Is it worth it to get a PATA T43 and replace the HDD with a PATA SSD?

[Erare]

I see some T4x laptops have good specs, but they use a PATA HDD, if I buy one and replace it with a PATA SSD (like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-5-PATA-IDE-SS ... 2343a4fe0a

then is it worth it? Has anyone ever used one of those PATA SSDs? I have never heard of such a brand.

So it is worth the effort to go through all of that to use a T4x PATA laptop?

[Neil]

Not really worth it. There won't be any speed advantage with PATA SSD, in fact a good spinning drive might even perform better, at least as fast as the bus can handle. Plus, PATA SSD units have not been very reliable.

If you don't already have a T4x series machine, it will likely cost less money to get better performance from a T60 or newer machine with native SATA interface.

[ajkula66]

Not really worth it. There won't be any speed advantage with PATA SSD, in fact a good spinning drive might even perform better, at least as fast as the bus can handle. Plus, PATA SSD units have not been very reliable.

If you don't already have a T4x series machine, it will likely cost less money to get better performance from a T60 or newer machine with native SATA interface.

+1.

T60 is about the bare minimum for daily use nowadays.

Yes, you can tweak T43/p with a SATA-mod and what not, but it's still a decade old platform. Lovable machines, but getting quite long in the tooth.

[exTPfan]

T60 is about the bare minimum for daily use nowadays.

Absolute rubbish. It all depends on what you use it for. In my work (I'm a mathematician) the only thing that takes a measurable amount of time is turning a .tex into a .pdf file. Here are the times for a 45 page document.

T450s (i5, Win 7) 2.4 seconds
T42p (SSD in ultrabay XP) 2.7 seconds

Identical setup.

Also, the T42p handles a Filemaker database with 9,000 records with no problem --- sorting the 9,000 records involves only a slight pause.

An SSD in the ultrabay is a good option (except for the pause every time you start it).

Of course, I know there are things the T42p won't do, but, as I said, it all depends on what you are using it for.

[ajkula66]

T60 is about the bare minimum for daily use nowadays.

Absolute rubbish.

First of all, please mind the language that you're using when responding to my posts since I'd *never* speak to you in that manner.

Of course, I know there are things the T42p won't do, but, as I said, it all depends on what you are using it for.

I'm not a mathematician, so I'll stay within the borders of what I do know...

If one wants to remain within the realm of Windows - and use a currently supported OS such as W7 - a T4x system with struggle with a heavier youtube video. No ifs ands or buts there.

As glorified typewriters, these machines are hard to beat. However, that's not what the OP was looking for in the first place, at least not to my understanding.

[Johan]

An SSD in the UltraBay is a good option (except for the pause every time you start it).

Hint: See the sticky GUIDE: Make your T4x *FAST* by replacing the HDD with a SSD! where you'll read:

► Update of Dec. 1, 2012 ... about how to use a very cheap, fast 2.5" SATA SSD (or a 2.5" SATA HDD) as the main boot drive in the T4x/p UltraBay, and WITHOUT the 30 sec. boot-delay:

In this post the following very interesting information is shared by TioFrancotirador:

Question: Can this approx. 30 sec. boot-delay be completely avoided/circumvented if a (non-bootable) PATA HDD or SSD, or a "PATA SD card"? (any links to the latter??), is mounted in the main HDD drive bay?

Yes. I do not have 30s delay in boot. I have SSD in UltraBay with Win 7 as main boot. In main IDE drive, where previously I had regular PATA HDD drive, now I have small PATA SD Card reader with an old 1GB card inserted into it. Works great.

Note: TioFrancotirador is using a 2.5" Samsung 830 SATA 128 GB SSD in his T42 UltraBay caddy (and is using this as the main boot drive, running Windows 7).

This is great news to all those who wish to greatly speed up their e.g. T42/p's and are willing to "sacrifice" the built-in CD-ROM drive for a 2.5" SATA bootable drive in the UltraBay, since e.g. 120 GB 2.5" SATA SSD's are available for as little USD 60,- (when on sale, watch out for this e.g. on Slickdeals, Fatwallet etc. and you may from time to time be lucky to pick up other good SSD deals, such as this).

Another example of this approach can be seen in the Youtube video IBM ThinkPad T42 SUPERFAST 20 Second Boot! where a 2.5" Sandisk SSD (specific model/type unknown) is used in the UltraBay (by the way, peculiar that the Youtube'r claim to use a 2.26 GHz CPU in a T42...??)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Johan

[Norway Pad]

So it is worth the effort to go through all of that to use a T4x PATA laptop?

I believe this is the core of the OP's post. And I'm assuming this is planned to be the OP's daily (only) driver. Unless you have some particular interest in using a T42 out of general Thinkpad interest, a particular love for the T4x design, its keyboard or that you already own a T42, I would say no. At that point there is no reason to not go for a T60. Still a 4:3, but more RAM, and access to SATA drives and faster Dual Core CPUs.

I recently installed Win7 Pro on a T42 that will be used by my mom. And the fact that Win7 used 1.99 GB RAM of the 2GB available during updates is for me the first sign that the hardware is no longer sufficient for the OS' needs. Particularly when you used a T42 in it's glory days, with XP Pro SP2, you will notice how any process that involves any CPU usage takes a lot more time now than back then. Still, by all means, I'm impressed with how this 10 year old laptop keeps up.

On the other side; if this is intended to be a glorified typewriter or a hobby project driven from particular interest, the case will be totally different. I regularly use my old laptops, including a 600 with a 400MHz CPU, for fun.

[theterminator93]

I used an mSATA SSD along with a PATA bridge in my T42p and noticed quite an improvement in Windows and application boot times. It gets used as a glorified "watch movies" laptop because of its fabulous screen... and the speedy response when loading is very nice. It's got a factory XP load on it; 7 responds well enough under light duty but is too resource intensive to be nearly as useful as XP in the more demanding scenarios.

However... The heart of the machine is still just a single core, barely 2 GHz CPU that is architecturally more similar to the old Pentium Pro/II/III than anything manufactured in the last few years. Coupled with an ancient (by today's standards) GPU, it just can't cut it on anything beyond 480p streaming (and 720p local) video and similarly basic tasks (word processing, email, message boards, vintage games etc.). A Core 2 CPU is really needed to stay relevant, and even they are starting to show their age; I'd never consider using my T42p daily for work, but my T60 still works fairly well in this role.

[Kilkenny]

My experience with PATA SSDs is that they make a modest imrpovement, but are probably not worth the cost. PATA SSDs are pretty expensive for what they offer.

For whatever it's worth, I use my T42 with the stock HDD as my main computer and it works perfectly for that, though I'm not running Windows.

[jmudrick]

Kingspec pata ssd is plug n play under Lubuntu. Zero effort, zero issues, modest cost, substantial benefit see video) . If you want to keep using your t43 it's a sensible upgrade. $103 for the 128GB, $57 for the 64, no adapters, no soldering, why the hell not.

https://youtu.be/KCVTkgopgyw