Reviving an old laptop?

jecho · February 10, 2015

So I have a Lenovo t61 with a core 2 duo t9300. I either want to get a new laptop or I can revive this beast with an SSD for now. The current HDD is getting very very slow, as in the downloads folder takes 30 sec to open. One other thing also. For some reason this computer have Win 7 32 bit? I didn't do this of course (my sister gave me the laptop). Would a SSD with a 64 bit OS improve my laptop enough to keep from buying a new laptop. My main reason to get a new laptop would be to have a better screen, longer battery life and better overall pc experience. Thoughts......

RichardsD · February 10, 2015

How much RAM does said laptop have?

jecho · February 10, 2015

How much RAM does said laptop have?

4GB

z0ne · February 10, 2015

Depends what do you want to do with the laptop. If it's just for college like browsing/word just reinstall windows and start fresh and go from there you might not even have to install an SSD

junky · February 10, 2015

1. A new SSHD or SSD with a newly installed OS will do magic + you can use the SSD later on. If used correctly, they will last quite long

2. 4GB is a good amount, but if you can add more 2GB/4GB it will be great for you (that's not the reason for the sluggishness)

3. You might have software problems - viruses, malware, inefficient software..

4. There might be other problems that are usually there with old machines - thermal paste going capute and you have to reapply it = better heat transmission, meaning lower CPU temps, meaning higher clocks

I would definitely do these steps. Much better than simply throwing it.

The only part you can't probably fix is the display quality.

jecho · February 10, 2015

1. A new SSHD or SSD with a newly installed OS will do magic + you can use the SSD later on. If used correctly, they will last quite long

2. 4GB is a good amount, but if you can add more 2GB/4GB it will be great for you (that's not the reason for the sluggishness)

3. You might have software problems - viruses, malware, inefficient software..

4. There might be other problems that are usually there with old machines - thermal paste going capute and you have to reapply it = better heat transmission, meaning lower CPU temps, meaning higher clocks

I would definitely do these steps. Much better than simply throwing it.

The only part you can't probably fix is the display quality.

This was my thought as well but the only problem I might run into could be laptops switching to M2 by the time I would upgrade.

junky · February 11, 2015

1. I'm pretty sure that we'll continue seeing SATA connections for a long time. This is a compatibility thing

2. And if there will be no such laptop with a Sata you'd also want to buy (by the time you'd want to buy), we'll be probably far ahead in the future

3. You can get a cheaper SSD - just set some alert on slickdeals. I think you can now get an OCZ 240GB Arc 100 for like $40 (with a lot of rebates). That's a huge deal

4. And you would be able to sell it later on