Debian on Lenovo ThinkPad T61
The Lenovo ThinkPad T61 works flawlessly and surprisingly snappy out of the box with Debian 13 Trixie. Even when using the full GNOME desktop environment. I didn't notice any hick-ups so far.
System information
- BIOS version
- 2.29 (7LETC9WW) 2011-03-18
- CPU
- Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2,2 GHz
- RAM (max)
- 2 x 4 GB DDR2 SODIMM 6400 (800 MHz)
- Graphics
- Intel 965GM
- Display
- 15,4 inch, 1680 x 1050 (16:10)
- Linux kernel version
- 6.12.90+deb13.1-amd64
Installation
I first installed Windows XP in order to upgrade to the Middleton BIOS the most convenient way. I found a Windows XP Professional SP3 iso I could use for this on archive.org. Only afterwards I inserted the system disk I already had used on an other laptop. So it was obviously not even necessary to select any hardware-specific drivers for this system.
I will do a normal Trixie install as soon as I get the 2,5 inch SATA SSD I intend to use in this system. Then I will upgrade this report. But I don't expect any issues.
Performance
I was surprised how much performance this device from 2007 still can squeeze out. I wouldn't normally try to watch YouTube videos on such an old device but I am pleasantly surprised by the fact that this isn't an issue at all. I didn't test it in full screen but it wasn't stuttering at all when using in the default size in the perfectly reasonable resolution YouTube chose itself.
This system should still be perfectly usable for everyday office tasks.
Remarks
I don't use any Bluetooth devices. So I didn't test it.
Originally I bought the RAM modules in China for about 67 Euros (including the shipping fee to Austria) because I was curious if it would work in an other device that was left over by someone else and because I couldn't find DDR2 RAM modules with as much as 4 GB capacity locally. But the device couldn't boot with those RAM modules in it. So I did get the T61 in hope I could at least make use of those expensive RAM modules. I could get the T61 itself for only 40 Euros (excluding the hard disk). So the RAM was more expensive than the whole device itself. It of course isn't sensible to spend so much for such old RAM modules. But I plan to install the OS on a 120 GB SATA SSD which I can get for about 12 Euros. Therefore, the device as described in the end did cost me about 120 Euros.