Purchasing T61, need a couple opinions

Going to order my T61 tomorrow, and needed some suggestions.

Setup:

>Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz 800MHz 4MBL2)
>Operating System: ????
>Display Type: 14.1 WXGA+ TFT, w/ Camera
>System Graphics: nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M
>Total Memory: 512MB (purchase 3GB seperately)
>Pointing Device: UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) with Fingerprint Reader
>Hard Drive: ????
>Intel® Turbo Memory hard drive cache: None
>Optical Device: DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim
>System expansion slots: PCI & Expresscard
>Wireless card: ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wi-Fi wireless LAN Mini-PCIe US/EMEA/LA/ANZ
>Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth PAN
>Battery: 7 cell Li-Ion Battery


I had a similar thread, but just wanted to confirm before ordering. New questions:

-I have no problem with continuing to use XP...at this point, do you think I'd be better off with selecting XP Pro for the OS over Vista?

-Worth it to spend the extra $45 for the 100 GB, 7200rpm HD, over the 120GB, 5400rpm?

-Buying RAM separately. Anyone have any particular brand recommendations that worked well with your Thinkpad? I wanted to get 4GB, but was told that wasn't worth it. Can I pick up 3GB (1x1GB, 1x2GB) and be OK running them together? Should I just stick with 2GB total?


Any other suggestions would be appreciated!

 

Vista has better dpi scaling so it might be a good idea to stick with that for WXGA+. But you can zoom in either OS.

 

DPI scaling for me in XP and Vista have both sucked. I have a WSXGA+ screen. To say DPI scaling in Vista is better than XP maybe be technically true, but I wouldn't know it from the way it behaves. I wouldn't DPI scale though. If you have problems seeing WXGA+ get WXGA.

 

How about performance-wise? And to keep up-to-date for a year or two, do you think XP will be outdated pretty fast once all the bugs in Vista get worked out?

 

I recomend Corsair ValueSelect. They're usually the cheapest on NewEgg and they have a lifetime warranty.

 

i wont recieve my t61 for a couple more days but i got 1 gig of ram in my laptop and bought a value select corsair 1 gb as well.

this looks like a really good deal though... ive seen this brand on overclocking websites i think...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227099
heres the one i got... if you want ill tell you how it goes once i get my laptop (expect it on monday..)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145012

 

I have a gig of ram that I have been holding since May 28th after I placed my order on May 24th. I bought Corsair Value unit and I think that is fine as this is for a laptop.

As for the operating system, a lot of people don't believe VISTA is ready, but as long as you are not using older software or 3rd party software not yet ready for VISTA, you should be just fine with every day use.

 

I second the vote for Corsair ValueSelect. I put a gig of it into my T61 yesterday, and there were no hitches.

Given a choice, I would go with the 7200RPM drive. It's a very small difference, likely not noticeble; but if you don't get it, you'll always be saying "my notebook would be a little bit faster were I to have ordered 7200RPM". It's kind of a peace of mind thing.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone. I decided on Vista, 2GB RAM, and the 7200rpm hard drive.

Will post up a review when it arrives!