Just ordered a T61 - Now have a few questions

Questions:

1. I ordered the standard warranty - What does it include and is there a real benefit to getting the 1 year onsite 9x5 Next Business Day [add $39.00]

2. Is the 7200 Hard drive really needed? They charge as much for it as I could get one from newegg, so I thought that I could always get it later if it was. I did not want battery life to be affected.

3. After days of debate I bought Vista premium. I can always deselect Aero if their is a slowness problem.

4. How much space will be used when I first turn the computer on and before I install anything.

5. I assume Office 2003 works on Vista - right???

6. Just how much coffee can I spill on the keyboard before problems occur?

7. Wireless N Router: Linksys, Netgear, or D-Link -

8. *** How much bloatware will be installed and what is the best way to remove? Or point me to the best guide to reinstall OS

9. Intel Turbo Memory 1GB [add $50.00] - Is it worth it and can it be added later?


***** FYI: I was quoted a ship date of March 13th - Arggg *********


6459CT CONFIGURED SYSTEM
03/13/08 $1,126.40 $1,126.40
43Y3427 SBB INTEL CORE2DUO PROC. T8300
42V8011 VBB MS WIN VISTA HOME PREMIUM
42X1954 SBB MSWVISHMPRM64 US ENGLISH
42V8287 SBB 15.4 WSXGA+ TFT
42X5975 SBB NVIDIA QUA. NVS 140M-128MB
41W2063 VBB 2GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 2DIMM
42V8195 SBB KEYBOARD US ENGLISH
42V8295 SBB UN(TRACKPOINT TOUCHPAD)
42V8164 SBB 80GB HDD,5400RPM
42V8171 SBB CD-RW/DVD-R24X24X24X8XUB-S
42X0805 VBB PC CARDSLOT EX CARDSLOT
42V8177 SBB INT.WIRE.WIFI/LINK4965AGN
62P6054 VBB INTEGR.BLUETOOTH PAN
39T6651 SBB 9 CELL LI-ION BATTERY
39T6442 SBB COUNTRY PACK NORTH AMERICA
42X1524 SBB LP-US ENGLISH

 

1. Im guessing Onsite mens "in home" not sure there. but next buisness day is fast.

2. It will slightly affect battery, but is worth it, increases mostly boot time, and loading, copy.pasting speed. It can be upgraded later on most Pc's

3. With 2GB of RAM you should be fine, but yes you can disable it as far as i know

4.Hmm, im not sure. Im guessing Vista takes like maybe 5GB or so of space. Itll take about 50% of your memory (RAM)

5. 99.99% sure it will. Run As Administrator if you have problems and itll should work fine

6. Seeing as i dont have the T61... If its spill-proof itll take quite a few and be fine. Maybe a little sticky though... if regular, probably one will make it start to not work, some keys will have to be pressed twice. if more than once, probably totally break or only a few keys work and will be very sticky

7. I suggest D-Link DIR-655, its what i have and its great. If not, TRENTnet is good.

8. Ive heard that IBM/Lenovo dont put that much in, but im not sure. Just go to Add/Remove Programs and most, if not all of it should be there.

 

Standard warranty, AFAIK, means that all parts in the notebook are warranted for one year. Onsite just means you get a guy to show up at your house the next day to replace whatever part is broken. If you get the onsite, you get the added benefit of getting parts replaced that would normally require you to ship your machine off somewhere (like the LCD).

I think the keyboard can take up to 60mL (think I read that somewhere) but why would you want to spill liquid in there intentionally? Lol.

Mine didn't come with too much bloatware installed. Just some trials of a few programs, but nothing that wasn't too much of a hassle to get rid of.

 

The standard ThinkPad warranty is one year depot repair meaning you mail it in for repair. They send you a box the next day. If you get on-site, they send a tech to you to fix it. You can upgrade your warranty at any time your machine is under warranty though it's usually cheaper to do it when you buy it.

Yeah add the faster drive later if you want to.

I think the Vista install is more 15GB, but that includes all the apps and drives which come with your machine and you have to account for the recovery partition.

Buy a router on price as most will work.

Unforuntately Lenovo is adding more Bloatware, but the prices for ThinkPads are down so they got to make it up elsewhere. Rescue and recovery allows you to do a clean install installing those programs you wish.

The turbo memory isn't worth it in my opinion and yes you can upgrade it later.