T9600/P9600 for T400 or i5/i7 T420

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Artemis · #1 Post by **Artemis** » Sun Aug 28, 2022 2:42 am

Hi there,

I currently have a T400 that I use as a backup. It has a T8600 CPU and for the next few years till W10 is valid, I would like to keep up the performance vs the monthly updates that seem to slow down the T400 atleast IMHO.

I thought of two options - Upgrade the CPU to a T9600 or P9600 and increase RAM (now at 4GB) or give it away and buy a T420 (I like the old keyboards) with a i5 or i7 CPU with atleast 6GB RAM. If the former, would the P9600 be a better choice than the T9600 for heat reasons?

In both cases I have/will have a Samsung SSD.

Any recommendations?

axur-delmeria · #2 Post by **axur-delmeria** » Sun Aug 28, 2022 3:55 am

The T420 will be much faster than any CPU upgrade to the T400.

WarMachine · #3 Post by **WarMachine** » Tue Feb 07, 2023 12:39 am

Hello,

The T420 is a more recent machine and performance-wise, it's way better than the T400. I've used the T400 (with a T9400) as a daily driver for years (with Windows 7) and today, it shows its age (it still runs perfectly, but you see that, when surfing on internet, for me, I can't load pages and pages of more and more heavy content). So, I've replaced it with my T420s with an i5 2520M (the same that the T420 but thinner) and everything goes smooth again.

The T400 is the PC I used before sleeping, in my bedroom. Since 2017, my main daily driver is the T420, and as the CPU is upgradable (not on the T420s), I put an i7 2640M. And also 16 GB of RAM. It's not a lot more quick than the T420s, but I can load even more heavy content. Just the feeling of the machine when using it, there is a very perceptible difference. It's a lot smoother. The T9400 did put up a hell of a nice fight but the Sandy Bridge in the T420(s) is crushing it. The T400 is on its way to the museum (you could always get rid of Windows and install a light Linux distro of a *BSD OS on it, but it won't be long till the laptop is on its knees. To my eyes, Sandy Brige is the minimum for basic and modern use (even the generation - Arrandale - just before) is closer to the Core 2 Duo than the Sandy Bridge. Intel released wery nice CPUs at this time (the 2nd, the 3rd and the 4th generation are very nice ones).

Don't look back and choose the T420.

W.

#4 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Tue Feb 07, 2023 3:15 am

@Artemis:
since when is Aachen in Belgium?

Artemis · #5 Post by **Artemis** » Sun May 21, 2023 4:48 am

Hahaha..Just saw this. I'm a border resident +/- 2 Kms I'm in BE.