Opinions on T61

First, I'm a newbie; thanks for having me. I've been using only an Acer netbook of late and am getting claustrophobic. So I've been looking at buying a T61 refurb from Lenovo outlet. Wireless on these units appear to be 802.11b so I'm wondering if this is too slow by current standards.

Also, is the build quality superb on the T61's, as I understand the T and W 400/500s have had major build issues? I don't want to deal with poor build quality.

Finally, anyone able to discern any logic whatsoever to the Lenovo outlet pricing logic? I have seen superior options costing much cheaper than other same model units with lousy configurations. How do they price these things?

Thanks in advance.

 

I can only speak from my experiance, I have a T61 and i love it. The feel of the keys are great. The build is solid. I havent had any major problems at all. The only thing for me was getting used to the icon sizes and text on the screen resolution. I have a 15.4 in screen 1680 by 1050. It is quite small but after messing around with the icon sizes and stuff i am used to it now. I have had many laptops and this one is barfar my favorite so far.

 

I must agree with 302. I didn't have the screen that he has but he certainly had the right idea. I wouldn't have less than a 15 inch screen. It has quite the lot of resolution and 302 has more. I can see why 302 says what he does.
-Renee

 

As a T61p user I highly recommend it. Other than poor battery life (on mine with 6 cell battery) this notebook is solid. Mine is still like brand new after a year. I did replace my keyboard and mouse pad though.


Between a T61 and a T400 I'd get the T400. The outlet may have some good deals on them as well.

 

I've heard the build quality and keyboard flex on the T400s are horrible which why I have not considered one from the refurb selection. Do you know differently about these models?

 

I can't say anything about the T400/500 laptops, but my immediate family has purchased three T61 laptops over the last 18 months and they've been rock solid. I'm very impressed. I have had no issues at all. The battery life isn't the best (my old ThinkPad R40 would go 4+ hours), but the build quality of the T61 is even better than any other Thinkpad I've seen.

 

Are you more interested in the 14.1" or 15.4" T61? If it's the 14.1" model, you should also check for R61 14.1". They 15.4" R61 and T61 differ, but the 14.1" R61 and T61 are IDENTICAL in terms of looks, build quality, keyboard. The 14.1" R61 even offered the option of the nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M graphics card just as the T61 does!

 

I had a t61p and other than 4 to 4 1/2 hours of battery life, I had no complaints with it. I too have been really impressed with it.

 

If your looking for a Lenovo notebook, look no further than the Y430. It's a 14.1" screen at 1280x800. Feels light enough to carry daily yet the screen is brilliant and very readable. The keyboard is solid and has not flex. The entire machine is about as perfect as a notebook can get except it doesn't come with bluetooth.

 

I had a T61 and it was really solid built. keyboard felt fantastic. great battery life. A little on the heavy side but I had an extended life battery for it. overall a great machine. I ended up selling it because I had way to many machines.

Only regret I had with that machine was I bought the 15 inch when I prefer smaller laptops so I should have gotton the 14 inch version.

 

If you do happen to receive a T400 with the new flexy keyboard, contact Lenovo and they will offer to mail you a replacement T61 keyboard free of charge, so don't worry about that.

The build quality of my T500 is great, so I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Thanks for the replies thus far. I wouldn't buy a laptop thinking that there was a likelihood I'd need to have the manufacturer send me a replacement keyboard; and the prospect of needing to replace a keyboard after one year's use isn't encouraging either. But otherwise, sounds good.

 

That replacement program ends Tuesday.

http://forum.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=Special_Interest_General&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=4093#M4093

 

T61 are nice machines.

If you're looking for lots of minutes on battery life, the T61 with integrated graphics is another option if you want battery life or reduced heat go that route.
There are new T400 similarly prices compared to anothers T61 there in the outlet. My recomendation is get the cheaper configuration (except processor whether you need a lot of processing power) and then upgrade RAM, HDD aftermarket in case you need it.
IF you need to run Vista 2GB of RAM is minimal.

 

I say your best bet is to go for an R61 or T61 with 14.1" WXGA+ (1440x900) display. Other than the old T42, the R61/T61 14.1" are my favorite ThinkPads to date. They have the no-flex keyboard, full ThinkPad 'Roll Cage' including the LCD/lid and they're light/thin enough to be easily portable.

Depending on your battery life needs, bear in mind that the 4-cell battery is the only one that fits flush to the back of the 14.1" (same goes for a new R400/T400). The more common 6-cell protrudes an inch or so beyond the back edge and the 9-cell does even more so.

The Outlet also has batteries available for dirt cheap prices, a 4-cell is only $31.99 (for example- LINK). If you buy a refurb with a larger battery, you might want to order one of these as well.

I'd buy one of these guys-

R61- $723 (LINK)- 2.4GHz T8300, 14.1" WXGA+ (1440x900), 100GB 7200rpm HD, 1GB RAM, DVD RW, nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M, Vista Business, Fingerprint Reader, Bluetooth, 6-cell battery

T61- $723 (LINK)- 2.1GHz T8100, 14.1" WXGA+ (1440x900), 80GB 5400rpm HD, 1GB RAM, CD-RW, nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M, Vista Business, Fingerprint Reader, Bluetooth, 6-cell battery

R61- $668 (LINK)- 2.4GHz T8300, 14.1" WXGA+ (1440x900), 100GB 7200rpm HD, 1GB RAM, DVD RW, Intel GMA X3100, Vista Business, Fingerprint Reader, Bluetooth, 6-cell battery

 

Thanks for the links allfiredup. I located one that has great configuration except it does have the 15.4" screen. what is the downside of having that screen vs the 14"-- this is a t61 with 3megs installed, 7200rpm drive, 2.4... looks like decent specs, no?

 

The 14.1" is physically smaller, weighs at least one pound less...that's about it. What display does the 15.4" have- WXGA (1280x800) or WSXGA+ (1680x1050)?

 

The display is 15.4" WXGA (1280 X 800) TFT. Comes with the six cell battery and the wireless card is Intel® Pro/Wireless 3945ABG

 

The WSXGA+ (1680x1050) display is the only reason I'd pick a 15.4" T61 over a 14.1" R61/T61. The 14.1" and 15.4" have 1280x800 displays standard, so you're not getting any more desktop "real estate" by going with the 15.4" You see the same area on both, the content on the 14.1" is just scaled down proportionately.

I just prefer the smaller footprint of 14" notebooks and the lighter weight. The 14.1" models are also 0.2" thinner than the 15.4".

 

Personally, I wouldn't have a screen smaller than 15".
-Renee

 

The 14.1" (widescreen) R61 with NVS140m GPU is built just like the T61p.