t61 review

Here is a 12-page long review from a Chinese website. For those eagerly waiting for their t61 as I am, the pictures (if not the Chinese) may feed your hunger a bit.

http://www.51nb.com/viewnews-7000.html

My t61:

Ordered on 5/21
Original ESD: 6/8
Current ESD: 6/26

Edit:

For everyone's interest, here is the rough translation of their conclusions:

Pros:
* Significant improvement in performance (I guess they are referring to Santa Rosa)
* Integrated camera for commercial video conferencing
* Increased battery capacity
* Improved encryption system
* Roll-cage protection of LCD

Cons:
* There is still to be expected in build quality
* Display (well well well, we all know that as always)
* Poor audio quality of the built-in speakers
* USB ports are too close to each other

 

I like the one where it's on the grass. Makes me want to punt it. Odd.

 

I'm pretty sure it's the widescreen version and not the greatly preferred 4:3 ratio:


According to the latest rumor (source: Lenovo sales rep), it's just one more day until the T61p is released. Hopefully they bring out the standard ratio 14.1" and 15.0" flexview no later than tomorrow. Waiting is torture.

Nice Chinese review though. Extremely thorough they were. I like how they even measured the level of radiation emitting from the new T61 and how it caused mutations in their pregnant lab rats. Looks like they covered all the bases in this review.

 

On page 5 of that review, you see how easily it is to bend the plastic material on the palm rest - is that normal for thinkpads?

 

You're kidding, right?

 

As a matter of fact, I did try the same thing on the T42 that I have. It surely bends without trying hard. It's just a matter if T61 bends as usual or more easily. We'll see.

 

does it feel cheap when your palms are on it?

 

I feel just fine with my palms on it, surely much better than my Dell 700m which started losing the paint soon after I start using it.

I've read so many good things about Thinkpads. But I think some of them are biased. Actually when I hold my T42 from the corner, it does give out some noise. It just doesn't break though. I got it from work and have used it everyday for 2.5 years without any real problem. I wish it broke early so that I can get a replacement T60. Now I decide to get my own T61.

 

The review also mentioned that the Think light on the T61 doesn't illuminate the keyboard as well as it did on previous models.

The review also pointed out that the strip of plastic below the power button is very thin, you can depress it easily by not applying much force, also that a lot of the stuff on the motherboard were glued together, not very tidy.

 

Whoa, I just saw that picture of the bending plastic. That's scary.

 

I read Chinese

They are in those comments accompanying the pictures.

 

If you are using firefox you can right click on the page and select page info then select translate into english.

 

I enjoyed the pictures......this is the most I have seen of T61 in the wild....which is terrible.

thank you for finding the link, btw.

 

Right now I'm not so worried about that as it happens to my T42. We'll figure that out once we get our own.

 

I can just see it: a picture of a T61 in an African Savanna viciously decapitating a D630, all of it's ****ty Dell plastic innards flying about...

 

So any of you who translated- did he measure physical dimensions?


This is my big riddle:

T61 14.1" widescreen: 13.2"x10.3"x1.3"
Z61t14.1" widescreen: 13.1"x 9.0"x1.2"

WHAT?

Surely, the width of the Z61t is without titanium lid. In all the pics it looks bulkier than how that t61 looks.

IBM logo is past tense.

 

The review did a comparison between the T61 and the T43. But it did not give any size measurements.

 

I think the reason the t61 is actually slightly thicker (than Z60t and even T60) is because T series is now the only one to have roll cage in the lid. Must have to make it slightly larger for that. No clue why such a differnece in the depth though.

T61 14.1" widescreen: 335.5mm x 237mm x (27.6-31.9mm)
z61t 14.1" widescreen: 334mm x 228mm x (26.6-30.9mm)

I really need to see the light on this one and get past ridiculous, erroneous reasons for z61t, and embrace superior cooling system (wonder how much of that is actual and how much marketing- i saw him with the fan out- was he impressed?)

PREDICTION: which is cooler, all else being equal? T5500 1.66 in z61t or T7100 1.80 in t61? Significant difference?

Does the 800MHz vs 667MHz factor make a heat difference at all?

I see the thermometers, but don't know the context. Was the reviewer pleased w/heat or hopefully lack thereof?

 

Did he mention whether the keyboard light was still LED or not?

 

They are test the temperature of the C-board.

 

what about this one?

&...

&&...

!@#$%^&*()

 

The T61 is deeper becaause of that big frame on top the screen where the webcam goes (whether you get webcam or not).

I think the T43 in the pics looks better than T61: T43 has stronger looking volume/mute/power buttons, nice color accents on the navigation buttons, color-keyed function keys.

The T61 is thicker because, as someone rightly pointed out, of the magnesium roll cage. The t43 and t60 are better in that instead of the magnesium roll case they had a strong magnesium alloy case. Instead the T61 has cheaper pure-plastic case reinforced by the roll cage. That cheaper construction helps bring the price down but makes the machine thicker.

