Ordering one of these..couple Q's

I'm thinking of purchasing either a T6x or X6x.

What is the difference between the T60 and the T61?

Can these only be purchased from the website? I live in canada want to play with one before I buy one.
Another issue I have with the website is that it seems tedious to find one with the configuration that I want (There's like 10 pages to sift through for the T model). There's no customize scripts like the Dell site (at least not as good).

Thanks,

Christian.

 

The T61 has the latest Santa Rosa platform. The T60 has the older Napa platform.

The T61 is widescreen only, although standard screen will be coming out soon. I suggest getting the T61 as it uses the latest hardware.

Customization can be a little confusing at first. If you take a look at the listed pre-built models, the big differences are the screen size (14'' or 15), onboard graphics or dedicated graphics, and mobile WWAN broadband.

1. What size screen do you need, 14'' or 15''?

2. Do you want onboard graphics or dedicated graphics? Onboard has better better battery life, while dedicated will give you better 3D rendering performance.

3. Do you need mobile broadband (aka cellular broadband)?

 

As sp00n said it is basically the chipset. However all of the T61's are built in with and advanced WWAN adapter so if you want to connect to the internet anywhere with AT&T (I think) then you can do this. The T61p model, lenovo's newest, has UWB and discrete nVidia graphics. The "p" models are usually for hard core computer users who do it all, including video games. It all depends on your budget and what you need it to do. I'd say if you had the money that you should get the T61 since it is newer and has the latest technology. Anyway, that's my take! Good luck and nice choice buying a thinkpad!

 

There are also some cosmetic differences too, although they may not be as important to you as the rest of the differences - for example on the T61 the screen is slightly offset to the right. I believe it is more noticeable on the 15.4" wide vs the 14.1. Also, there are a couple of ports that are in the front of the T61, whereas they are on the sides on the T60 (the T61 has FireWire, the T60 doesn't.) Lenovo touts the T61 to run cooler and quieter, with more vents and a redesigned fan. I personally have not seen or used one in person, so I cannot comment there. As Jeremy said, the p models generally have a more powerful graphics card and of course generally have the WWAN built in. I got a T60 instead of a T60p as I planned on using it for school use and did not need the FireGL card. Now that I look back upon the less than 5 months that I've had mine, I kind of wish that I did go with a T60p mainly due to the fact that the FireGL card could probably better handle WoW, which is what I play quite a bit. Dont get me wrong, WoW plays perfectly fine on my X1400, its just that the X1400 has DDR, and I"m sure that the FireGL probably has DDR2 or DDR3 memory, plus of course is probably more powerful and capable.

Another final note is that the T61 has the option for webcam - so the LCD frame is a little thicker - and while we're on the topic of the LCD frame, there is a roll cage built around the LCD for the T61 and is made out of a material that better allows for wireless signals to come through - also uses 3 antennas for MIMO functionality - the T60, unless you ordered the a/b/g/n option, come with only 2 antennas.

 

Please try the search option.
You'll find many threads.

 

Cool, thanks for all the replies and all the info.
Concerning sp00ns questions:

I want the 14'. Smaller the better for me.

graphics are a dilemma. I wanted a dedicated card for for some extremely light gaming (cs and wc3).However my main need is for school, where all i require is photoshop CS and some autoCAD (2d). I would consider putting in a dedicated card if it opened up the door for me to play HellGate: london on the laptop when it comes out. I hear the game might be very scalable (it is made by ex-blizzard employees)

But again, nothing super fancy in the video card area, trying to minimize cost =p.

i.. don't even know what mobile broadband is , so no.



Also, is there a way to get them to put in a 7200 rpm HD? I only see 5400.
I guess I'll have to buy it online without being able to fool around with it in real life?

Thanks

 

You can probably buy the T61 with the 7200 RPM HDD. The nVidia NVS140 should be fine for your games.

You could also get the 7200 RPM elsewhere - probably would be cheaper plus you'd have an external HDD to use as storage - I know Hitachi sells kits that include a 7200 RPM notebook HDD, an external USB enclosure, and software to make an exact copy (scale the partitions in terms of proportions to accomodate if there is a size difference).