T60 Just Arrived - first impressions

I am happy to say that my T60 arrived at 9:30 am yesterday morning via UPS. I have been doing the setup, updating Lenovo’s programs, updating Microsoft’s XP and Office programs, and installing a couple others. This is my first notebook, although I have owned and used computers since 1982 (Apple IIe), I just never needed the portability, until now. After much research I decided on a T60 w/Core 2 Duo T7200 (2 GHz), 2 GB Ram, ATI X1400, 14” SXGA screen, and 100 GB HD. In checking the parts I found that I have a TMD screen and ALPS keyboard.

When the box arrived I was happy to see how small it was; I really wanted a 12-13.3” screen, but wanted the TrackPad, so that ruled out the X60. I looked at the Sony SZ series and the new HP d2000t, but I do not like the metal palm rests; I much prefer the plastic of the T60. They are nice notebooks but they just don’t have that “cut-from-a-solid-block” feel that the ThinkPad series gives me.

The initial impression is awesome…solid feel, beautiful in black, just the right size for working at the kitchen table, a coffee shop, library, or bookstore. The thing I was worried about most, the screen, is great. Mine is manufactured by TMD and I see no pinkish hues, hard-to-read, etc, it is bright, not overly so, but certainly bright enough for indoor use, it’s too **** cold to go outside and cloudy anyway to test it out there, but 90% of my work is indoors. As far as angles go, I have moved the screen around and I can see very well at different angles; if some people were looking over my shoulders for a Power Point presentation I am confident they would see just fine. Even with the SXGA screen the letters are very easy to read…I did turn-on ClearType and it made a BIG difference, but then it did on my Sony desktop screen too.

My keyboard is an ALPS and it feels fantastic…just the right amount of push and feel to it and a slight “click”. I bought Logitech’s diNovo BT keyboard for the same reason, it feels like a nice notebook!

My T60 is VERY quiet, the fan comes on only occasionally, runs for a while, then turns off. When it does run it is a smooth hum in the background. I had it on for hours yesterday and it barely got warm; true I was just loading programs and testing them out, surfing the web, and downloading and installing updates, but I cannot imagine this machine getting “hot”. The DVD drive was also smooth and relatively quiet, with the same “swoosh” as the fan when it operated.

The fingerprint reader works great and is much easier than typing a password. The wireless connection with the IntelPro has work flawlessly, with never a dropped connection. I only have about 35-40% signal upstairs and it really flies through the web pages and different sites. I do need to increase the signal strength so I can go to the third floor bedrooms…you never know when you might not be able to sleep.

Speed is something I want to mention…my desktop is a P4, 2.53 GHz w/2 GB Ram, and this T60 leaves it in the dust…it is simply FAST. I haven’t run any tests on it…I don’t know how…but I can really get a sense of speed on the notebook. My friend just bought a Sony FE770G with T5600 and 2 GB Ram, and his seemed so sloooooooooooooow; bootup, bringing up pages, even opening programs…made me remember why I never wanted a notebook…I know my T60 would blow his away.

Battery life, another concern of mine, is again, no concern. I have the 9 cell battery, and yes, its does stick out a little in the back. But I had the wireless and BT on all the time with screen brightness set to the highest, surfing the web, downloading programs and updates and I worked for hours before it got down to 25% and even that was listed as 1-1/2 hours by my battery gauge.

If I had to complain about anything it is the poor User’s Manual that comes with it; I guess they expect you to go to their website and read the info there; but sometimes I just want a book, not a computer screen. One other item I must mention…the TrackPoint system. I said earlier that I didn’t buy the X60 because I wanted the TrackPad, well I use the TrackPoint more than the Pad! Ya, shocked the hell out of me too, but I love that little red ball!

