Comment on my T61 specs please?

It's been a while since I've made a purchase of this size and I'm trying not to screw anything up. The computer will be for law school use and home use. My only real concerns are bootup times, coming out of sleep, and general lag opening and closing programs, as well as being able to run Aero. I've been struggling with the graphics card choice (as you can notice from other threads), I'm going with the x3100 because apparently the battery differences are actually significant.


T61 - Vista Home Premium

- Processor[1] Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 (2.0GHz 800MHz 4MBL2)
- Display type 14.1 WXGA+ TFT, w/o Camera
- System graphics Intel GMA X3100 GM965 w/ 1394
- Total memory 2 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
- Pointing device UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) with Fingerprint Reader
- Hard drive[4] 100GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
- Intel® Turbo Memory hard drive cache Intel Turbo Memory 1GB
- Optical device[5] DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim
- System expansion slots PC Card Slot & Express Card Slot
- Wireless card[10] ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wi-Fi wireless LAN Mini-PCIe -US/EMEA/LA/ANZ
- Bluetooth Integrated Bluetooth PAN
- Battery[60] 7 cell Li-Ion Battery

 

The X3100 can handle Aero without problems. I think you got a well configuerd laptop. Cant see anything I would have done differently.

 

Just a thought, I remembered reading stuff about the Intel Turbo memory and that it did not help much if not at all. Might not be worth the extra little $.

 

Time will tell. Intel says that they are still working on driver optimization. I know that Microsoft's information indicates that ReadyBoost (the technology used in Vista that works with Intel's Turbo Memory) provides a dramatic increase in speed of boot and resuming from sleep. I suspect that ITM will be more useful after some optimization.

Jim

 

Looks good to me. You can save a lot of money if you just get 1 GB of ram from Lenovo and then buy another 1 GB from a store like Newegg. You'll just have to install it yourself.

I think you're the first one I have seen that is getting the express card slot. Most go with the media card slot.

 

This will have a fair impact on battery life too. If you really want to stretch battery life, go for a 5400rpm drive.

I'm going to go the Express Card slot, too. I only have one digital camera and I alreay have a small SD card reader stick. ExpressCard opens the door for some interesting toys down the line that isn't worth being able to read other people's memory cards.

 

Yeah. That was my thought. There's so many options for the express card slot I'd be surprised if they don't have an express card that reads media.

 

They have those already, but they don't have an ExpressCard slot that fits into a SD Card slot!

Good luck with your order. If you want more battery life, there is an optional 3 cell battery that fits into the optical bay.

 

From what I've read (I can't find it now) the difference of battery life between a 5400 rpm and a 7200 rpm is a few minutes (5 or so)

 

That's true. I've read and heard the same from reliable sources. You'll also hear people say that 7200 drives generate dangerous heat levels. Also bunk.

Going to a 7200 drive is one of the best performance enhancements you can make in a laptop. I've put 7200 drives in 4 different laptops now and it's a very noticable improvement over 5400.

My .02.

 

Looks good. I saved about $70 not getting the memory from Lenovo for the second gig.

I got the intel turbo as well. I figure even though it looks like it's not doing anything, I don't want to find out 6 months from now that it does and be missing it.

 

It's a no-brainer to go for the 1 DIMM though. They really ought to remove the 2x512MB option altogether. The price difference is so minor.

Plus USB ones are dead cheap these days.