Successor to the T60

Does IBM/Lenovo plan on upgrading the T60 to a new model anytime soon? I am going to purchase one in the near future (no rush), but I might hold out if they are going to release something better.

 

A widescreen T60 should be out by year end. Plus, Intel's Santa Rosa platform next year.

 

Thanks for the heads up. Should the widescreen cost more than the standard? And what exactly is the Santa Rosa platform?

Thanks.

 

The widescreen shouldn't cost too much more (if any at all). Widescreens are typically cheaper to make but i'm thinking Lenovo won't reduce to price, in order to maintain the padge of quality.

The Santa Rosa platform is the new Intel chipset in line to be released. It is apparently going to boost greater performance (as all technological improvements intend to accomplish) and also be able to release the potential of Core 2 Duo processors (if you are interested in purchasing this line of processors).

Now (and the near future) is a good time to purchase a notebook. I don't feel the price will drop significantly, and with the integration of Atheros wireless cards in most ThinkPads, this line of notebook is looking as strong as ever.

I've also been monitoring the T60, and feel it would be best suited with a 4:3 aspect display.

 

Compared to a year ago, or even 2 years ago this time you would have spent 1800-2000 to get the same "grade" of thinkpad that you can now get for around 1400 or so decked out.

 

The items listed below are new and available now.

15" SXGA+ (1400x1050) IPS TFT FlexView [add $315.00*]
ThinkPad 11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi wireless LAN [add $30]

 

Momo26: Two questions

1. Are you saying that the 'thinkpad wireless' is in fact Atheros? If that is the case, is it better than Intel wireless?

2. Why do you think that 4:3 screen is better suited to T60 instead of widescreen?

 

1. As far as I know, yes it is. When I tried calling Lenovo, the rep. did not have an idea regarding this issue.

2. It is a personal preference. The location of ports and build overall seem to work for a 4:3 screen oppose to a widescreen.

 

There was a press release stating that Broadcom will supply the draft N chipset for the N100 and 3000 notebooks. I would guess that lenovo would use the same Broadcom chipset for the T series as well.

 

bl-bl-bl-bl-what?

I certainly hope not, Broadcom=bad, Atheros=good

 

I can back this up. I am on the 2nd Broadcom card in my C100 laptop. Would greatly prefer atheros, but the BIOS is locked for broadcom or intel.

 

Check out this neat piece of information:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061106/sfm108.html?.v=60

 

thank goodness, i thought i had read that Lenovo was using 802.11n cards from Atheros

 

Yes. You would be correct in your thought.

 

This is the article is was referring to

http://www.eetimes.com/press_releas...ssRelease.jhtml?articleID=X553478&CompanyId=1

Given that both Broadcom and Atheros are now qualified vendors to lenovo, it would seem prudent for them to use both these chipsets for their future wireless N components in all their notebooks. Almost every component in the T series has several sources and wireless cards would be no different. I would imagine that future wifi N components will be Intel, Broadcom, and Atheros with no ability for the user to choose during a CTO build. Allowing the user the spec an "equivalent" component is very expensive for lenovo, from a supply chain perspective, and it seems that they are aggressively trying to cut costs to become more competitive with Dell, HP, etc.

 

IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Broadcom Corporation , a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced that Lenovo has incorporated Broadcom(R) Intensi-fi(TM) technology into Lenovo's new N100 widescreen notebook and select Lenovo 3000 notebooks, available world wide. Delivering maximum performance, superior wireless coverage, security and ease-of-use, Broadcom's Intensi-fi chipsets provide next generation Wi-Fi(R) features and functionality based on the draft-802.11n standard. These notebooks from Lenovo feature the latest Intensi-fi wireless LAN software, which provides significant improvements in throughput, range and interoperability compared to earlier driver versions.