V.  User Reviews -- Specs are meaningless if the vendor switched
>      parts after a unit was tested.  No one wants to deal with a
>      device dead on arrival.  If lots of units fail within a month,
>      that should influence your buying decision.
>
> Good Luck.
>
>
>
> On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 4:09 PM, Michael Shiloh <michaelshiloh1010 at gmail.com
>> wrote:
>
>> Really, really good point. I'm certainly willing to throw some bucks at my
>> T61P.
>>
>> Thanks too for the warning about SSD specs. I understand none of it yet.
>> Any review sites or specific SSD reviews you particularly like or trust?
>>
>>
>> On 05/23/2014 10:03 AM, Ken Shaffer wrote:
>>
>>> If you're just looking for a performance improvement, (assuming you're
>>> maxed out on memory), a cheap SSD is hard to beat.  I put a $50, 60G SSD
>>> into an 8 year old 32bit Compaq clunker, and was really surprised by the
>>> improvements (like a 25 second boot time, power on to login screen).
>>> Depending upon your storage needs, a second disk may be added through a
>>> DVD/CDROM caddy (but you may have boot issues with that).  Read the
>>> reviews, the specs of SSDs are all over the place, the numbers are "fake"
>>> anyway (using compression to up the MB/Sec ), and longevity is always a
>>> question, but sounds like you like what you have, just want "more".
>>> u
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 9:30 PM, maestro <maestro415 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>   T-...!
>>>> T-...!
>>>> T-...!
>>>>
>>>> Why second guess excellence & something you love?...
>>>> Get another THINKPAD & look no further.
>>>> I'm on my second(T-61) & LOVE it...
>>>>
>>>> Looking @ next T-? I will befriend...
>>>>
>>>> Rock solid boxes that absolutely LOVE Linux and partition smoothly...
>>>>
>>>> If you no longer want your T-61 I know a great home that will love & take
>>>> care of it ;-))
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Message ends
>>>> _________________
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thursday, May 22, 2014, Michael Shiloh <michaelshiloh1010 at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I love my trusty Thinkpad T61p, but it's getting quite old. Time to
>>>>>
>>>> upgrade, but to what?
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I've owned many Thinkpads and loved them all. What are the Lenovo steps
>>>>>
>>>> up from the T series?
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Or is it time to try something non-Lenovo?
>>>>>
>>>>> I strongly support what ZA Reason is doing, and would be inclined to go
>>>>>
>>>> with them if one of their selections fits my needs. I know at least one
>>>> of
>>>> you uses a ZA Reason laptop and would love to hear your experience.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Considerations:
>>>>>
>>>>> - What's a reasonable amount to spend? I expect to pay more than $1000
>>>>>
>>>> but need to keep it below $2000.
>>>>
>>>>> - Some SSD for speed. Could be all SSD, or some SSD and some spinning
>>>>>
>>>> disk.
>>>>
>>>>> - I carry my laptop everywhere, so weight is a concern.
>>>>> - I use the laptop constantly, so a really good screen is important.
>>>>> - Nice keyboard. I'm spoiled by Thinkpads.
>>>>> - I love the Thinkpad joystick thingy between the GHBN buttons. I don't
>>>>>
>>>> think I could get used to a trackpad. I've tried often and I hate them.
>>>>
>>>>> - I travel quite often and long battery life is somewhat important,
>>>>>
>>>> although on the one hand in-seat power is becoming more common and on the
>>>> other hand some time away from the computer is a good thing too.
>>>>
>>>>> - I speak publicly very often so flawless external monitor hookup is
>>>>>
>>>> critical
>>>>
>>>>> - I don't do many CPU intensive things. Mostly lots of web pages (I
>>>>>
>>>> typically have 30 open tabs) and Thunderbird. Lots of Arduino compiles
>>>> but
>>>> that's pretty fast anyway. I mostly used git, Inkscape, OpenSCAD,
>>>> Fritzing,
>>>> vi, etc. I suspect lots of RAM and the SSD is more important that CPU
>>>> speed, but I could be wrong.
>>>>
>>>>> - Style is not terribly important to me (thank goodness)
>>>>> - Obviously something that works well with Linux (standard Ubuntu)
>>>>>
>>>> without having to jump through too many hoops is important
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Thoughts? Suggestions for and against? General discussion?
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> sf-lug mailing list
>>>>> sf-lug at linuxmafia.com
>>>>> http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/sf-lug
>>>>> Information about SF-LUG is at http://www.sf-lug.org/
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> *~the quieter you become, the more you are able to hear...*
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> sf-lug mailing list
>>>> sf-lug at linuxmafia.com
>>>> http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/sf-lug
>>>> Information about SF-LUG is at http://www.sf-lug.org/
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>