My T61 is too heavy, going for an X61

My work provided me with a 15.4' WXGA T61 that weighs approx 5.9 pounds. It's an amazing notebook from a performance standpoint but after using it for a few days, I absolutely can't stand the weight on my back when transporting it in a backpack. I take take about 2 hours of public transportation back and forth from work each day. I really don't want to hurt my back long term so I'm looking to buy my own personal X61 as a replacement. I considered a X61s, but available CPU speeds seems to be a lot slower.

Here's the specs I'm pretty much decided on, customized from the Lenovo Canada website:

• X61, non-tablet
• T7500 2.2Ghz
• XP Professional
• 12.1 XGA
• 2GB PC2-5300
• Fingerprint Reader
• 100GB 7200RPM
• Bluetooth PAN
• Intel 4965AGN
• 8 Cell (The 4 cell seems like it's not enough juice, even though it's lighter)

Any comments or suggestions on my build? Prices are great right now with the Canadian pre-boxing day special coupons they have going on.

 

Personally I would skip the n wireless and get the least amount of ram from lenovo and upgrade that myself. That might save you a couple of bux. But other than that, looks good.

 

Yes, I also suggest you get less RAM and upgrade yourself (unless you get a really good deal).

As for the battery, you can squeeze out up to 3 hours using the 4-cell enhanced battery (on low settings) and it makes the X61 quite a bit lighter (feels much lighter than the weight difference suggests) and much smaller.

Hence, if you can afford it, I would consider getting both batteries. This will give you some flexibility when you want to have as light and nimble a notebook as possible. And when you go out for a day, you can be fully mobile with 2 batteries in your bag.

 

I went from a dell m70 workstation to an x61s.
It runs all the adobe master collection apps-Photoshop, After Effects etc. and Avid Media Composer like a hot knife thru butter.
Unless you are doing real time rocket science you will not need anymore cpu power.
When I pick up someone elses 15" laptop now I just shudder and wonder what took me so long to switch.
Get the extended battery you wont notice the weight.

 

which companies still cover you with warranty after you upgrade the ram?

 

just keep the old ram and reinstall if any problems occur

 

With that statement, I assume you mean the 8-cell high capacity battery. If so, I would say that it very much depends on the individual. I can definitely feel the weight difference between the 4-cell enhanced capacity battery and the 8-cell high capacity battery, and the size difference is very noticeable.

But if one is not used to ultraportables that might be a slightly different story.

 

makes sense.

 

Upgrading RAM does not void the warranty of the notebook, unless e.g. you destroyed the RAM socket in the process.

 

if you cant carry the x61s with the 8 cell battery you are a 90 year old grandma.
no disrespect to any 90 year old grandmas out there lol.

 

Please don't be childish about it.

Some people like their ultraportables to be as light and small as possible. A Sony Vaio TZ starts at 2.26 lbs. The Panasonic W7 at around 2.4 lbs. The Panasonic R7 at 2.05 lbs. The Sony Vaio G2 at 1.89 lbs. Toshiba RX1 around 1.88 lbs. The X61 (not s) starts at 3.11 lbs with the 4-cell enhanced capacity battery and 3.59 lbs with the 8-cell high capacity battery, which to me is relatively heavy in the ultraportable category.

Understand that people have different preferences.

 

Should have tried the T61 14.1 WS. What I have and is a good halfway house.

 

I have a T61 widescreen too, and I was actually surprised by how much bigger (and a bit heavier) it is compared to my old Dell inspiron 2600. If you want portability, I'd stick with the X series

 

I suggest you go to the GYM if you have problems carring 5.9lb laptop.

 

Don't be so snippy. There are many physical or practical reasons to need/want a lighter notebook that can't be solved by going to a gym.

 

I have an x61s and it is plenty fast for my needs...a nice compromise IMO is the x61s (slightly lighter than the x61 and brighter screen + more battery life), and getting the 8 cell battery. It weighs 3.3 lbs WITH the 8 cell...and I get a solid 5 hours of trollin the net and doing research on the battery with brightness at 10/15. Furthermore, I just got my Air Jordan backpack with laptop sleeve built in (I know, but I love Jordan), and I honestly felt nothing in my backpack. 3.3 vs. 2.8 lbs in your hand is noticeable, but in a backpack its nothin.