One more thing to all people who order a ThinkPad…it DOES pay to be nice and plead with the rep at Lenovo. I ordered mine on 10/25 and it gave me an 11/20 ship date, although he told me 8-10 business days. After much begging about needing it for school (which I really did) he got the ship date moved to 11/10. After another email, he was able to get it out and delivered to me by 11/6; he even upgraded to EXPRESS shipping for me so it was 2 business days from HK. So make some nice noise and you can get them faster! Now I have to get back to my new baby and play!

 

congrats Thinkpad T60 is a really cool machine. I cant wait to get mine. By the way, if you have time and wanna give it a try, I would love to compare the processors by running some simple benchmarks (like cinebench and sciencemark)

 

You'll have to tell me how to run them! But I would happy to.

Cory

 

from that machine you got there, what is the difference on the T60p? (ie why pick the t60p over that one?)

Also may I ask how much you paid, and what deals if any you used? (and where did you purchase it?)

Thanx

 

One difference is the V5250 Firegl card, but other than that I really can't find that many differences. I myself ordered a T60p with 11n (draft) and Core 2 Duo with the EPP. It wasn't listed on the EPP site so I called and got the discount, anyways it hasn't arrived yet but the only reason I got it over the t60 was for the graphics card.

 

I guess you would pick a T60p over a T60 if you needed a T7400 or T7600 processor and/or the ATI FireGL graphics card, other than that I do not know. I bought mine from Lenovo's website and paid $1883and that included $90 for a leather case. I got a FREE upgrade to 9 cell battery a FREE upgrade to the UltraBay Slim DVD drive, and a $20 upgrade to 100 GB HD. Those specials ended 10/31. If you want to purchase the most recent processors you really need to order directly from Lenovo...all of the other sites still are pushing the T2500 processor for the same price or more than the newer ones!

 

Glad to see you liked yours as much as I love mine. I only got the T5500, but it still blows away my A64 3000+ desktop in terms of raw speed, and the keyboard can't be beat. I've had a few people ask about it around campus, a lot of people have just never seen a thinkpad (and it's no wonder, considering the sheer number of e1505's I see around campus, it's amazing to see anything else..)
I didn't get quite the same specs as yours, only the T5500 and 1 gig of ram, but it still has plenty of power to do what I need for engineering (solidworks and CAD).
How do I find out which keyboard and screen I have?

 

You can get the faster cpus in the regular T60, not just the T60p, you just have to know to give them a phone call. For instance, I'm getting a T60 with the T7400 cpu. There is one more difference between the p and non-p. You can't get a 15" flexview screen on the p.

 

Congrats! I'm very jealous. I can't say I'm surprised at all about you liking the trackpoint though. I never use my touchpad now.

 

Congradulations on recieving the machine, and in good time too. Enjoy.

 

If I received a ThinkPad with parts from a manufacturer other than the one I wanted, will Lenovo take it back and give me another one?

 

Go to this site:
http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/warranty/partsLookup.vm
and click on "detect and continue", pick the parts lookup and it will give you a list of part numbers...you want the Lenovo part number (FRU). I took those part numbers and search on the forum to find the manufacturer right away. Good Luck!

 

See this i do not understand. I have been to Hong Kong 3 times recently intent on purchasing the T60. For this same machine the cost is $2200US. This is the cheapest available there. I went everywhere spending several weeks on this. I even contacted the distributor for IMB there.

There is another T60 with slightly better specs 2.16Ghz and the ATI FireGL graphics card for $3250US. I cannot figure this out. I have read so many comments from buyers saying their machines were shipped from Hong Kong for very good prices when whats available there is so ridiculously priced.

Any reasons for this?
I am stuck here in China for the next couple years and would prefer to purchase close by but not when I know I can get better models in the states for much cheaper.

 

Well, a lot of it (I think) would have to do with how they price HKD against the US dollar. I know the Renminbi has an artificially set exchange rate that is designed to price Chinese products 15% below what the market value exchange rate should be. I would imagine they would be doing the same thing with HKD now though I don't know for sure.

