Is it possible to make an older IBM ThinkPad T41p laptop a little bit faster? Yes, it is if you upgrade the CPU as it explained in this tutorial.

I learned that with a simple BIOS flash, the original 1.7 ghz pentium M “Banias” CPU (130nm process, 1mb L2 cache) that came standard with the T41p can be upgraded to a 2.0 GHz Pentium M 755 “Dothan” CPU (90nm process, 2mb L2 cache) which was available in the later T42 models.

For this upgrade you’ll need:
1. IBM ThinkPad T41p hardware and maintenance guide. The maintenance guide will help you to remove the keyboard and palm rest and get down to the CPU socket.
2. Small Philips screwdriver.
3. Thermal compound. Before you mount the heatsink back on the CPU, you must apply new thermal compound on the top of the CPU. You may consider Arctic Silver thermal compound. This stuff will keep your CPU cool and stable.
4. A can of compressed air. That’s would be a great idea to blow off dust from the cooling modules while you are replacing the CPU. Removing dust from the heat sink will help to prevent laptop overheating.

Before I go any further, you should know that this upgrade is not for the novice or fumble-fingered. There are any number of ways you can completely destroy your computer during an upgrade of this type. From losing tiny screws to shorting out the motherboard with static electricity or dropping ascrewdriver into the open computer, this is not a project for someone who is not already fairly competent wielding a screwdriver and performing computer upgrades.