HP 8510p vs Thinkpad T61

Any reviews of the 8510p yet? I can't seem to find any. Trying to decide between that and the 15" T61. I want the discrete graphics but don't want the short battery life of the T61p.

Anyone know how the keyboards compare?

Other then the marketing terms the HDD protection is basically the same right? (parking the drive when sensing shock)

Thanks

 

As far as I know no one has received their 8510p yet. Supposedly HP will begin shipping this week, but we're going on week 4 since release and all they've said is "we're experiencing some parts shortages."

The 8510w is identical to the 8510p in basically every way but GPU, so you could try checking out reviews for that machine.

 

The battery life on the T61p isn't that bad if you get the 9-cell battery. It clocks in around 3 hours and 33 minutes. The keyboard on the T61 or T61p are probably much better than the 8510p's keyboard. Also, I like the layout more on the T61 series. I don't know why they changed the layout on the 8510p, I really liked the old one. I believe HD protection is comparable. Honestly though, I doubt many people drop their expensive laptop. Remember, always back up critical files. Plus with the price of a nice USB drive being as it is, there's not much of a reason not to get one for back up. Lastly, as Ackeron mentioned, no one has gotten an 8510p yet. Okay, one guy apparently did, but he's not talking about it. He posted one image with a WEI and that's it. I really hope they start shipping the laptops.

 

I have to disagree with the keyboard. My Dad got a NC6400 which has a very nice and comfortable but as a bonus its quiet. The HP has the better gpu, and is in the MXM II format vs Lenovo's solution which I believe is built into the logic board. Basically they are both pretty equal, but personally I can't stand Lenovo as there service and Q/C has gone down hill. I would go for the HP.

 

In regards to the keyboard, I don't mean the 8510p's keyboard is bad, in fact its much better than most consumer laptops. However, the 570m is most likely better than the HD 2600, though we don't have many tests yet on the 2600 to really know how well it works. Now the nvs 140 on the T61 is another story... I don't know about HP service being better right now. I've been waiting for about 2 weeks, they canceled my first order and put in a new one, and they haven't been able to contact their own warehouse to see if my current order is being processed.

 

I had a Lenovo T61P, ati 5250 card. Nothing but problems, and the worst customer support I have ever had to deal with and I talked to tons of people. I finally had to put some pressure on them and threaten to cancel our entire account.

Anyhow, I bought an NW8440 and very happy with it. I also bought an 8510W for home/on-the-side biz. The keyboard on the the lenovo is good, the HP is better, we will see how well it compares to the new HP. The trackpad is also better. As far as input devices go..

Plus the new T61 has 128 video ram? Why don't we just take a step backwards.

Remember the red coloring on thinkpads, on the touchpad buttons? T41/42/43. First lenovo t60 comes out they stripped little accents like that. Right from the start you see Lenovo starting to cut corners. And remember, they are Lenovo, not IBM thinkpad.

If I had to chose, even though the nGVidia 570M might be a tad better than the Ati 2600, I would go with the 8510P hands down. Unless I learn something about this 8510W that would dissapoint greatly, although I doubt it. Will post a summary of my findings once I play with it.

 

I have always favoured HP's keyboard on their business notebooks. Recently, I tried one of the new T61's keyboard and it feels a little too clicky and loose compared to HP's keyboards which are quiter and more comfortable to type on. Both have about similar travel and no flex with normal pressure. The complaint about the change in the 8510's keyboard layout is surprising because all their other models have the same layout previously and the nx8420/nc8430/nw8440 range was the only one with the odd layout previously, so they have simply standardised their keyboard configuration across the range.
Keyboards are very much a personal preference, but many people who do not get the chance to try HP's keyboard will overlook this feature on their purchase decision as they've mostly heard about Thinkpad keyboards only.

The trackpoint on Thinkpads are better. HP's trackpoint rubber is stiffer and the rubber isn't in a domed shape like those in the Thinkpad. However, HP has a bigger and easier to use touchpad.

