Windows 11 on Thinkpad T530?

[trylgsk]

Hello, im running Windows 11 on my old Thinkpad T530 because the support for windows 10 ends soon.

SPECS:
Intel i5 3320m
Nvidia 5400m GPU
16 GB Ram DDR3
256 GB Msata SSD + 1 tb SATA SSD

It runs okay, but are there any tips on how to make it run slightly faster?

[ZaZ]

Swapping in a quad core would give you some more oomph.

[sktn77a]

More RAM and SSD (which you already have) are pretty much the only way on that old boat. I've upgraded CPUs on older thinkpads in the past but. honestly, not noticed a significant improvement.

[ZaZ]

It's true upgrading from one dual core to another likely doesn't make much of a practical difference, but adding a couple cores will offer a significant performance advantage as the system ages.

[mikemex]

Hello, im running Windows 11 on my old Thinkpad T530 because the support for windows 10 ends soon.

SPECS:
Intel i5 3320m
Nvidia 5400m GPU
16 GB Ram DDR3
256 GB Msata SSD + 1 tb SATA SSD

It runs okay, but are there any tips on how to make it run slightly faster?

* I don't think Windows 11 supports nVidia Optimus, so if you have the default settings the integrated graphics is probably doing the screen rendering. Change it to the nVidia card in the BIOS. Should be considerably faster than the IGP.
* Turn off "Core Isolation" in Windows Security. Ivy Bridge simply doesn't have the hardware required (MBEC) to do that.
* Turn off Bitlocker (hard disk encryption). Again, it doesn't have TPM 2.0 chip to do that fast.

Check that all your drivers are properly installed. Sometimes a subsystem (say, SATA's AHCI) is not working right, slowing down everything else.

I would think twice about upgrading the CPU. It's not a trivial task and will cost you money. But above all, the quad cores in that generation tend to run hot and that stress may cause an old machine to stop working.

[TPFanatic]

You can hunt down an i7 3612QM or 3632QM which have 35W TDP, they will run cooler than the 45W i7s. Nvidia version of the T530 already has a beefy cooler though with either a large single CPU heatpipe or twin CPU heatpipes depending on supplier, and rear exhaust vent enabled, I feel it would handle a 45W i7 just fine. W530 only has a different cooler giving additional cooling to its 55W workstation GPUs, where T530's weak 5400m is only rated at 35W.

Quad core does help these old PCs with general snappiness and completing multithreaded tasks faster. But if you're really serious about wanting more performance you do need a new PC.

[mikemex]

If you're really serious about wanting more performance you do need a new PC.

Problem with vintage Thinkpads are not the CPUs, but the GPUs. Only very recently intel began shipping decent GPUs with the Iris Xe graphics.

Just to give you an idea of what the problem is look at this:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/HD-Graphi ... 598.0.html

I think a T530 offers decent W11 performance, for what it is. Just don't expect truly modern performance from a 10+ year old machine.

[TPFanatic]

Is 11’s dwm more of a hog than 10 22h2’s? Ive got 10 22h2 operating usefully on x61 and r61, with their terrible graphics, the r61 with my panasonic 9 cell actually gets a decent 2-3 hour runtime and i can play lichess at 60fps at a lowered native res. Ivy bridge is more than capable of whatever the pitiful gm965 can do.

[mikemex]

Ivy bridge is more than capable of whatever the pitiful gm965 can do.

Performance is quite poor but it's not only that. It's also the lack of features and support. What good is OpenGL 2.1 acceleration when most software now expects 3.2 and up? For practical purposes, if the software doesn't support the kind of acceleration your hardware has, it's like having no acceleration at all.

Only a perfectionist like John Camarck would design software like Quake 2 in such a way it provides a cascading level of support. Say, design the application with OpenGL 1.4 in mind yet provide a software rendering engine in case no GPU is present. AND THEN RELEASE THE SOURCE CODE SO PEOPLE COULD ADD FURTHER LAYERS (such as OpenGL 3.2 support). This way, a modern port of Quake 2 runs on everything at top speed: 3.2 and up for modern hardware, 1.4 for older GPUs and on software if none of that is available.

Of course, most developers aren't John Camarck. They are just lazy and mediocre. And that's why perfectly working hardware suddenly becomes unusable.

[kfzhu1229]

Is 11’s dwm more of a hog than 10 22h2’s? Ive got 10 22h2 operating usefully on x61 and r61, with their terrible graphics, the r61 with my panasonic 9 cell actually gets a decent 2-3 hour runtime and i can play lichess at 60fps at a lowered native res. Ivy bridge is more than capable of whatever the pitiful gm965 can do.

I have experience running Windows 11 on the GMA X3100 and 4500MHD as well as the obsecure Nvidia GeForce 6150 Go and Xpress 200M/1100/1200/1250. You're gonna need to turn off the transparency effects but other than that I think it all ran reasonably well - that is - until the latest batch of updates arrived. From my experience the latest of 11 22H2 update (as well as 23H2) broke compatibility with DX9 only graphics with things like explorer.exe, where the address bar no longer displays properly nor are any of the right click menus. DX10 capable graphics (like Geforce 8000 series based cards, GMA 4500MHD and Radeon HD 3200) are not affected.
How come you only get like 3 hours of battery life? I remember using 9 cell batteries on the Latitude D830 with 965GM chipset and a WSXGA+ screen and getting like 5 hours.
On T530 though, Windows 11 itself has zero problems with it. Nor do Optimus have any trouble with it (i was in fact using Optimus to switch to nvidia graphics for Windows subsystem for android and it worked fine). Obviously if you stumble across software that is demanding enough to require the much more recent graphics features or somehow requiring AVX2 then you're outta luck.
I mean if I can get away with running windows 11 23H2 on arrandale and have basically no issues for casual workload along with a good amount of programming, you should be fine

[TPFanatic]

this particular r61 has a power hungry IDTech UXGA which looks best at max brightness. and to get any decent paced performance i need the Core 2 at max frequency. my t500 can do a little better. honestly aside from my X330 i think the only laptop i have that can beat 5 hours is my ancient Toughbook CF-29 with a Pentium M....

another reason why my runtimes are below average is because i never charge the battery past 80%.

[kfzhu1229]

this particular r61 has a power hungry IDTech UXGA which looks best at max brightness. and to get any decent paced performance i need the Core 2 at max frequency. my t500 can do a little better. honestly aside from my X330 i think the only laptop i have that can beat 5 hours is my ancient Toughbook CF-29 with a Pentium M....

another reason why my runtimes are below average is because i never charge the battery past 80%.

Oh I see fair enough. My only laptop that can beat 5 hours is my small 13 inch Acer Aspire TimelineX 3830TG even with a full i5-2520M and GT 540M switchable graphics - the partially rebuilt battery (partially swapped with 3 cells of 18650GA 3500mah cells, with final capacity equivalent to ~54Wh) and the very mid screen (but has half the power draw of a typical 15.6" 1366x768 panel) and higher power efficiency on the motherboard end push the battery life way up. I guess with brand new high end battery cells I don't have to worry much about charging/discharging anymore - this pack will not charge past a fairly conservative 12.3V (and charging is also frustratingly slow) and will not drain below 3.2V per cell while these cells are rated down to 2.5V as usable capacity.
But yeah, that sandy bridge also flies perfectly fine under windows 11, even then it has those kinds of battery life. It's just that Windows update broke on me and will not install the latest cumulative updates correctly until I find an opportunity to reinstall windows.