I have a T61, should I upgrade to T510?

I have a two year old T61 with a Penryn 8300 (specs below). It's been a great machine for me. I keep getting emails from Lenovo with offers on a new one. I am interested in the new i5 chip because I use speech recognition and the extra processing power would be helpful. Speech recognition is my most intensive application. I don't play games anymore, and the rest of my work is typical Microsoft Office, database and web surfing stuff.

I would simply swap my Intel SSD from my T61 to the new T510. The i520 plus SSD combination should rock. The price would be under $900 and I think I could get $400+ for my T61 with a 7200rpm 320GB HDD.

What do you think? What are the pros and cons of the T510 over the T61? I know it's a bit thicker. Battery life is better. What about heat, noise? Is the keyboard quiet? For those of you who have owned both did you notice a significant jump in performance in real life use?

 

well if you need the processing power, then why not. Since you are not upgrading for the sake of upgrading, as you have real need for better spec CPU.

So when you use the current T61, does the CPU usage always spike to 100% when using the voice recognition software?

 

If your not maxing out your current T61, then I'd just keep it.
Hell, I'll be keeping my T61 for at least another 3 years. But, then again all I do with mine is go online, write documents, store all my music, and watch moves and it's MORE then enough for what I need.

 

Dragon NaturallySpeaking doesn't max out the CPU usage. But then it never has, even on previous computers. I don't know how Dragon uses the processor, but faster processors always give faster response with it. It's been that way for the ten years and five computers I've used with Dragon, through four versions of Dragon software.

I was looking for general impressions from those who have used both the T61 and the T510 on a daily basis.

Thanks.

 

You won't notice a difference in performance in daily use - and if you do, it will be due to the cleaner installation of Windows, not an actual difference in the computer's ability.

 

depends, what screen do you have. I have a t61p with the 1920x1200. Right now, I would not trade that screen for any laptop made (that I have seen at least).

 

I'd focus on this point as well. Your T61 should be plenty for your needs, but the $500-$600 that it would cost you to upgrade to a T510 isn't bad. If you think you'd prefer a 16:9 screen and/or the resolution of the T510 then go for it. If you prefer 16:10 and your current resolution I'd stick with the T61.

 

"I would simply swap my Intel SSD from my T61 to the new T510."

But you'll have to put a new OS in. Windows licensing will NOT allow this at it wouldn't as of Vista.

Renee

 

Unless you've got a specific need for something the T510 offers, I'd say the upgrade isn't worth the effort.

 

I would agree with that Zaz. There are few technical reasons to upgrade from a good T61p.

Renee