Questions about T61 conf (batt, vcard, etc.)

Been reading this forum for almost two years, but I've never had the need to post.

So I'm pretty set on getting a T61 (with Professional, due not only to the complaints, but my own experience with it), but I had a few questions that so far, have not really been answered.

1) As far as the different batteries go, has anyone determined which ones protrude from the back? I know the deal with the T60, but as everyone has said, the T61 has basically gone a different route. Also, on the same vein, does anybody know about how much weight each battery adds (4-, 6-, and 7-cell)? I realize this has been asked a dozen times, but nobody gives a straight answer... and many of the posts contradict each other.

2) The "ThinkPad 11b/g Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter II" seems to be toted as "the thing" to get, but I'm wondering not only what the difference is from the regular Adapter (I?), but whether or not the 801.11N capability is something I should be looking forward to?

3) Finally, about the Advanced Dock; is it worth it? From what I understand, it has PCI-E 1x, but is this enough to get some decent gaming out of it? If that's the case, I would love to downgrade to the integrated graphics (for battery life and heat), but I'm curious as to what the general consensus is. Is the lower bandwidth an issue for gaming? My old laptop had the ATI MRX700 128mb, just as a basis for "benchmarks."

4) Of course, any sales coming up? My grandmother is an ex-IBM employee, so I assume she does not have the EPP pricing. If there are any other deals out there, I would love to know!

Thanks for everyone's help... really love this forum, and hope to be visiting it much more once I get my new laptop!

Andrew

EDIT: Forgot to add... how much weight does the Ultrabay battery add...? I love battery life, but I don't want to turn it into a brick...

 

1) The 6 and 7 cell batteries protrude...as for the weight I haven't seen any concrete info on that, but I do know that the 6 cell battery adds on about an inch to the back of the laptop. I don't think their definitive info how much the 7 cell adds on. I spoke to a sales rep and they couldn't find the answer, so he was supposed to find out and e-mail me. Haven't heard anything back yet, but i'll let you know when I do.

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitute/psref/tabook.pdf

Find the t61 and it gives you the dimensions with a 4 cell and 6 cell battery.

Here are some pictures
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/notag/le...gnesium-rollcage--wolverines-bones-258878.php

I can't really help you on the answers to 2 and 3


4)The deals they have right now are set to change tomorrow. It's hard to tell what kind of sales they will have. You can use either the student and alumni discount or the stockholder purchase program to get about $60 off and you can get 5% off through fatwallet.com.

 

Thank you for the swift response, jd. I'm glad to finally get a definitive answer about the battery, although I'm still curious as to the weight.

Since I'm a rising Junior CS major, I'm only somewhat concerned with the weight. I hate having to lug a power adapter around with me, though, so I'm thinking of perhaps going for the 4-cell battery as well as the ultrabay battery, although if the 6/7 cell aren't significantly heavier, I may just go with them for the longer life.

As for the sales, thanks for both; I discovered both, and dropped the price of a decently spec'd one to ~$1400, which is nice indeed. I really wish I had purchased one when they had the 15% off coupon (employee48hour).

I'm also wondering if anybody could shed any light on the video card. Googling it has resulted in very little information as far as its effect on battery life goes, AND its general power. However, from what I've read here and elsewhere, the nVidia card seems to be an additional source of unnecessary battery drain. I'd really like to hear about people's experience with the Advanced Dock, though, before making the switch to integrated.

So can anybody answer (2) or (3)? Right now, the Dock is the most important issue, and I'd love if somebody with experience could share, especially since information on the dock is few and far between.

 

@ Redmumba

I don't have mine yet so I don't know about gaming. My guess would be the nVidia card is aimed more at production. Quadro's are usually meant for things like CAD programs (and I don't think Lenovo is exactly marketing to the gamer with its business laptop.) That being said, I read somewhere that the Quadro was built on the GeForce 8600 framework (don't know about the validity of this statement) which means it may be able to handle gaming.

If you want my personal advice, I have an HP laptop now that I ordered with the intent of gaming. I have since decided that I would rather have longer battery life for my classes since the battery life is very diminished with high end notebook graphics.

 

Another question, does the T61 ship with a power supply? I was a bit confused about selecting the power supply option from the list on the configuration page. I think it would be a low blow if Lenovo didn't ship with a power supply, but the way it was worded confuses me as to whether or not they mean a backup power supply, or you have to pay extra for the default one. Any thoughts?

 

Right now, I have an asus Z70Va, but the build quality is just nowhere near that of the Thinkpads, and I've been dreaming of getting one ever since. That being said, it has an ATI X700, which has been more than able to handle any of the games I play, so what I'm thinking of doing is using the Thinkpad entirely for school, and just using this old one for what little games I do play.

Upon further investigation, I found that the Advanced Dock actually had a full-fledged 16x PCI-E port, with ample room for a heat sink and even a built in fan. So I think I may just hop over to integrated graphics, since my concern with the Quaddro was not so much its performance as it was its ability to underclock and conserve power (which it does poorly, from what I can tell). If I can pick up the Advanced Dock and a relatively cheap Geforce 7900, I'd be more than set.

As for the power supply, I think that's an EXTRA power supply. I agree, though, the wording is rather bad...

 

Redmumba, I spoke to lenovo again today and got a little farther along with my line of questioning. The 6 and 7 cell battery are the same size, he said they're just configure differently and the 7 cell runs at a higher wattage or something. As for the weight i don't remember exactly what he said but the 4 cell was somewhere around .5 lb's, the 6 cell was around .78 lb's, and the 7 cell was like .84 lb's or something. The difference between the 6 and 7 is insignifacnt and I think it's worth it for $20 extra.