Ram upgrade T61 or buy new laptop

Im in 2 minds to upgrade ram to 8gb and hardrive to ssd or buy a new i5 laptop...no idea to which yet.

I like the T61...hate the dim screen though and the resolution sucks.

I found cheap ram to upgrade 8gb.. costing only £70!
I run ram hungry VST instruments i.e sampled instruments violins choir etc

I feel this laptop has still got plenty of mileage left..i also got a great pcmia card ( echo indigo IO )to get low latency for audio. Many of the new IBMs lack this slot..this is a shame..i need this card...otherwise i'd have to lug around a usb external box.

Choices choices...anyone have the answer? or recommendation to which ibm laptop would be a natural progression..

 

You have 16:10 screen so don't change laptop. You are lucky that you have PC2-5300 RAM because in this case you will feel benefit from 8GB of DDR2-800 (PC2-6400) RAM if youк chipset supports it, and I believe it does.

 

https://sp.ts.fujitsu.com/dmsp/docs/facts-notebook-superior.pdf
Fujitsu Celsius H761 has both, PCMCIA and ExpressCard.

I have next to me 1st Gen i5 Fujitsu E780 that has both (I can physically hold dummy covers in my hand now ) but newer Sandy Bridge model E781 is missing PCMCIA already according to those specs.

 

Unfortunately PM965 Chipset only supports upto DDR2-667. So if found cheaper... OP will be better off with DDR2-667(PC2-5300)

 

Well if you say so...
Now seriously I agree that this is written in datasheet.
BUT.. On Intel site it clearly says that Processor which it uses may be 800MHZ FSB. SO technically Intel as I think just doesn't want to have a headache for possible troubles so they just wrote that memory must be 667. Like they write about I7 Cpus. They do support 1866 and 1600 Mhz speeds. Also here you go RAM configuration for Intel PM965 with 800mhz FSB and max DDR2-667 ram speed? - techPowerUp! Forums so it supports 800Mhz FSB. Pretty good speed bump must be.

EDIT/// Also datasheet says that max. RAM it supports is 4GB. But I doubt. I have seen a lot cases when mobo ate more memory than officially stated.
But of course I don't guarantee anything.

EDIT AGAIN.
I personally would buy this RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231156 with low latency or bought used laptop with DDR3 and 16:10 screen.

 

Thanks ppl..very useful advice...thanks for the heads up on express card..didn't know they existed.

So im i right in saying 800-4GB PC2-6400 DDR PC SODIMM RAM is a massive noticeable difference compared to 5300???

In price the difference is 8gbs of 6400 is £90 vs 8gbs of 5300 £70

I'll look into replacing the screen! Strange once i got my screen to 1900 x 1200 or just less...i don't know how i did it!! i think i may have used the incorrect drivers or something.. i loved it...but when i changed it back...it never gave me the resoultions in the drop down menu again! So how it that possible??? Has that ever happened to anyone before??

I also didn't realise i had access to better resolutions via a better screen...i though it was all about the graphics card???

 

Well, the video card obviously has to support the resolution, but the panel determines the maximum resolution available. The integrated Intel GMA X3100 should be able to handle WUXGA just fine.[/quote]

Great!! i excited about this new lcd...didnt know it was possible...but like i said...that strange glitch in a driver caused my resolution to go higher! Wish i could just do that again...save money that way...im sure it was caused by the generic windows driver. anyway no one else seems to know about it.
Do i go glossy or matte..if it is anything like my old screen,...think i'll go glossy

Good news about the ram!...i too have heard about the lockdown...i'll stick with whatever is cheaper.

I assume you do audio too??

 

well i'll be damned if it does really support RAM upto 800MHz because when i had XPS M1530 , i bought 4GB 667MHz HyperX for it and 800MHz was only marginally expensive at that time.

 

thanks guys i'll ask in that forum! i think after i upgraded ram, lcd, hardrive..i will have spent £200 thats $313 US

i wonder if it would make sense to buy a used laptop with these things in place already...and sell the t61... but what laptop would that be?? i know the modern ddr3 ram is much more cheaper.. anyway...just a thought.

i also have
IBM LENOVO X61LAPTOP 2.0GHZ 2GB 80GB i could sell.... i bought for the reason i could upgrade the ram to 8gb and use on train journeys as the T61 started to give me back ache...i travel everyday... i suppose i could sell this too...

Whats your thoughts?? i just need a good screen and 8gb ram..oh and a 2nd hardrive bay for my music samples.

i saw this...like mine.. i email the guy for Sn number
6460-8ug s/n l3-d9679 07/11

eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace

 

$313 is a bit much to invest in a T61.
I would just upgrade the screen for the time being.
With HD, you could get a 500GB or 750GB hybrid drive and use your 500gbseagate as your secondary.
DDR2 really is not worth it and the reason why it is so expensive is that it is not made anymore. I think you're fine with your current 4gb.

