Worthy T500 upgrades?

This processor work in mine? Is it as good as a i3 core? Will there be a great difference? I use my laptop for audio vsts..cubase..etc Also looking to get a ssd..is crucial m4 good? What so i need to look out for regarding compatibility?


Thanks

Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 SLG9F (6M Cache, 2.80 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB)




This is my specs


ThinkPad T500 (2089-AR1)
P8700(2.53GHz), 8GB RAM, 7200rpm HD, 15.4in 1680x1050 LCD, Intel X4500HD, CDRW/DVDRW, Intel 802.11agn wireless, WWAN option, Bluetooth, Modem, 1Gb Ether, UltraNav, Sec Chip, FPR, 6c Li-Ion, WinVista Business 32

 

The T9600 will work, and the T500 will take up to a T9900. I've heard good things about Crucial drives, but have never used one. I'm using a Samsung in my T500 currently, and an Intel X25M G1 in my G73 and am happy with the performance either way.

 

The T9600 will work. It is good, but is certainly not as good as the first- and second-generation Core i3 processors, at least not in power-efficiency and memory bandwidth.

Crucial M4 SSD is one of the best at this time. I've used 4 of them (64GB, one in each system) since last July without any problems. I use the SSD for OS and apps, and a big mechanical HD for data files. The speed-up is quite impressive: with Windows logo animation and login screen disabled, it takes about 7 seconds from power-on to desktop; opening applications is snappy.

 

an ssd would be a good upgrade, that you could carry over to your new laptop eventually so its money you are investing.

i would not recommend a cpu upgrade. you won't gain that much benefit from it for average web, email, excel, skype etc usage, and as mentioned above, you won't be getting the increases in battery life that the core i series has.

 

Thanks !!.. So which one works in mine? sata II or III?

 

T500 only supports SATA 2 speeds, so if you put in a SATA 3 SSD, it'll run at SATA 2 speeds.

 

SATA interface is backward-compatible. The Crucial M4 supports SATA 6Gbit/s, and works fine with the T500 motherboard/chipset/BIOS.

(Officially, it's "SATA revision 3.0 (SATA 6 Gbit/s)." There is no such thing as SATA III or SATA 3. )

 

So it makes sense to buy sata II cos its cheaper and i have nothing to gain with performance from Sata III right?

 

There's little practical difference between SATA II and III. The real benefit of an SSD is the near instantaneous seek times, which doesn't change going from II to III or I to III. My fastest machine right now is my R60e and its SATA I controller. It boots in about seven seconds whereas my X220 and desktops running W7 comes come in around 20. The only time you'd notice a difference is when you're putting a heavy load on the controller like copying and pasting files would be an example of this, but typical notebook usage doesn't put a heavy load on the controller.

I say a smaller 60GB SSD in the main bay as a boot partition. Go bigger if you install a lot. Then a larger 5400RPM drive in the modular bay for more storage, where speed is not as important. Who uses optical drives any more?