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Need advice on X61s resurrection!

X60/X61 and X60t/X61t Series
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Should I upgrade?

get a new SSD only
4
31%
get more ram only
0
No votes
get both
8
62%
don't bother; get a new PC!
1
8%
 
Total votes: 13

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zippychimp
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Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:29 pm
Location: New York, NY

Need advice on X61s resurrection!

#1 Post by zippychimp » Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:45 pm

Hi, I am using the X61s (with 2GB ram and 80GB 5400 HDD) as a second machine and love its size, screen and keyboard, but it's getting too slow for multi-tabbed Chrome, multitasking Office apps and light video streaming.

1) Should I get a new machine or try speeding this one up with more RAM and an SSD and long life battery? Would I get enough bang for the buck? Or, will it still be too slow?
2) If I upgrade, what kind of SSD can it take? SATA I, II or II?
3) Will more ram in Windows XP make a big difference? Should I put in 3GB or 4GB even though XP can only see just over 3?

Thanks for your help!!

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
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Re: Need advice on X61s resurrection!

#2 Post by ajkula66 » Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:48 pm

Welcome to the forum!

Get a SSD, install Middleton's BIOS to enable SATA II transfer speeds and move on to W7. You'll love that resurrected X61s.
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

zippychimp
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:29 pm
Location: New York, NY

Re: Need advice on X61s resurrection!

#3 Post by zippychimp » Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:57 pm

Thanks for the quick reply, ajkula66!

I was trying to avoid (if possible) the expense & time of upgrading to Win 7 and re-installing everything... (Was going to clone my drive). Based on your experience, how crucial is that to performance vs. keeping XP?

Much appreciated!!

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
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Re: Need advice on X61s resurrection!

#4 Post by ajkula66 » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:47 pm

Many will disagree but...

a) I'd *never* clone an install from a rotational drive onto SSD

b) XP on SSD would really not be my preferred choice, since it lacks native TRIM support and takes a lot of tweaking to run properly...

I had a X61 with SSD and XP and wasn't happy with it. W7 made a world of difference.

YMMV.
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

zippychimp
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:29 pm
Location: New York, NY

Re: Need advice on X61s resurrection!

#5 Post by zippychimp » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:54 pm

That makes a lot of sense. One last question - where can I find the latest Middleton Bios? Seems to be several versions floating around.

Thanks again! Will post the results of my resurrection here...

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
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Re: Need advice on X61s resurrection!

#6 Post by ajkula66 » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:58 pm

I believe that there's a link in the Lenovo section on notebook review forums...
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

RealBlackStuff
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Re: Need advice on X61s resurrection!

#7 Post by RealBlackStuff » Fri Jul 13, 2012 6:13 am

Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
.

bgx
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Re: Need advice on X61s resurrection!

#8 Post by bgx » Fri Jul 13, 2012 1:58 pm

depends which SSD.

samsun needs alignement to run well, and XP aligns them very badly which kills their perf. W7 should be better there.

but most other SSD does not care about alignement cause they can work around it, and then the difference is marginal.

I use an intel SSD, which works perfectly well under XP.
there is intel SSD toolbox to clean it everynow and then under xp too.
works veryy well!

Anyway, i also think 2GB is a bit short in memory, so you may want more memory, all the more if u install 7.
But the SSD will change your life all the time, while more memory will change your life when u need more memory (ie every now and then)

so
1) get an SSD
2) you may want to get more memory (4GB would be enough)
3) you may want to install 7.

zippychimp
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Re: Need advice on X61s resurrection!

#9 Post by zippychimp » Fri Jul 13, 2012 3:21 pm

Thanks for the advice @bgx!

I think I'll do that. Will get the SSD first and see how things run. Then I will go for the Win 7 upgrade with more memory. A project for next weekend.

dmdsoftware
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Re: Need advice on X61s resurrection!

#10 Post by dmdsoftware » Thu Jul 26, 2012 1:22 am

Upgrade to 8GB and add the SSD.