Also, stuff is just cheaper here in general. German things cost more in Germany than here, and Canon cameras cost more in Japan than in the US.

Canon Lenovo's be bought outside of Hong Kong? I feel like the prices in the PRC would be cheaper than in Hong Kong.

 

enjoy ur thinkpad, even with R60 i'm very happy using it

FYI acer is the no 1 notebook seller while dell 2nd in my country

 

Items also cost more here in Canada. Close to $2200 US for the machine mensioned, while in the US. one can be had for ~$1700US it seems.

 

You guys also have to remember how low our taxes are in the US. Some states don't have any tax at all, my home state has a 5% tax (on non-food items, no tax on food) and the state where I go to college has a 7.5% tax which 1 - to an American like myself is considered very high, and 2 - while it is very close to Ontario's 8% sales tax, you have to then consider that there is no VAT/GST in the US.

 

That is interesting. HK doesn't have any tax either but... As for buying on the mainland the specs are not very good and there is something hinky with the warranties. What I am going to do is order a computer online and send it to one of my clients in the states. He will then bring it over for me. I really want the T60 to the best config I can get for $2000US. Reading all the positive reviews here and the first hand experiences like the OPs makes me jones for this laptop.

Anybody see any issues arising from my plan? Like warranties or out of the box issues?

Sorry for Hijacking this thread. I can stop now if this is not cool.

Thanks though.

Joe

 

hopefully t60 would be my next laptop

 

I'm not positive, but make sure you get the international warranty, or that whatever warranty it has is good internationally. I think there are different options. Calling them is probably the best way to find out.

 

Sounds like that plan could default. Are YOU going to order it, pay for it but put an American mailing address on it? If the mailing address does not match the billing address, the transaction won't be approved. Your client could order it, pay for it (you could wire him the money), get it mailed to his home and just bring it to you, but be sure to have international warranty so that it can be serviced from HK.

 

Not necessarily true. I know in the US you can call the credit card company and tell them you want to authorize a ship to address on the card. The credit card company will then put that on file (typically it takes about 12 hours for it to fully work through the system), and you will then be able t oship purchases to addresses other than your bill to address.

 

This is my first laptop, but after using mine for a few days, I can say confidentally, the T60 is a GREAT machine. I have had no problems so far mechanically, the 14" screen is fine, and after typing homework and terms papers on it I can say the keyboard is awesome. I tried a lot of notebook keyboards at Circuit City and Best Buys and, although I wasn't using them to type papers on, I could tell I wasn't blown away by them. The keys on the T60 (I have the ALPS version) feel wonderful and I like the plastic palmrests better too...the others have the metal and it just wasn't as comfortable to me. I hope you get your T60, I am sure you will enjoy it.

 

congrats on ur T60

 

Thanks techworld...I appreciate that! It's been a long time coming, but I've finally gone portable.

Cory

 

Congratulations on your T60!

I just got mine today after only 11 days so I'm really excited to work with it right away!

I'm sure we'll enjoy this quality piece of hardware for a long time....

Specs:
Core 2 T5500, 1GB Memory, 100GB HD, SXGA+ 14.1"

 

Was yours a pre-configed or did you CTO it? What do you think of it? How's the screen and keyboard? Enjoy, Cory

 

I configured it myself, used all the promo upgrades offered during October...haven't checked the screen yet coz I just got back from work and have a class now. Will let you know tomorrow or Saturday.

 

Will definitely check the keyboard too!

 

Hey congratulations on your new T60! Im just about to order one myself so im glad to hear you like it!

mike

 

That's what I got and you will LOVE it. It is so fast compared to my P4 2.53 desktop and it has 2 gigs too and a 80 GB 7200 HD. Did you get the Intel or ThinkPad wireless? Let us know when it comes in.

 

Which wireless did yours come with again Cory? Intel? How is the quality?

