Questions Regarding X61s

I'm getting an X61 here shortly, but there are just a few things that I want to check up on before I buy, I was hoping you all here have the answers for some of my questions.

1.) I want to do a clean install of XP/Vista when I get my machine, but I obviously lack a CD drive. Do I have to have an UltraBase to boot from CD, or can I use a (much much cheaper than an UltraBase) USB CD drive?

2.) I can get 2gb of decent notebook memory for half the price that Lenovo wants for it. Is it okay to just configure with 512mb and get the 2gb elsewhere or are there a lot of incompatibility issues that should fend me off? 512mb won't allow me to get TurboMemory, but I hear that's next to useless anyways. Any truth in that?

I made a mental list earlier and I know have more, I'll shoot them to you as I remember them.

Any help is much appreciated, thanks.

 

1. USB DVD/CD drive will work.

2. Most people upgrade the memory themselves since it's much cheaper. Just stick with the reputable brands (Corsair, Crucial, Kingston, etc.) and you should be fine. Turbo memory you can upgrade yourself for about $25. There's no real benefit so far though.

 

Are you referring to the X61 or the X61s? There is a difference between the two - one that sp00n pointed out earlier today is that the s has a fan in the middle (normally underneath where your touchpad would be) that helps keep things cool - it even has a slit of vents along the lower right edge.

 

It's odd because the x61s has the low voltage chip but has the extra fan.

 

The low voltage CPU has nothing to do with second fan. The goal of the second fan is to cool the WiFi and WWAN card located on the bottom right.



As you can tell from the picture, the CPU is no where near the WiFi card and the WWAN card. The X61s is thinner than the X61. Less space means less air flow, which means higher temps.

 

Fair enough.
Thanks

 

Yeah, that is weird. Isn't the X61s thinner and lighter? maybe the *thinness* constitutes the lack of airflow, who knows /shrug

 

So, can anyone report on the temps in the X61 under the right palm rest?

 

Using an X61s now and it's pretty warm under the palm rest.

 

Which card do you have again, the Atheros a/b/g/n?

 

I have the Athernos which is pretty warm.

 

How do I check?

 

If you ordered the ThinkPad card, then it's Atheros.

 

Long story but I don't know what was ordered.

 

If you need Turbo Memory within the system, there are actually such GAM models from TopSeller Program. Although there is an red note "Selection of 512 MB PC2-5300 SDRAM DDR2 667MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM) does not allow selection of Intel® Turbo Memory hard drive cache", Turbo Memory is currently not available for X61/X61s CTO models. You can buy 512MB RAM and upgrade to 2GBx2 Max. later yourself.

Upgrading memory is easy and you only need to remove the memory panal on the bottom. However, adding Intel Turbo Memory card is totally a different story. If you can clearly understand Hardware Maintenance Manual for X60/X60s/X61/X61s, you can install Intel Turbo Memory card yourself. You will need to remove the keyboard and other internal parts before you reach two mini PCI-E slots, another one for wireless card. Don't forget to check with Lenovo's support technican for further instruction in advance and see if it would void your waranty.

UltraBase X6 or external USB drive is useful if you need to install new OS/software, burn recovery disc and recovery your system in case recovery partition is damaged.

X61s is actually warmer than X61 on palm rest. The additional fan is useless because the X61s in thinner than X61. Most heat is generated from wireless card on right hand and hard drive on left hand. In general, Intel wireless card is cooler than Atheros, while 5400rpm hard drive is cooler than 7200rpm hard drive.

 

The x61s is NOT thinner than the x61.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=126927

also

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=128782