May buy an R61 again, anyone still using it? Few questions about performance today

Hey Folks,
So I have an HP laptop that I loathe at this point and don't have enough money to invest in a comparable laptop at the moment. I do wish I still had a working Lenovo R61, I loved everything about that laptop. My question, is it worth it today? I plan to do basic tasks on it. (Office work, media, video streaming). The most intensive application may be some 2d games (rarely these days) and converting video. In a few months I hope to get a new fully featured laptop, but I seriously need to switch, even my wife hates it.

My questions:
Is there enough processing power for basic functions today? Seems like browsing the net is becoming more resource intensive these days.
Can it handle streaming 1080p video smoothly? 720p?
Has anything become substantially more difficult for the laptop to handle since your purchase?

 

I acquired a ThinkPad R61e cheaply not long ago, fixed it up and now works like a charm. For basic tasks like office work and internet browsing it is more than adequate for the job. However you may find that it will struggle for video encoding tasks and some 2D gaming, especially in its stock form.

I would avoid the NVIDIA models in that generation as they are prone to failing at some point, the Intel Integrated Graphics models are the safest bet even though they are quite weak by modern standards.

Most R61's tend to have 1-2GB RAM equipped which is low by today's standards, if you're using Windows then I would consider getting at least 3-4GB to have a bit of breathing space while multitasking - especially if you like tabbing lots of pages while browsing on the web. Also consider running Linux which generally have lower memory footprint than the equivalent Windows system and works great out of the box with the R61's.

In regards to video playback I found that my R61e with a Core 2 Duo T8100 and Integrated Intel X3100 Graphics can playback HD content just fine when I tried out some 1080p YouTube videos and Matroska files in windowed mode. However I do notice that when stretched to full screen there is a slight noticeable lag in playback - though this can be down to my WSXGA+ (1680x1050) screen resolution which is already asking a lot for the X3100 GPU.

I would suggest choosing the T61/R61 only if it's really, really cheap. Otherwise consider the T/R400 or T/R500 series which is a better option for similar money - especially since the GMA4500 graphics are more suited for HD playback compared to its predecessor.

 

If you go with PatchySan's recommendation of the T/Rx00 series there are switchable graphics models available in the T-series (not sure about the R) you might want to consider. They could be a little more expensive but you never know- a good bargain sometimes comes along seemingly out of the blue! I've owned both the T400 and T500 with dual graphics and the ability to switch exclusively to the Intel graphics if desired was very nice. I also like to play a game occasionally and in that respect the ATI 3650/Intel graphics of the T500 is more robust vs the ATI 3470/Intel graphics of the T400.

I also found that the T500 WSXGA+ screen was more appealing in terms of viewing angles vs both 1440X900 resolution panels of the T400 I had owned. Also never- ever ever ever ever ever get the 1280X800 screen. Why? From what I hear they are terrible! Capisce?

There is one negative thing that stands out in my mind about the Tx00 series. The issue is a weak section of frame (above the fan exhaust) that contributes to the support of the left hinge. I would take care when opening and closing the lid. In another forum there was mention of this weakness and as bad luck sometimes goes I discovered that my T500 inherited this condition. The upside is that that the T/R500 model is quite easy to open for maintenance- one should be able to go in and Jerry-rig a brace (thin metal plate with two screw holes) to reduce the amount of stress to the problem section of the frame. I've applied this fix for an R60 that had a broken frame (same area) and it held up remarkably well until the new owner (family member) had a mishap with a glass of juice.

Good luck!

 

Flashblock is the way to go. My R60e could play 1080p video quite well, but all bets are off when it comes to flash. My X200, which would be the same as the T/Rx00, had no trouble with 1080 video, though it couldn't do it in low power mode like my X220.

 

My last model was the Nvidia version and was subject to that failure. I could pass on the gaming. I had upgraded (and saved) the ram and was dual booting Ubuntu at the time. You pretty much described the glory days I had with this laptop in college. Thanks for the advice, I'll check on those models.

 

Got it.

Noted! I may need to do this with my current laptop.