T61 Initial Impressions

Just rec'd my T61 yesterday and I've been using it pretty much every minute so far. I've installed MS Office home and student edition and Visual Foxpro. So far everything is working pretty well.

I thought I had a lemon when it blue screened on me twice while trying to get Vista setup and the wifi to connect. After cold booting, everything seems to be working properly.

Here is a link to PC Connection where I purchased this model.
http://www.pcconnection.com/ProductDetail?Sku=7630101

It seems very fast and much faster than my Macbook Pro that I ran WinXP on through Parallels. What first impressed me was how fast I could copy about 10 gigs of data from an external USB drive. This was the same external drive that I used to backup data from my WinXP virtual machine in Parallels that was running on my Macbook Pro. The difference in speed is pretty dramatic, but Vista seems to be no speed demon.

I thought it would boot up much quicker, but that's not the case. MS still has work to do on that end.

The fit and finish of this model is top notch. Keyboard is smooth as butter. The trackpoint is very precise and on mine it's not stiff at all. Just like my previous T60, it works perfectly.

The LCD seems to be a tad brighter than the previous 14.1 Thinkpad that I had. But does not seem to be as good as the IPS LCD on the T60 15".

Battery life is moderate. I think I could get 3 hours if I turned down the brightness and flipped of the wifi and bluetooth. I run everything at the max and I get a little over 2 hours with the 6 cell battery. Maybe up to 2.5 hours but if you play a DVD, it would probably go down 20 - 30 minutes.

I think the battery issue is Vista's problem. I think it just sucks more juice running all the crap it does in the background.

With regards to the build and design...

They made the chassis a little wider for the LCD, but they also moved the speakers on both sides of the keyboard. Good placement for better audio.

No dead pixels and the LCD seems to be very nice. The vertical viewing angles are excellent. The horizontal are good. Could be maybe one notch brighter, but really it's very good.

I am not experiencing any thermal issues at all. Runs cool. The right palm rest gets ever so slightly warm, but I really think it's because you're hand it resting there all the time. Not what I would call uncomfortable or close to it.

The bottom remains cool as a cucumber. Ran it all day while docked to my advanced dock at the office and it was no warmer after 8 hours than it was after 30 minutes. I'd say they did an excellent job.

I use Firefox and it opens with a snap so I think the speed of the laptop with the 2 gig processor, 2 gigs of RAM, and the 160 gig 5400 RPM driver is very good.

The offset LCD (bigger frame on the left) does not really bother you unless you sit there and look for it. In actual use, you don't even notice it.

Mine still has the IBM Thinkpad logo on the inside on the palmrest and on the outside back of the LCD case.

The form factor is outstanding - which is why I purchased it. A little thicker than the Macbook Pro, but same screen resolution and smaller height and width. Weight is about the same - maybe a little light for the Thinkpad. It seems much lighter but I think it's because it's smaller and better balanced.

This seems to be put together better than the T60 I had. No creaks or bends in the chassis anywhere. This is really the sweet spot if you're looking for a light weight, solid, traveling companion.

I'll try and get some pics next to my T60 in the near future for comparison purposes if anyone is interested.

 

Is the right and the left part of the screen looks dimmer than the center? I found many thinkpad with widescreen have this (including Z).

Are they using the same screen from T60? If that is the case, then i believe the same characteristic still apply.

 

Thanks for the write up.

About the only option it doesn't appear to have is Turbo Memory. I'd still like to see some good reports on that.

 

when you get time,try some games and let us know

 

JJFCPA: I enjoyed your excellent review. exactly what I was hopping for. Please add more information, can you compare the brightness with Dell or run Everest benchmarks? I am planing to buy one.

OH! the keyboard is smooth butter! I love Thinkpads' keyboards!

 

Not sure why the difference in speed in a file copy natively vs. a file copy through the virtual machine surprised you. If you ran a copy of XP in Parallels for Windows on your T61 and did a file copy to it the performance would be similar.

 

To JJJCPA:

Are you okay with this LCD size and resolution (1440x900)? I'd like to get this configuration because it is a smaller package and more portable but I worry that I will be unhappy with the screen.

My alternative is to wait for the T61 with a larger screen.

I am currently using an HP with a 15.4 widescreen at 1280x800 and I find this very easy to use. A

higher resolution on a smaller screen concerns me.

Thanks!

Louis

 

Thanks for the writeup... probably the best user review I've read so far.

 

I appreciate you taking the time to write that up. At the same time, I hate reading it because mine's still "In Process."

 

We want to see pics.

 

reading this has made me salivate some more. haha.

my t61 only ships on june 11.

 

Andrew has plenty of photos in his review

 

This info should help

http://www.prismo.ch/comparisons/notebook.php

 

SkiBunny,

Thanks for this link. I have seen other charts similar to this one. I do understand the differences in terms of pixels but I'm trying to get a sense of the subjective differences.

Louis

 

I want to see more. I like to see pics of laptops in more natural environments instead of just on a white desk. Would be nice to see some more photos of the back of the laptop showing the 6-cell or 7-cell battery.

 

Try looking this thread up on the D630, it's about WXGA+ on 14.1 inch screens.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=124996

 

Mine looks very evenly lit across the bottom of the screen. I am really quite pleased with the brightness.

 

On my online order from Lenovo, I initially selected the turbo memory, but I found that you could not include it if you ordered the EVDO card, so I had to eliminate it. The model I purchased from PC Connection doesn't have either, the EVDO card or the turbo memory. From what I've read, the turbo memory did not do much, if anything, for performance.

As for the EVDO card, I've decided to purchase the U720 USB modem from Verizon which will allow me to use with any of my current or future laptops.

 

I am really quite surprise at how comfortable this resolution is on a 14.1 widescreen. I could never get by with the 1280 X 800 because I often have lots of stuff opened at one time. I've typically used a 15.4 or 15 inch laptop with either a 1400 X 1050 or 1440 X 900 resolution.

I also considered waiting for Lenovo to release a 15.4 Santa Rosa laptop, but when I saw that they were going to provide the 1440 X 900 resolution in the 14.1 inch widescreen, I couldn't resist. I really like the lightweight and smaller form factor.

I don't think you'd be disappointed if your mobile with your laptop. Mine is with me almost 24/7.

 

I decided to experiment. I have a 20" CRT. I set the resolution to approximate what I would get on this 14" widescreen at 1440x900. I sized the Excel spreadsheet accordingly. First, I have to say this resolution is just fine, even on a CRT, which will not be as sharp as an LCD. Second, the size difference between the 14" and 15.4" is just not that great. I think I'll be happy with this smaller package.

Louis

 

The two major knocks I have against this otherwise very good laptop is the uncentered screen (I'm sure in practical use, it's not noticeable, but the knowledge that it isn't centered would be a bit annoying to me) and the real deal breaker, battery life.

I don't think Vista kills battery as much as everyone says it does. My Z71V with a Go 6600 gets somewhere between 3 and 3.5 hours in both Vista and XP with light use + wifi on. The fact that this supposedly more mobile form factor (14.1") can't even squeeze out 3 hours with wifi and an extended battery (the 6 cell is extended, the 4 is not) is pretty bad.

Good first impressions though. Appreciate it.