 

Wow. I didn't know the Thinkpad had gone down so much. Now I'm even happier I went with the 8510p, though I'd like to have it shipped NOW HP.

 

The ThinkPad hasn't gone down at all but that's just the HP section and it's always been that way here.

I personally prefer ThinkPad's keyboards but I haven't seen an objective "benchmark" for keyboards yet, so no matter what I say there will always be another one who will feel differently, and that has been argued a lot here...

Plus, you could start a thread in the Lenovo section and you will see *very* different results...

This link is especially for chrixx, just to see that not all people love his precious keyboard that much... now go and tell him that he is wrong. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=157820

In the end, even though I find ThinkPad's keyboards better, I think that both are excellent and I would not base my decision on that... but I don't like the new layout...

As for the GPU, I don't know how the HD 2600 would perform nor even whether it's DDR2 or GDDR3, so you should wait and see...

And, I don't know where this about the short battery comes from but the HP will not have better battery life unless you compare it to the 6 cell battery of the T61p. Otherwise, the T61p with 9 cell battery has decent battery life and it also has Ultrabay...

Now, I like the HP and the reasons are that it's a bit lighter and the 8 cell battery doesn't stick out, and the only one thing that bugs about it is that the fan may happen to be too loud and it could run a bit hot according to the only review that we have now, plus people have companied that some of the other models have loud fans too... and that's not something new for HP. So, I would for more reviews...

 

I was able to use a 15" T60p in the store for a bit and the main thing I didn't like was the touchpad which felt kind of small even thought it could be easily made larger using the empty space above it. (I don't like the little stick for controlling the mouse so...) I also don't like the Fn key being in the bottom right corner, I'm too used to the Ctrl key being there so the one time I worked on someone's laptop with that layout I was messing up keyboard shortcuts too much.

As to the graphics performance, I kind of want something faster then integrated graphics to play HL2 but still want somewhat good battery life. The T61p review of its battery life ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=152553) is around 2 hours less then the HP. The HP seems to be about a hour less then the T61 which seems like a good tradeoff for the faster graphics chipset over the nvs140 card.

Now for the things I like about the T61:
I do like the roll cage of the Thinkpad more, but then was thinking if I get the accident warrenty coverage then that extra protection isn't all that useful. But then the roll cage may give the T61 better wireless range (the anttenna isn't inside a metal shell like the HP and only needs to send its signal through plastic) That could be useful but there are no benchmarks on wireless ranges of laptops.

The intelligent battery charging the T61 has so you can prevent it from charging until it reaches a certain level and not charging past a certain level which would be nice to keep the battery from wearing out too fast.

The thinkpad light would be nice to be able to use the keyboard in the dark.

The 15" t61 has UWB and an express card slot which would be useful as that is the future interface standards (Plus I found a bluetooth remote designed to slid into the express card slot for storage and havn't seen any pc card versions)

Looks like only the T61 supports turbo cache, I know its kind of buggy now with the state of the drivers and some vista bugs but does look like they will get that worked out and it will then give a nice boost.

The hard part is there is no store I can find around me to get my hands on a business level HP laptop to try out

 

I've read that before and I have understood that keyboards ARE a personal preference, only that many have not tried the keyboards on HP's business range and agree that it is different to those offered in their consumer range that one can simply try out at big retailers. Thanks anyway .
Keyboards are actually a pretty important feature of the notebook as you use them a lot and would want something comfortable to type on for hours.

Also, note that I did not infer that Thinkpads have declining quality at all, so I hope others don't take it as such.

If I'm not mistaken, the HP's antenna is located underneath the plastic strip on the cover to prevent this from happening. Hence, you always get that plastic strip on models with magnesium casing.

 

According to the reviews:

T61p with the Quadro FX 570M and 9 cell battery gets about 3.33 hours
HP 8510w with the Quadro FX 570M and 8 cell battery gets about 3.13 hours

Both with dimmed screens and doing regular stuff.

 

Chrixx, thanks, didn't see that there was a plastic part there.

