T61: Do you have an aluminium or copper heatsink?

I just received my T61 14.1" widescreen. The fan runs a fair bit - and I'm wondering if it has to do with the aluminium heatsinks I have (they're the color of the steel hinges). They look sparse compared to all the pictures I've seen online and in reviews - where you can clearly see the reddish-brown copper color on the T61.

Does anyone else have steel/aluminium heatsinks?

 

Mine are the reddish-brown color on the T61 15.4" widescreen with the 2.0Mhz 7300 processor. It was built and shipped out of China around 7/15. I notice the fan coming and off, but frankly is it so quiet, I don't pay much attention to it.

 

i remember seeing copper when i installed my ram but now you got me curious, will take this thing apart when i get home later

 

copper color here on 1 T61 and 2 R61's

 

copper color here on a T61

 

copper on my t61

 

Copper on my T61 here also.

 

Copper here too (7664 16U)

 

Aluminum on the T61 I ordered...

7658CTO CTO THINKPAD T61
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42V9334 SBB WAN
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42V9428 SBB PACKAGING US
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42V8648 SBB CL.PLATE T61WL BT WWAN
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42V9667 SBB GEO LABEL US, WLAN,BT
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You don't need to take it apart, just look at the side where the exhaust is.

Hmm, most people have copper. It make me feel better that one other has aluminium, but somehow I feel like we've been victims of cost cutting measures.

 

Copper is a better conductor, but also weighs significantly more. So yeah, it may not cool as well (talking a few degrees difference) but the tradeoff is yours is lighter.

 

Copper here

 

thanks for the tip. just took a quick peek and it is copper for sure.

 

copper here. 14.1 WXGA+

 

Copper here also.

 

hmm..im gonna be pissed if i get aluminum...just ordered a t61...looks like 1 guy got the aluminum..and he has the t7500

 

I have the T7500 and copper

 

I would assume that they use aluminum on only T61's with the X3100, as it outputs significantly less heat than a dedicated GPU. Plus, if I remember correctly, copper absorbs heat more quickly than aluminum but aluminum dissipates it a tad bit faster, so it can be a bit of a tradeoff. If you check the actual heat transfer surface touching the CPU, that is definitely copper, as is the heat pipe that carries the heat to the heat sink.

What I would wonder about more than the material used is if the fin density differs at all. That can make a bigger difference than which material they used as more fins = more surface area to let heat off of.

 

Well I have a X3100 and I have copper, so I assume all machines made recently will have it (I've had mine for for about 22 days, give or take).

Unless they pulled a fast one and mixed copper and aluminum inside, I haven't pulled off the keyboard so I don't know.

 

The cost of copper has gone up dramatically over the last year or so. And aluminum is very efficient as a heatsink and has been pretty much the standard metal for heatsinks in consumer and professional products. I think there is some evidence that black anodized heatsinks radiate heat more efficiently, however.

 

Upon further inspection in the daylight(i checked last night in the dark using a cell phone as my source of light), I see that my heat sink seems to have copper surfaces with aluminum fins. I have integrated graphics and a T7300 processor.

I don't mind because I have owned some serious heat sinks on my desktops back in the day(I was an avid amd overclocker....ahhh the good ol FOP38 days) and they all had a copper contact surface along with aluminum fins/spreaders.

I don't think this was a cost cutting procedure, I think that this type of heatsink is much more efficient, as mentioned before copper to quickly absorb the heat, and aluminum to quickly dissipate it.

 

here are some visual aids...taken with a camera phone, so I apologize in advance, but I think these with suffice.

 

Panteedropper: Your pictures looks like mine. It looks like it is a mix of copper and AL. Well, I guess it's nothing to worry about after all. I'm not sure that it is "much" more efficient, I'm still surprised at how much the fan runs.

 

Your pics are great. Mine looks like that. Copper at edge, aluminum fins.

 

Read this http://episteme.arstechnica.com/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=77909585&m=106091502

In essence, it is better to have a pure copper heatsink rather than a AL/CU mixed heatsink, but the differences are not that significant.

 

mine is aluminium. but hey i have a question does it make a difference.

 

the copper heatsink does a slightly better job than aluminum in terms of moving the heat away from the processor.

 

Copper is always the better conductor when compared to aluminum. However, it's more expensive and weighs more.

 

so i found this article on heatsinks:
http://episteme.arstechnica.com/6/ub...85&m=106091502

and although a Copper heatsink is heavier than a heatsink,
"...a pure copper heatsink will always outperform a heatsink of the exact same geometry of a pure aluminum heatsink assuming that both have the same contact with the heat source and the same rate of airflow over the surface."

unfortunately, although "all tests I have seen show that copper heatsinks do outperform aluminum, [they don't do so] by much"

BOTTOM LINE: copper heatsinks have a slight edge over aluminum ones in terms of cooling currently, but similar heatsinks made of either material are pretty much the same

 

I have the aluminum one...but i dont' mind..since i have the intel gpu...i guess copper is better for those who have a dedicated gpu