Upgrading Lenovo T61p

Hi All,

I have a Lenovo T61p that i like to upgrade to save some extra battery. My upgrade would be with a newer cpu and an SSD disk. Plus with an extra battery in my Multibay, replacing the DVD drive as i don't use it much.

Currently T61p has an Intel T9300 with socket P. The one I like to upgrade to would be any P8x00 series cpu as they only use 25W power.

The cpu i have found is a P8800 with 1066Mhz FSB. My current T9300 is running with 800 Mhz FSB.

1. How much extra battery time could I expect by moving from a 35W cpu to 25W cpu??

2. Would it even be worth all the trouble?

3. If it is, is this upgrade even possible?

4. If not, does it mean that I have to find a P8x00 cpu with 800Mhz FSB before it works with my chipset even though they use same socket types?

5. What is the fastes memory to use with this laptop?

6. T61p does'nt have any webcam. Would it be possible to add the webcam from the T500/W500 by replacing the front screen frame?


I have done a BIOS upgrade and I have tested 6GB RAM in it so that was all good. Windows 7 recognised that. Sweet


I would really appreciate if someone could assist me with this upgrade


Thanks

 

According to this: T61p Widescreen Processor Upgrade - Lenovo Community

(see last post)
1066mhz processors are not supported by the T61.

It will make very little difference for power consumption also as the CPU is mostly down clocked and throttled during normal use.

 

The 35 watt rating for the T9300 is not how much power it uses; it's how much heat it puts out when running at maximum. Similarly, the 25 watt rating for a Px000 CPU is how much heat it would put out running at maximum. The short answer is that it's rare that a processor swap will result in a significantly changed battery life; the processor is rarely the most power-consuming part of your notebook.

The listed memory for the T61p is PC2-5300 DDR2 memory. You could install faster memory, but it would just downclock, so just go with whichever is cheaper with that minimum speed.

I'm not sure about the webcam, the part I would worry about then is how you would connect the webcam to the system. As in, assuming the LCD bezel fit, you'd still need to hook the wires from the webcam itself to your motherboard somehow, and unless the T61p has a connector for it, the webcam still wouldn't be working.

 

It seems like you've upgraded the O/S, the RAM and will be getting an SSD.

My advice would be to stop here.

Any CPU you can put on your current platform will only be a sideways move from this point on.

If you really need more horse power; get a new system.

Good luck.