Been there, done that, and I couldn't be happier.
X62 & X62s & X62T SXGA+ i7 5600u 8-16GB
Helix i7
Carbon X1 i5 UHD
W520 4x-i7
Sony Vaio P799 (8" LED 1600x768)
"Think" Ultrabook i7
LegoThinkpad 11"

in storage:
X131e AMD
X60/X60s, X61/X61s/X61T, T61, T420, X30

past:
X20-X24, 390X

zippychimp
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:29 pm
Location: New York, NY

Re: Need advice on X61s resurrection!

#11 Post by zippychimp » Thu Jul 26, 2012 1:35 am

@dmdsoftware - Thanks for the reply. Did you also upgrade the bios? which one? Is that what enables the X61s to accept 8Gb? I heard it natively tops out at 4.

RealBlackStuff
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Re: Need advice on X61s resurrection!

#12 Post by RealBlackStuff » Thu Jul 26, 2012 3:32 am

Normal (32-bit) versions of XP, Vista or W7 stop at 4GB RAM (3GB in a T60/R60/Z61/X60 due to chipset limitations).
To recognize more than 4GB RAM you MUST install a 64-bit version of XP, Vista or W7 (and also 32-bit Windows Server 2008 or better).
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
.

dmdsoftware
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Re: Need advice on X61s resurrection!

#13 Post by dmdsoftware » Tue Aug 14, 2012 7:09 am

zippychimp wrote:@dmdsoftware - Thanks for the reply. Did you also upgrade the bios? which one? Is that what enables the X61s to accept 8Gb? I heard it natively tops out at 4.
zippychimp wrote:@dmdsoftware - Thanks for the reply. Did you also upgrade the bios? which one? Is that what enables the X61s to accept 8Gb? I heard it natively tops out at 4.
Sorry for the late reply. I never got notified that you posted.

It is supported natively! I personally use Patriot 2x4GB in my X61 and X61t. No special requirements or hacks to make it work. Just make sure you get compatible memory (DDR2 etc).

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6820220382
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6820220495

Harder to find the proper memory at a good price now :( I ended up buying 4 modules last year for $50 shipped each from Newegg. I should have bought more ;) You can never have enough memory when you have a "community's worth" of X61* hardware :)
X62 & X62s & X62T SXGA+ i7 5600u 8-16GB
Helix i7
Carbon X1 i5 UHD
W520 4x-i7
Sony Vaio P799 (8" LED 1600x768)
"Think" Ultrabook i7
LegoThinkpad 11"

in storage:
X131e AMD
X60/X60s, X61/X61s/X61T, T61, T420, X30

past:
X20-X24, 390X

gunston
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Re: Need advice on X61s resurrection!

#14 Post by gunston » Wed Aug 15, 2012 9:33 am

dear all experts here,
my case would be slightly different, i am owning X60s.
Thinking to purchase Intel 330 series SSD 180GB, not sure is it compatible and what kind of configuration have to be done in the BIOS.

:?:
1. T43 2668-B97 14" SXGA+ 1.5G RAM 9cells
2. X60s 1703-CA3 powerful

cxd9615gb
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2012 4:19 pm
Location: Walton-on-Thames, UK

Re: Need advice on X61s resurrection!

#15 Post by cxd9615gb » Wed Aug 15, 2012 10:24 am

Should be supported, but X60s are limited to SATAI so things might chug a bit.
X61s 7666-CTO - L7500, 4GB RAM, X3100, BCM94321MC, XGA
Owned - 600X, R51, T61

slangeditorial
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Location: Santa Monica, CA/Miami, FL

Re: Need advice on X61s resurrection!

#16 Post by slangeditorial » Tue Aug 21, 2012 12:15 am

x61's are my favorite machine, definitely worth the upgrade. The form factor is one of a kind, and the machine can still chug. The key is the middle ton's bios, absolutely necessary. have fun!
my gems.... all thanks to the advice of my temporarily displaced CALI homeboy, 91011

Me: X201s
Mom: T60p
Dad: X31

shurane
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2012 12:36 pm
Location: New York City, NY

Re: Need advice on X61s resurrection!

#17 Post by shurane » Wed Aug 29, 2012 6:36 pm

I figure something like Middleton's BIOS should be linked on the thinkwiki. I would not have come across that without looking at this thread.

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