 

Normally the desire for an ultraportable is two-fold however. The two main reasons to buy an ultraportable is for portability and battery life. To me there's no point in getting an ultraportable if the battery life sucks. If you're worried about weight and an extra pound or so is really gonna kill ya then go with the x61s which is lighter and offers all the performance most people will need. The L7700 1.8GHz 4MB is plenty fast enough for normal application usage. The hard drive and RAM is going to matter more than the CPU so go with a 7200rpm drive and fill it with as much RAM as you can when running Vista. I would also suggest the x61s over the x61 because of the option for the Ultralight screen which is a brighter and better screen.

 

Order the machine with 1GB in a single stick, pop in a 3rd party 2GB module for $60-$70, and you'll be all set. All the other specs look good. I'd agree on the battery. I ordered with a 4cell and quickly purchased the 8cell. I still use the 4 cell from time to time, but it runs out quickly...

 

sorry, had to

but yes, you're right

 

I would recommend the X61s with whatever battery. With XPP, a four cell would last you long enough. An 8cell would give you even more battery life. My X60s gives me a solid 6 hours surfing at near full brightness on an 8cell battery. I had an X61 with Vista, barely got a couple of hours. Eventually, I sold it and stuck with my old pal. I'm actually thinking of getting an X61s too, anyone know when the X62/s would be out?

 

I don't necessarily agree, at least not completely. Some people are into the 8-10 hour "all day" computing, but I'm fine with 3-5 hours. I went with an X61 because I carry two machines constantly -- a beefy Dell M65 and my personal machine. The T61p 15inch and the Dell M65 were pretty bulky and overkill for what I needed. My T61p does get a lot of use at home and at times when I don't need the Dell. Everyone has different requirements. Not sure there is a "normally"

 

You get 5 hours on a 4 cell battery? I would suspect a 4 cell battery wouldn't net any more than 2.5-3 hours under normal usage. The 8 cell battery on the x61/x61s. I doubt that I could get much more than 5.5-6 hours on my 8 cell with an x61s unless I really but everything into a low power state. And the x61s is using a low voltage processor. I see what you're saying about everyones needs being different but even in reviews an ultraportable is primarily graded on size, weight, and battery life and IMO it's just not much of an ultraportable if it's getting like 3 hours of battery life because that means you're not going to be able to venture far from an AC power source for any prolonged period of time.

 

Again, please note that preferences and needs are different from person to person. There is no set standard.

I usually bring my X61 with the 4-cell battery + a power adapter when I go on long international flights. I mostly fly business or premium economy, which in most cases gives me access to a power source. When I take short flights the 4-cell battery is sufficient for the whole flight. In these situations I would rather have a notebook which takes up minimum space on my lap or on the small foldable tables - hence the small battery.

When I have to be on the go all day and run from meeting to meeting, I prefer to bring both batteries without the power adapter.

As for the weight difference not being noticeable in a backpack, that may be true for many. However in my case, it is not necessarily a question of the difference, but rather about keeping the weight to a minimum as one usually has to carry around many other things than just the notebook. A backpack is a good means of transport, but using a backpack is not an option for many. It is i.e. mostly not considered formal enough for business people.

As for the X61s, I agree. It is powerful enough for most people's needs and lighter than the X61.

 

Personally, I did the same thing, however, I just went to a 14in WS from a 15in WS. I now wish that I did go for the x61 instead.

A couple things I would change would be obviously to get vista and turbo memory, and a larger HD. OR if you want to save some money, get the cheapest HD, and buy a 200gb 7200rpm one from newegg or something. They are easily replaced.

I would also go with the cheapest 1 dimm memory option and upgrade in your own. you will save a significant amount of $

 

Oh no, I get about 2 to 2.5 with my 4 cell in. The 8 cell does much better, though I've never bothered to time it. I'm guessing I can get 5 if I am conservative with my usage, which I'm usually not

I agree. I really like the X formfactor, but I'm not terribly hung up on the "ultraportable" status. I know the 8 cell added another 8 ounces (if memory serves) over the 4 cell. Oh well. It's still a nice light box that makes my dual laptop backpack a little less of a burden.

Reviews tend to get a little more critical than they need to. I agree, they seem to have their minds set that they are reviewing a certain type of machine and establish their criteria independent of functionality, etc. I'd rather they loosely bucketized machines and gave people the pros/cons of the machine and an overall recommendation instead of the tunnel vision that usually happens... but I digress.

I've actually given some consideration to getting the extended life "slice" battery for the bottom for those occasions where I want a little more juice. I think I'm going to go with the new AC/DC adapter instead (41N8460).

