T60 Construction?

People say it has the best build construction by far. I know it has steel hinges, but what else is it made out of? Magnesium? Plastic? Aluminum? How is it compared to the Carbon Fiber of the Acer 8200?

 

It's made out of magnesium alloy and can be configured with a titanium lid.

 

The T60s do not have titanium lids. Only the Zs do, but it is sturdy enough for most. All around I would say the ThinkPad is better, but you won't get the x1600 on the ThinkPad.

 

The T60p's have the FireGL V5200 in it, which is the workstation equivalent to the X1600 (M56). Same physical specs: 12 pixel pipelines, 5 vertex shaders.

 

so does that mean that the M54 is the X1400 and the M52 is the X1300, and the M50 is the intel GMA? or M55=X1400, M54=X1300, M53=GMA?

I've seen some lenovos listed w/ like only saying M54 for the graphics and nothing else...

 

uhhh the "Mxx" codenames are ATI specific.. so.. M53 != Intel GMA.

 

oh and btw:
M58 = X1800
M56 = X1600
M54 = X1400
M52 = X1300

 

My mistake, zazonz is correct.

 

Inside is a magnesium alloy rollcage that protects the inside parts and generally strengthens the notebook. And according to the tabook the 14.1" has a magnesium composite top cover and CFRP (carbon fibre reinforced plastic) bottom cover while the 15" is CFRP for both top and bottom.

The hard drive is also surrounded by rubber cushioning that is a shock absorber.

 

The Thinkpad is a very well built laptop - perhaps The best laptop in the commercial market. Overall, it stands head and shoulders above most other manufacturers.

For a giant leap up in build quaility you may want to take a look at the Panasonic, core duo, 460 nit touchscreen, CF 74.

Or, for an indestructable, militray grade lappy, the Toughbook 29, which weighs in a 7.9lbs and can double as body armor.

The big downside - cost.

 

The ThinkPad I was looking at has the same specs as the Acer for several hundreds more. Now really, the Acer 8200 has a carbon fiber lid also, so what gives?

 

Its not just the construction that is the reason for the high price of the Thinkpads. I used to question this as well until i bought one (finally!). The software/hardware security features plus other utilities are alone worth the price IMO as there is no equal in the current consumer notebook market. Your Thinkpad can be extremely secure with the iron-clad hardware/software locks (not just the fingerprint scanner), and if someone steals a secure Thinkpad, it's pretty much a doorstop! Im not saying it can never be broken into but someone will have a hell of a time cracking it!

Then you also get the IBM tech support which is known for their usefulness not to mention Thinkpad website that is always updated with latest firmware etc. Their customer service is also really nice but i have had to call them just once to order my backup CDs so i don't know much about that. I have seen other notebooks have bundled software/utilities but none of them come close to the Thinkpad as far as usefulness is concerned and as i said before is worth the price.

 

The ThinkPad's are losing their following because of the Lenovo aquisition. I still like em. I think the ThinkPad customer service is adequate at best.

 

The CF lid is great but the rest of the laptop is still just plastic and it doesn't have a magnesium alloy rollcage, or a HD shock absorber, or active HD protection.

If you're looking at the 15" T60's with Flexview LCDs, their gonna have much better viewing angles then the 8204 LCD as well.

 

You may rest easy since Lenovo was making the Thinkpads even before IBM sold their notebook division, so nothing has changed as far as quality and support is concerned. Now if Lenovo decides to completely do away (big mistake!) with the Thinkpad lineup, then we have a good reason to panic.

 

Nah they won't. Read an article in one of the business papers (FT I think) that Lenovo will stop trying to change the Thinkpad as the customers were not really happy. I don't know whether this means that they will remove the windows key but the titanium cover will probably go.

 

lenovo's head of designer?
http://www.plasticsnews.com/china/english/computers/headlines2.html?id=1134167788

 

I actually have doubts about the Windows key on the larger models (T series as opposed to X), since that's something most users are probably used to on desktops anyways. It's only really a problem on the X series where the keys are so cramped anyways. The Titanium lids will probably either go or be spun off into a different product type or designation, and hopefully they'll go back to something with a little more color on the inside and nicer looking buttons at the top.

 

Plus there's the accelerometer that can tell when the thinkpad has been dropped and park the write arm so it doesn't strike the hard disk. There's the spill tray under the keyboard, the wireless antenna placement around the screen, the keyboard feel, the wireless connections software that comes with them, rescue and recovery software that works great (speaking from experience), etc.

They're aren't the right choice for serious gamers...I use a DT I built for that...but they are the most reliable laptops made. I work on one and bought one for my niece to take to college. Over the past year, she hasn't had a single issue with her T43.

 

Regarding the baseless claim about Thinkpads losing their following, nothing could be farther from the truth because the Thinkpads are now even more popular than before due to newer technology being introduced much quicker than it used to be before Lenovo took over, not to mention lower pricer thus better value. Read Karl Gruber's posts and you'll think he is the Ann Coulter of Notebook forums i.e making stupid and baseless comments.