Dreamer, I was talking about the 8510p with the 2400 ATI chipset which specs say last 5 hours.

Not so sure it matter that much with the new T61 coupon making the nvs 140 based 14" 4:3 around $500 less then the HP (I don't realy like that LCD it comes with as the specs are 150 nits and 200:1 contrast which which is worse then my current inspiron 4100 but that is nice savings) But then I havn't looked at any HP deals that may even it out

 

Uh, you should not take that seriously...

Otherwise, according to Lenovo the T61p should have up to 5.9 hours with the 9 cell battery.

The HP 8510p with the HD 2600 would have the same battery life like the HP 8510w... (and the specs say 5 hours too... probably with 10% brightness and doing nothing)

Most companies overestimate battery life...

 

The tabook doesn't list the T61p to see what the battery life is like, just 6 hours for the NVS 140 and a 9 cell. (and 8.6 hours with integrated video w/ 9 cell) So there is no place I see of lenovo claiming a longer battery life for the T61p.

I do give you the 8510p and the 8510w have the same battery life in the specs on HP's web site so kind of hard to figure out how they get those numbers. But then if you assume they are gotten by using the lowest power graphics chips (the ATI 2600) as both 8510p and 8510w are basically the same otherwise then 5 hours makes sense to compare with. (the time can't be based on integrated graphics as that isn't an option)

I know both overestimate the battery life but comparing the specs between the two should be valid as both are cheating in the same way

 

The tabook says exactly 5.9 hr for the T61p....
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitute/psref/tabook.pdf

 

Thats for the 15.4" version of the T61p. And in this regard Lenovo is doing the same thing as HP in that the 15.4" T61 and the 15.4" T61p have the same battery life. So either the graphics chipset can throttle back to the same level on both or they are just using the results for the one with better battery life and ignoring the impact of the higher performance card.

btw going by this thread the 8510p can go for 2:10min watching a DVD with 15% battery left
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=151892&page=18
(assuming linear battery life this means ~2.5 hours for the whole battery)

 

See the 8510p thread for info on battery life, etc...
(we're receiving them now!)

 

Thanks for the battery info.

So, while I like the 8510p more with the sale Lenovo has going on how the T61 is ~$500 less. Kind of a big savings so think I'll go with that. Couldn't find any deals on the HP as all the HP deals I see (coupons and academic discount) don't apply to the business level laptops. Am I missing a deal that could better even the prices?

Thanks

 

I got mine here:

http://www.shopblt.com/cgi-bin/shop...1000100U014_BN28031P.shtml&order_id=585361896

Nothing spectacular... but I'll take 85$ off the HP price anyday
They also ship the minute you order if they're open. Very nice considering I was going to get the T61p with WSXGA+ but was told 2 weeks or more :\

 

For me Hp is much better - better design, much better speaker option for blue ray, plus lenovo screens are so dim. Although hp is going to be a bit pricer

 

My 8510W is really quiet/cool for a high end laptop. So if you are worried about the 8510P I wouldn't be as it's probably the same setup.

 

Out of curiosity, is that place reliable. I only ask because I have never heard of them before. That is a pretty good price though it appears!

 

I had never heard of them either before buying. But their resellerrating was good and I must say the service was too. They replied to all my emails within an hour and shipped 40m after I ordered (same day).

 

Awesome! I appreciate the info!

 

I also got mine from the place Ackeron got his. I hadn't heard of them but decided to run with it for the same reasons as Ackeron. I ordered early tuesday morning, and it arrived on wednesday. I live in southern califronia, so their southern california warehouse must be very close. Their Service was excellent.

 

Sweet, not tax or shipping either. That makes it an even better deal!

That is really tempting. Newegg has the 8510w for 450 more with main differences being a 7.2k rpm HD, 1 DIMM 2GB RAM, and of course the 570m. I am not really looking for an super powerful GPU, and I could get my own RAM and 7.2k RPM HD and still save $$$.

Very tempting!