 

Yes, mine is Intel...the jury is still out; mainly on the distance issue. My router is on the first floor study; a room that was added on to the townhouse by the previous owner (who happened to be a concrete contractor). Around that room are concrete blocks and above that room is about 8" of concrete for a porch/deck affair. I have read that concrete is the "kiss of death" to wireless signals, so when I use my T60 on the second floor my signal strength is only 25-40; however, I have never been dropped once I am connected (which is easy enough to do). I cannot even sign-on when I am on the third floor. So is it my Intel or is it the concrete? I would love to have someone with the ThinkPad chip sit in the same spot to compare signal strengths.

I saw a Netgear product at Best Buy that you plug into the wall outlet and your router; it acts as a transmitter through your electric lines in the house. Then on the floors you want to use your computer you plug in a transmitter in a wall outlet and it transmits the signal on that floor. It was $100 for the two pieces (you can buy additional transmitters for other floors) and I was thinking of trying it out; if it doesn't work I can take it back.

Cory

 

I'm not absoloutly sure which wireless i will get, any thoughts on that anyone? I actually have no idea which one to choose i dont know the difference

mike

 

mikeal321, i've seen that image (your avatar) on google. Is that your machine and review?

 

(Nvm, can't be. Your machine is on order). BTW, how much does that machine work out to be?

 

I wanted to buy Asus V1J but today I saw IBM T60 and I'm going to change my plans...The screen with Flex View is great!!!The only thing , which is very important to me and I haven't checked it, if the T60 has build-in microphone (it is very usefull for skype!). As I see on the photo it has only microphone plug-in

Waiting for yours reply...

 

As far as I know, it doesn't have a built-in mic, and keep in mind, only the 15" model offers the Flex View.

 

What specs/model number were you thinking about getting?

 

I'm thinking about :
IBM T60 (UT05TGE)
Intel Core Duo 2 x 2 GHz
RAM: 1.024 MB
Hard disc: 80 GB
Display: 15,10 Zoll SXGA+ (1400 x 1050)
ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 (128 MB)

What would you take: Core Duo 2x2GHz or Core 2 Duo 2x1,86 GHz???

 

You didn't format that correctly but I think you mean the Core Duo 2GHz vs the Core 2 Duo 2.1GHz. The difference will go almost unnoticable. If your not doing intense graphic/music rendering or programming for a living, I would save the money and go with the Core Duo as you will have the X1400 and will be good for the next 2.5 - 3 years easy. If they cost the same you might as well go with the Core 2 Duo.

 

Yes, the T60 has a built-in mike, directly below the Fn key on the palm rest.

Cory

 

So it does, good to know. How is the quality?

 

I never used it for anything yet. I want to get a webcam, but it comes with its own mic and I don't know how to test this one??? Sorry!

 

Start Menu > Accessories > Entertainment > Sound Recorder

 

BTW, (once you've tried recording - perhaps post a clip on here if you'd like to), I haven't yet recieved a CLEAR answer to the question: Does one need a Core 2 (TWO) Duo processor [2mb cache or 4] in order to RUN VISTA FULLY? OR can it be run with Core Duo, but programs written (64-bit) in the distant (3 - 4 year) future will require Core 2 (TWO) Duo?

 

Hi corymcnutt and all else...

I've started up my T60 today and the screen is very clear and bright. I actually prefer the default size of the fonts on this one, so I won't have to worry about changing the resolution.

As for the keyboard, initially it seems great but I have to use it for some time before I can really give an opinion.

I'll also check on what manufacturer made my screen and keyboard.

urod

specs:
T60, Core 2 T5500, 1GB RAM, 100GB HD, 14.1" SXGA+

 

Looks like a solid mackhine urod.

 

Thanks!

Will keep you all posted on how it performs over the next couple of weeks...finals are around the corner so it's going to be working hard for me until mid-December.

 

FYI: (esp. cory)
keyboard is NMB
screen is TMD

both seem fine...