 

I think the upgrade to 8GB is advisable if you're not planning on buying a new laptop anytime soon.
Regardless if it's £70... I'm gonna do the same thing to my Acer (but mostly because I would like to keep it and push it as much as I can).
Though, get the cheaper one. Lower Mhz speeds on RAM won't affect the system performance-wise.

Upgrading the screen is doable and your gpu will probably support the 'true HD' resolution that comes with the new panel - it's mostly NOT about the gpu supporting the res, it's about the screen.


Right now, if I were you, I'd take the plunge and first get the laptop up to 8GB.
Once that is done you could see about upgrading the screen (since that bit is a little bit more complicated)

 

I can justify this only if in future you will be able to sell this RAM for the same or close prise. But how many such enthusiasts will survive after next couple years?

 

well ... I would advice of not buying 2x4GB modules for that laptop as those are over-priced. Unless you find some modules for cheaper somehow. Your laptop supports speed up to 667MHz on the controller, so even if you put 800MHz those will downclock to 667 (or actually half that as for the DDR2 type memory).

if you need speed, why not look for better timing in the RAM then? I got 2x2GB G.Skill with 4-4-4-12 timing which is naturally about 20% faster than the regular 5-5-5-15 modules. And I can see that on any 3D benchmark program. Overall the system feels the same though, speed-wise.

as far as SSD - I'd advise to go for it. Those are kind of expensive also but the speed boost is incredible. Then if you need more memory, the swap file will be much faster than what you get on any HDD. Watch out for the SSDs though, as most are crappy ones out there. I'd look into M4 SSD these days.

Also flash your laptop bios with the hacked bios by middleton and you'll enable the full SATA2 support as well as Dual IDA support. This is how I run my T9500 CPU at 2.8GHz all day

as far as the screen upgrade goes - there is a company that sells glossy screens for thinkpads, but those are also pricy. I forgot the name but it's there over the lenovo forums. For the money I'd better get another laptop to be honest. The integrated graphics that you have will support any screen resolution that you put in. Much like it's supported on the external monitors with bigger resolution.

hope that helps

 

I'd do the SSD upgrade, but probably would hold off on the RAM upgrade. If you buy a SSD, you'll be able to use the SSD in a future laptop and/or in a desktop machine at some point in the future. The RAM, more than likely, would end up being 'stranded' with the laptop (although you might find a decent resale market on 4gb DDR2-SODIMM parts for a considerable amount of time going forward).

Also, a SSD will improve swapping operations dramatically, which may take care of some of your overall memory issues. While a SSD will never be as fast as physical RAM for swapping -- it will be dramatically faster for the purpose.

X3100 handles dual WUXGA here just fine as well, on my Dell Latitude D830 laptops.

I highly doubt replacing the RAM with a slightly better-timed 2x2gb set would make any difference. 20% seems a bit of an exxageration, except maybe in RAM bandwidth tests.

 

t61 is awesome. I have the t61p. 1920x1200 wuxga, 8gb, t9300 2.4 6mb cache + lower heat, more importantly it's built like a tank. Plus you have the intel video chip which won't overheat as much as the nvidia counterpart. Also you can flash the t61 to enable full sata2 speeds if you get an ssd.

 

*update* in a nutshell i spent £66 on new lcd LG wsxga+ , i have to say i couldn't stop grinning when i fitted it in 1 week ago..best thing i've ever upgraded!
Anyway i was running for the train and my laptop fell out of my rucksack on the hardest concrete floor man has ever walked on..., broke corner of lid which was glued together, lost the red rubber tip..and the new Lcd is cracked in many places.RIP. but i got the last train home.

yes my laptop still works even the second harddrive in caddy lives on. Fair enough...but whats the point of carbonite shells when the LCD is built horribly.


in addition..before all this happened 1 week ago i replaced...

1 broken mouse pad
2 2 x keyboard keys sucked up by a henry vaccum cleaner.
3 New LCD LG Wsxga+
4 New Dvd writer.

Well i swallowed my pride and stuck the old crappy lcd back in...and guess what?? the bulb dont work??? is this just a bad coincidence or has someone got it in for me?

Now (before i buy another screen!!) im stuck not knowing if its the invertor or its just a lcd...maybe my only solution is to pick up a baseball bat and see how hard that shell really is.

Thanks for listening.

Merry christmas!

p.s typing on this awful x61 12.1 screen..thank god i decided to buy this for emergency