 

and improves wifi reception

 

still LED,but bright-less...

 

Lenovo says the internal magnesium roll cage is 25% stronger.

And the notebookreview review said that when tapped, the T61 feels metalic

 

Go with that then because i dont even own a T61.

But i dont like how they've relocated and outsourced the build of the T61 to the low-quality plants building the dells inspirons and low end lenovos. If you read about what's going on internally, you'd expect that the quality will have been compromised. It's cheaper too.

 

have the T60's plant moved or just the T61's? and if I were to cancel my order of my T61 (in sig) would not having a DX10 card effect me in any way within the next 4 years ( no gaming at all)?

 

Not true (third time!)

The T60 and t61 have cases made from carbon fiber reinforced plastic, which is quite expensive material because it has unsurpassed strength/weight ratio. That's way the ThinkPad T60 was one of the lightest 15.4" notebooks.

The magnesium alloy cases are cheaper and heavier...

 

Translated Chinese T61 Review

nice review, this is probably the manual to backward engineer this thing. I'll bet anyone the fakes will ship faster then the Lenovo units.

 

Not quite, because the reviewer finally gave up trying to take apart all that stuff on top of the motherboard. He said it was too complicated.

 

Wow, I'm not impressed with Lenovo quality.

 

Dells suck, that appears to be all you have.

 

I planned to buy a T61 until Lenovo canceled plans for a WSXGA+ resolution (1680x1050) 14.1" T61. Since then I chose another laptop.

 

I don't think anyone is making a WSXGA+ 14inch LCD panel.

 

Nope :cry: Lenovo should have been the first.

 

Are you here just to bash Lenovo? From your sig and your comments thus far you just look like a Dell fan boy just here bashing Lenovo. If you don't own a Lenovo laptop and are not thinking about getting one, why are you here? Especially when you seem to add nothing.

 

I meant to say no LCD supplier is currently manufacturing a 14inch WSXGA+ LCD screen.

Plus, even if such a panel does exist, I would hate to read any kind of text on that screen.

 

I was part of a large group on NBR that wanted a WSXGA+ screen on a 14.1" laptop. We should have signed a petition.

 

Actually, I was debating to get a T61,

most of my posts in the Lenovo forums are just friendly pokes at Lenovo for all the "****ty plastic Dell" comments I've heard.

And I am still considering a Lenovo, but I need to wait for a better deal first. Maybe 4th of July? I hope something will pop up.

The one thing is, I'm a big perfectionist. I cannot have any play on any parts on my laptop. Lenovo seems to have issues with their plastic trims and their screen. Both of which are important to me.

I hope the problem isn't as bad as it seems and I'm anxiously awaiting reviews from Lenovo users for the T61. So far, yes, I'm most definitely happy with my D630 and I love love love it.

Sorry if my teasing went a bit too far.

 

The Lenovos seem like a really good deal right now. I put together and equivalent sony FZ and it was nearly 200 more than the T61. I also put together a dell 830 and it was more. Also if you assume the T61p and T60p will be around the same price, then a T61p with equal specs to an ASUS G1s is nearly 300 dollars less. As soon as they stop the 25% discount they'll be a lot more though.

I'm waiting for either the T61p or T61 15.4" with dedicated graphics. Whichever comes first lol.

 

Are you sure the two laptops were equal? The Dell Latitude D830 is cheaper than the T61.

EDIT: I was wrong, they are about the same price.

 

maybe all these lower Thinkpad prices are reflected in the loss of quality. i only keep laptops for a year so i tend to put less importance on top build quality and materials

 

Apparently lenovo moved production of all T's about half a year ago. Outsourced to the same organization that builds Dell Inspirons. Seems rather discomforting.
Details http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=128992

 

or its because of a sale?

 

Lenovo (and everyone else) overcharges like crazy on ram. I mean 1000 for 4GB? You can save 700 dollars by picking up 2 x 2GB sticks from newegg for 150 a piece. You can save 80 dollars by picking up 2 x 1GB sticks from newegg for 40 a piece. You can also save by putting in your own HDD. I usually configure for lowest RAM/HDD and add my own for a significant difference in price.

 

The t61 only equip one 1GB memory stick. In a preview review, 140M on T61 got 1820 in 3DMark06, 200 more. Except a faster CPU, lack of dual channel may caused some lag. 140M is running on turbo cache, which is highly depends on memory speed. The 4.5 memory score can also support my hypothesis, because usually 667 dual channel memory can score 4.7 under vista.

 

I don't think anyone should run vista under 2GB. I am right now >.<. But I don't want to pay to upgrade this things RAM right before I buy a new laptop.

 

The review itself is biased,I think, at least for some points. At least, I will not concern too much about the problem mentioned in the review. I am very happy to see the temperature test showing a decent performance.

 

biased? exactly how are they biased?

 

like the double sided glue on the screen. Actually, it is very normal and was used in earlier T series and other brand name laptop. But the reviewer treated it as a flaw.