Situation: I have an 8 year old T42 (Windows XP SP2, 1.7 Ghz Intel Pentium M, 1.5 GB of RAM) which has served me well from graduate school to the present day. Should I get a new PC (Thinkpad X201)?
Usage Frequency: very infrequent (not since 2009).
Planned Use: I need to take the bar exam in 2 months. I am worried about my T42's reliability. I have had the motherboard and inverter replaced in the last 4 years so it is doing ok from a hardware perspective. The problem is the bootup time is very slow (~3-5 minutes from switch on to usage) and it sometimes cannot activate the wireless. Performance has been ok but multitasking is not really an option (random hangs sometimes result).
Should I try to:
- reinstall Windows XP to help increase speed and stability?
Try to increase RAM?
Get a new laptop with Windows 7?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.