T60p

Here is my T60p. I bought it off of Thinkpad Forums, which I'm sure you all know. It's a very good place to buy Thinkpads there are many honest good people over there as well.

Im glad I bought this because the 14" screen at 1400x1050 is absolutely perfect. I specifically wanted a 4:3 Thinkpad because I've always wanted one since I was a kid (ever since the 600 series). My high school teachers all used T40s, T42s and I loved the look of them, and this one is no exception.

This particular model was one of the later models, with a T7600 and a ATI v5250. Also, I got the T60 series because it was the last one to have the original IBM thinkpad logo, I don't like the new logo.

Anyways, I plan on keeping this thing until it dies. I truly believe that the 4:3 ratio thinkpads are starting to become collector items, especially the ones with flexview screens...which will be my next thinkpad purchase in a few months.

Here are some pictures, and of my MBP as well:
[IMG=http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/4277/img0080or.th.jpg][/IMG]

 

Very nice. I originally wanted a T60p but ended up with a T61 instead. Still an excellent machine. Should last you quite a long time.

How much did you pay for it?

 

some T61 had the IBM logo too.

 

didnt know that. i wanted a p model anyway and a t61p would be out of my budget.

i paid 475 for it, slightly on the high side but compared to what 475 will buy in Canada, well worth it.

 

Amen, brother. I personally believe a 14" SXGA+ notebook to be the perfect blend of size/weight, real estate and performance. I loved my 14" SXGA+ R60. I only got rid of it because I could never see the top and bottom of the screen at the right angle at the same time and I don't need a ton of mobility, which is why I built the 15" FlexView. If any ever made a 14" SXGA+ IPS or something similar, I'd never buy anything else. I think screen makers thing we only watch movies on our notebooks, but the extra vertical real estate is so much more useful for Office and Internet, which I would say is a much more typical usage. Congrats on the machine.

 

Also one of the things I heard was the the T61 cooling system was redesigned. THat dissapointed me. But so far heat has not been an issue, I don't plan on gaming on it or anything. I bought a spare heat sink/fan assembly as well as AS5 in case I need to replace it in the future.

Great machine though, that's for sure. My next major purchase (after the flexview) will probably be a T410 or its equiivalent at that time.

 

How did you build it? This intrigues me...I wouldnt mind trying what you did as well.

 

Bought a R60, a FlexView screen, a Blu-ray drive from a R61 and X1400 board, then swapped them all in. It's not that bad. The LCD is probably the hardest part, just remembering which screws go where. I also put in the T7400 CPU from my other R60. If you hit the service and training link in the sticky, there's videos there that document each step of the process.

 

ZaZ swapped the regular TN lcd with the flexiview one, the 14 inch model doesn't have the IPS/Flexiview option like the 15 inch. Some R50p can be optioned with the QXGA 15 inch Flexiview, but they are a rarity nowadays.

 

I believe you can swap the QXGA LCD in to other ThinkPads like the T43, R60, T60, etc. The QXGA is only 150 nits, which is kind of dim by today's standards. There were some eBay sellers offering pre-flashed QXGA screens. Otherwise you must to it yourself. My current 133 PPI is already at the upper limit of usability for me anyways. I can't imagine using the 170 PPI QXGA as my regular notebook.

 

i don't think i will strain my eyes with the QXGA, i am happy with SXGA+ in the 15 inch format.

 

The reasoning behind going widescreen was much more about cost than market orientation.

I've really wished they made 16:9 UXGA Flexview panels, i'd swap it out in an instant i'd be so excited, the T61p screen has been said to be below average on brightness but i find it just has really, really, really, horrible viewing angles, which make it look dim if you just look at it the wrong way. I will need to be purchasing a ThinkPad for my father however, probably getting a Z series with the titanium lid.

 

ZaZ, did buying those parts separately end up being cheaper or more expensive than a regular R60?

I took at look at the sticky, I think I could do it, but the cost may not justify it.

 

It depends on how you look at it. I got the R60 and the screen for about $75 less than I sold my 14" R60. The R60 I bought looked pretty much new and is still under warranty. Originally, I went with the SXGA+ screen and later upgraded to the UXGA. If you factor in the $75 it cost me to upgrade from SXGA+ to UXGA, then I was about even on the transaction. I think I got a heck of deal considering my machine was not in as good of shape as the machine I got, though mine was still very good, nor was mine under warranty like the 15" R60 I got. I got a good deal on the BD-R. I won one in auction for $140 and then was able to sell my DVDRW for $50. The net cost to me was about $90, but that's an upgrade to Blu-ray. You couldn't buy the drive for less than $400 elsewhere and you can't use off the shelf drives with ThinkPads. I got really lucky on the drive. The board I picked up for about $50 net. My machine originally had the X1300.

I guess it depends on what you want. If you just want a FlexView machine, you'll probably do better, but if you're interested in having the best parts, then it'll probably cost you more. All told it cost me about $150 to upgrade from a 14" SXGA+ with a DVDRW to a 15" UXGA with a BD-R. That seemed worth the money. I also so did it over about six months. You got to be patient and not buy the first thing that comes along, unless you got a trust fund or something.

I really wished they would have fixed the SATA thing on the R61 machines. The boards work in the R60, they made standard R61s overseas, and I could've gotten a Intel SSD in there. That would have been the ultimate ThinkPad with a FlexView and an Intel SSD. You could expand the modular drive as they get bigger.

If you're looking for a cheap FlexView, you might want to look at the R60e if you don't mind the fixed optical drive, mono speaker and no trackpad. They can do the FlexViews and I've seen some good looking ones go really cheap on eBay, like in the $100-150 range, but that was six months ago. They may be less now. The screens are harder to come by now. It used to be there was a few on eBay all the time, but now it's more hit or miss. You might want to try TP.com too.

 

$475 is an excellent deal. The one I was looking at was around $500.

 

Wait till this becomes mainstream:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/08/studio-xps-16-oled-concept-laptop-hands-on/
which should be soon.

 

I can't wait. I hope ThinkPads get one too.

 

OLED sure give Flexiview run for its money.........

 

Keep a lookout... I sold my t61p for $275 recently...no problems, good battery, excellent condition. They shouldn't be all that expensive.

 

About time for new technology to take over the old.

 

Im still debating whether or not i should purchase an extended warantee for this. What do you guys think? It's in mint conidtion, so I'm fairly certain it wasn't abused or carried around a lot. I'm thinking it will go another 2 years no problems, in which case the warnatee is pointless.

 

If you aren't going to move it around I suppose it isn't worth it. If the hard drive dies you can replace that yourself easily enough. But if you're going to use it on the go I would get a 2 year warranty.

 

warranty is for piece of mind, it does not matter whether the laptop is in mint condition, it will still fail for odd reasons, also warranty covers more than just electronics component on the laptop failing... warranty also covers touchpad not working, hinge getting loose, screen developing lot of dead pixels, head phone jack getting loose, power adapter failing, etc........ i think after owning lot of thinkpads, i have came to the realisation of the importance one should place on having a long warranty, if they depend on it for extended period of time.

Obviously, one could also look at it from the economic point of view, as the warranty will probably account for around 25 to 35 percent of your purchase price, depending on how long you extend the warranty for. From that point of view one maybe dissuaded from getting the warranty. But since you have a very good laptop, it is still worthwhile to get the laptop warranty extended for as long as possible, in two years time your laptop sale price would still be quite good if everything works (considering that a T43p are been changed hand from 300 to 450 USD)

 

If the notebook is still under Lenovo warranty and you can extend it, then you should do it. But if you're talking about purchasing some aftermarket extended warranty, then no, I wouldn't do that.