 

Wholeheartedly agree.

 

Splendid. People just want to misunderstand and jump to conclusions with these kind of comments. It was bad enough that watchtower came up with the ignorant statement.

 

agreed, watchtower always loves to come up with ridiculous comments

 

Please.
U anal retentive "ultra portable" 8 ounces more whiners should learn how to relax.

 

Hi everyone,

Wow, thanks for the overwhelming amount of replies.

I believe the extra 1GB through Lenovo would only cost me about 60$ (CDN) but I think I will order a 2GB stick through a local retailer instead for about the same price. This will put me at 3GB (1GB + 2GB). From what I can see on these forums, running two different sized sticks (in single channel mode) won't affect real life performance that much. I also hope there is no problem from a compatibility standpoint for running two different brands of sticks in the Thinkpad. Comments?

The X61s would be great but I think it would add an extra couple of hundred dollars for only about 140g of weight difference. There's still the advantage of the brighter Ultralight screen, so I'd have to call Lenovo Canada on Monday and see what the pricing is like. I also don't know if the viewing angles (i.e - type of panel) is better than the standard screen. From what I've read though, comments are generally very positive for the Ultralight. Unfortunately, there is no pricing info about the X61s on the Canadian website but I was told it was available to order if I wanted it.

On another note, I may follow the advice of one forum member and eventually purchase a 4-cell to use when I'm going to be transporting the notebook back and forth each day and just plugging into AC power. I can use the 8-cell for meetings and that type of thing. Will start off with the 8 cell and see how that goes.

Lastly, I've been readings posts concerning the right palm rest getting hot due to the integrated wireless card. I am planning on going with the Intel 4965AGN since I read in a post somewhere here (don't have the URL) that it runs the least hot out of the integrated wireless options. I also have the 4965AGN in my T61 that I'm using right now and it works great from what I can see.

As always, any comments are appreciated, major thanks again for all the previous replies!

Iencoder

 

Running different size sticks such as 1GB + 2GB will still give you dual channel capability for the first 2GB of RAM.

As for real life performance, 99% of users out there will not notice a difference at all between 2GB (dual channel symmetric) and 3GB RAM (dual channel asymmetric). The only time where you will really notice a performance difference will actually be in favor of 3GB RAM, but only when you need that extra 1GB RAM for demanding applications or when you are multitasking heavily.

For further information please read these threads:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=177970
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=167472
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=170696

I noticed you are running Windows XP, but just FYI, should your employer change it to Vista one day, note that the 3GB RAM will actually make your disk active for longer during startup, due to the Superfetch feature. In other words it takes longer for Superfetch to cache 3GB of RAM than 2GB RAM.

Fortunately you can still work while Superfetch is working in the background and when all unused RAM has been cached, you will once again benefit more from the 3GB compared to only 2GB, as more applications have been cached. In this case the performance difference will be more noticeable (when talking load times) as cached programs will load instantly.

As for compatibility issues running two different brands - you will be fine. For optimal performance and operation just make sure that the modules are the same speed (i.e. 667 MHz) and if you want to go one step further you can match latencies, but that is overkill for most situations.

 

I'm not a 90 year old grandmother but I am sixty years old and my t61p is maxed out with a nine cell battery and that machine is heavy when I am carrying it around on my shoulder. Not only that I just got a new Targus leather case for it and at its weight the straps cut into my shoulder.

Btw, DO NOT trust advertisements saying cases are made to fit a 15 inch laptop because they won't necessarily fit a think pad. Mine won't. So I have to keep it in the center of this leather case without the benefit of a sleeve.

 

nobody is talking about the t61
we are talking about the x61

 

One thing you might of overlooked is the ultrabase. By your configuation and the topic, I'm assuming you don't need one. If size isn't really a big issue and weight is, and if you need a cd/dvd drive, the ultrabase does add quite a bit of weight in my opinion so if you think you might be carrying that on a regular basis, you might want to take that into account.

 

take a look at the thread title name? "My T61 is too heavy, going for an X61"

 

On an X61, would there a noticeable difference from a heat perspective (and less important for me, battery) from a T7300 2Ghz vs T7500 2.2Ghz?

At the moment, I'm going to go with 2.2Ghz and figure I can clock it down with the ThinkVantage PowerManager if it's a problem.

 

Have you considered just asking your work to buy you en extra battery? The battery weights the most and if you can carry it around w/o the battery maybe there is no need for you to spend money?