T61 still going strong, 6 years later

Good day everyone. I just wanted to report that it's been over 6 years now that I've bought my T61 brand new from Lenovo. I've been using it everyday since February 2008, and have NEVER upgraded or needed to replace anything on it. In fact, aside from the infamous shiny keyboard, it still looks brand new. It's been across the country tons of times, thrown around in my laptop bag by the TSA, dropped from 3+ feet several times, and she just keeps on ticking.

Granted, I do NOT do CAD work, or any heavy computing with this, otherwise I would've upgraded a long time ago. It's sill running on 2GB of RAM, with a 160GB hard drive. All I do is use it for the web, music, documents, email, etc. Typical daily computer work. It IS starting to show it's age now however. For example, it's taking a longer time now to download youtube and other ( cough ) "online videos" ( cough ), whereas when it was new it would zip right along.


I still have no intentions on ever getting rid of this machine, unless it gets so out of date, and the internet / newer aged laptops get so advanced that I will be forced to upgrade, but as of now, I still love my T61. Best $800 some odd dollars I've ever spent. I still have my X301 as well. It's been used only a hand full of times, still looks brand new and will most likely be the replacement when this T61 takes a dirt nap.


So, anyone else use a 5+ year old laptop as their primary laptop ? Oh, I'm still running the original OS ( Vista ! Yuck !! ), and have only needed to reboot to a previously saved time in the hard drive partition about 3 times due to random virus / malware attacks. Other than that, this machine has been flawless ( knock on wood ). Only issue I can think of is after turning on from hibernation mode, it wakes up, then immediately goes back to sleep. Does that about 3-4 times until it finally stays on. I have no idea what's causing it, the temps are cool, etc. so I just leave it on 24/7 now

 

Awesome. Love seeing things last that long, because these days, gadgets rarely get to see more than 2 years of use. If I were you I'd probably want to upgrade the hard drive not merely for performance, but because you never know when the HDD might give out on you. That is of course if you can overcome the sentimental value of the old HDD and let go of a little bragging rights.

 

You know, in all honestly, I actually wouldn't mind upgrading the memory, etc. but from what I'm told, Vista 32BIT will only recognize up to 3GIGS anyway. I have 2 now, and it seems to zip along alright. The Hard Drive I'd LOVE to upgrade to an SSD, but don't really know my options for a machine this old, would it really be worth it ?

 

I'm guessing the T61 can be easily opened up and upgraded? You'd simply need to find out the specifications and size of the hard drive, and you'll know what SSD might be compatible with it. Whether it's worth it or not probably depends on you and your personal use of that machine.

 

It's 1 screw to remove the screw that holds the cover, and the HDD slides right out. Without Middleton's BIOS, _61 series ThinkPads are limited to SATA 1 speeds.

 

Yep and the Middleton BIOS allows you to use more recent wifi cards as well. I have an Intel 6200 in my T61 and it works very well. You may also consider at some point whether or not it is time for you to save important files and either do a reinstall or a clean install of Windows. Clean installs are great as you start off with only the basic Windows programs which you can follow up by choosing what Lenovo programs to install. I usually go the clean install route and also create two partitions before installing Windows. I create one partition for the OS and the other partition for media and assorted documents. I do not like to clutter my system partition with non-system files. After installation of the OS I then go to Lenovo Support and pick the Lenovo software that I like- mainly the Power Manager and the programs that work cooperatively to give me the OSD and FN key combos. Often times a clean install (or reinstallation if you choose) is a breath of fresh air that your laptop has been waiting for

 

If I had any data on such a laptop that's of any value, I'd backup now. After that, got a new HDD or SSD, cloned and replaced it.

Although, having X301 collecting dust, I'd probably got rid of the T61 together with that HDD and Vista and not working hibernation, upgraded SSD in the X301, perhaps a new battery, and had a decent mobile typewriter for a few years. Until the X301 CPU and 3GB RAM won't suffice even for casual browsing (which, while a lot closer now than before, at current progress rates with HTML5 and browsers is still at least 2-3 years away).

 

I'd definitely upgrade the RAM to 4GB, throw in a SSD and install W7.

You'll be amazed at how "young" that T61 of yours will feel again.

Typing this on a SATA-modded, 7.5 years old T43p...

There are not too many things that are as cool in the PC universe as a well-kept older ThinkPad. Not in my book anyway.

Happy ThinkPadding and enjoy!:thumbsup:

 

In my opinion, unless you can get a newer windows version free (or cheap), I'd upgrade to 64bit vista. As much as people insult vista, it has really become a good operating system. Install service pack two and it won't be that much different from win7 and your product key will work with 64bit if you have Vista Business, premium or ultimate. If you need a disc you can send me a PM and I'll help you get one.

Memory can be upgraded to 8gb, but I'd go with 4 since it's much cheaper, or at least 3 which would cost half as much as 4gb. Definitely install the middleton bios if you're going to get an SSD and use a second HDD in your ultrabay.

With these basic upgrades you'd be shocked at how much it will improve this system.

Also, if you have a CPU with only 2mb of cache you should consider upgrading that too. You can get a T7300 cpu for only $4 over at thinkpads.com forum from one of the regular sellers (modesty prevents me from mentioning the sellers name).

I'll also add that the T61 line is one of my favorite laptops of all time and I'm typing on one now.

 

Wow, thank you everyone for the great responces !!!

More than likley I will probably get a Windows 7 Pro 64BIT OS, and upgrade the specs on my T61. I just find it cool how much better business class laptops are over a consumer grade laptop. Prior to this, I had a Toshiba Sattellite laptop. Had a 15.4 inch screen, a blue lid, and I bought it new in 2003. When I ordered my T61 in 2008, in the 5 years I've had the Toshiba it had missing keys, the fan was shot, missing pixels on the screen, the DVD player would sometimes work and sometimes not, etc. I've had this for 6 years, put it though MORE abuse and it still looks and works great. Simply amazing.

I was also thinking since this T61 sits on my desk ALL the time, when it finally does crap out, I'd probably be better off with a desktop as a replacement since that would probably make the most sence. If I do go with a desktop, it will probably be a new iMac 27" core i7.

 

If you have your RAM in 1 DIMM, I would definitely pick up a 1GB DIMM to put in the 2nd slot; my guess is that will be a lot cheaper than a 2GB module.

Also; upgrade that HDD: HDDs from back then are slow. Even without the SATA-mod BIOS you'll definitely get better performance. Youtube uses now higher quality (=more load) than in 2008, so that explains a bit of the slowdown.

 

My main machines that I actually type on are my t61p and x61t. I have a few newer thinkpads that are utilized as servers but my everyday ones are still these 5-6 year old machines. I got very lucky that the screens on my t61p and x61t are high res with good viewing angles. They all have middleton bios, 8gb ram, and SSD and they run great. Only problem is weight and the underside are much warmer than the new laptops. They still run 2-3 virtual machines quite well.

 

Agreed, although prices can vary, I get $6 for a genuine lenovo 1gb module and $20 for a 2gb