T61p - how happy are you?

Hey guys, I've been in the market doing research on a mobile workstation notebook for quite some time now. I've had my mind set on the thinkpad t61p with the quadro fx 570m. I do alot of photoshop/illustrator work.. and will be running 3d cad rendering programs. I've noticed this notebook having many problems... wsxga+ lcd problems, 4gb's ram, gpu issues, etc...

My question to all you owners is... How much/well do you like your notebook, and do you regret the purchase? I'm on the edge of making the purchase... but i'm affraid of getting a screwed over machine.

 

i would love to pick up the wuxga... but i've heard nothing but bad stuff about it.

 

I have one that is about two weeks old. It's a superlative machine for your purposes. It has a 7800 and 4 gigs of memory and I'm using Vista-32. I have had no problems with that.

There are two minor irritants.

The machine powers my wireless card off, no matter what. Phil and I think the cause is the Lenovo power manager because he is not seeing the problem with a naked install.

The other problem is that upon reboot, since the last lenovo update, I receive a lenovo panel requesting my password after I login.

I am really glad I purchased a t61p

 

thanks for your reply. I've been hearing people talk about gpu issues while running games. I'll be running Alias Studio tools which will be pretty graphic intensive. I'm worrying that the gpu might fail.. or the 4gbs might not work properlly.

Also can you comment on your screen quality? Which resolution did you get?

 

I love mine too.
I've had it for a little over a month, but haven't had the time to use it a lot.
It's a 2,0 ghz 7300 core 2 duo, 100gb 7200rpm hard drive and I bought it with 1 gb ram and later added a 2gb stick.
It came with vista, but I installed windows xp because it runs so much faster (you do notice even in this machine).
Everything works perfectly. I had trouble installing the hotkey driver in the begining, but since I got that right I haven't had any more problems.
The wsxga+ screen that I got looks fine, kind of dim, but enough for me. I don't know what brand of screen I got, but the colors look fine (haven't checked thoroughly though) and there's bleed at the bottom, but not a lot, pretty acceptable.

 

Half life 2 and sketchup work flawlessly

 

sweet, good hearing from you. I'll be running xp too. I dont think i can handle vista for the time being. Youre a sketch up user? How's that going? What kinda stuff do you do on it? Just out of curiosity :] Cause i do alot of sketch work on Alias. Sounds like 3gb is key, 4 seems to crash alot.

 

It's funny. I ran a Lenovo 3000 with a 1.8 ghz processor for months and it was very responsive running Vista business.

I am a developer and run vs2005 on it. I also run CS3 on it and it's fine. I have the nividia graphics and wsxga. The graphics are very mellow and very readable with a far wider viewing angle than I had on the 3000. It has really superior graphics as far as I'm concerned.

 

T61p running x32 Vista ultimate here, runs various CAD apps flawlessly, both modelling and rendering/animation. Got the 15" 1920x1200 display and wouldn't have it any other way. T7500 cpu and 3Gb ram...

 

I love the machine itself but am pretty upset as to whats going on right now.

I ordered the machine on October 5th and recieved it on October 29th. The motherboard they sent me was defective when utilizing 4GB of RAM. (As many have noted on these forums)

I sent it in for repair and recieved it back with over twelve screws completely missing.

Totally outraged at the moment, if I don't get it back from this repair in perfect condition I am definitely going to take some anger out on Lenovo. This is just ridiculous, good thing I don't need this laptop for my college courses at this time.

 

Thanks for the helpful insight guys. I'm still not sure of which to get wuxga or wsxga. I can settle for the wsxga... but the extra screen space.. sounds so damn nice.

 

Purely architecture modelling, high poly and few materials. Works like a charm.

 

I ordered and received my 15.4" T61p earlier this month, mostly for programming/software development (I wouldn't want the WUXGA version, I think text would be too small to read without giving me eye strain). Of course, I also wanted a laptop that would be a capable gaming system/desktop replacement, for those times when I itch for a little WoW or Orange Box goodness (another reason not to want the WUXGA screen, as games would run slower at the LCD's native resolution). So far, I've been pleased enough not to return it, but little things have started to erode my opinion of it:

- Light leakage from the bottom of the LCD is pretty severe, in my opinion (see the attached pictures for a comparison of my T61p on the left, to my older T43 on the right). It's disappointing, but I suppose I don't need a flawless image for programming or gaming. There's also some noticeable dimness in the bottom corners of the LCD, too, but again, I don't need a flawless picture, though it'd be nice to have. If I were an artist or photographer looking for color fidelity, I certainly couldn't recommend it, based on my own LCD (a Samsung). I'd consider returning it for a replacement LCD, but I have little doubt they'd find nothing "wrong" with it, or would replace it with a screen with identical problems. Has anyone tried getting their LCD replaced? Any luck?

- One of the front rubber feet on the bottom of mine started sliding off (the glue may have softened too much after a gaming session heated up the laptop, I'm not certain). Again, not a big issue, but the rubber feet are important for keeping the laptop level and stationary on surfaces. If they are coming off after owning it for just a few weeks (and I usually just leave it sitting on the desk), it's a quality concern.

- Though the T61p has the specs of a powerful gaming notebook, it's not designed to be one. If you plan to push it to the limit by playing Half-life 2 at max resolution with max settings, plan to not play with it on your lap...it can get quite toasty! I turned mine down to medium settings at 1280x900 resolution, but it still gets too warm to keep on my lap while gaming. Again, not a huge deal, just use a cooling pad or lap desk (or a 3-ring notebook, like I do). Toasty laptop = shorter hardware lifespan, which may make the 3+ year warranties more important to consider.

- If the laptop gets too hot, such as it quickly does during a gaming session, the wifi may stop working. No surprise, this happens with my T43 too, but something else to consider. (Update: I just finished a 2-hour World of Warcraft session with max res, max settings, and had no trouble with the wifi connection. It's possible my previous experiences with wifi connectivity issues were not heat related, but just coincidental wifi disconnects, which happen often enough downtown where I live.)

- The haptics (keyboard, touchpad) are second to none, which is one of the primary reasons I went with the Lenovo (for programming). But if one of your keyboard keys gets pulled off (by the tiny claws of a foster kitten, for example), then you could be in for a tricky, delicate engineering challenge to put it back on. I attached some pictures of when it happened on my T43 recently...that white piece is actually two pieces that also came apart. Suffice it to say, it was not a key that could simply be "pushed" back onto the keyboard.

This is all just my $.02...I like the T61p, it's a wicked fast laptop, if a bit of a beast to haul around. Certainly more portable than the 17" ones, though. And it has the power to replace my desktop, which it pretty awesome to find in a 15" laptop.

 

Had mine for a few days.

I think I would be happier after a clean install though. 80+ processes I do not like.

Anyone wanna do a clean install of XP for me?

 

Now, I personally would not get a WUXGA screen since the Samsung one is craptacular, and the LG/Phillips one wasn't even on the site last time I checked, so I don't know if they offer it now... dunno.

As for the WSXGA+ screen, the LG/Phillips is probably as good as you can get but Samsung and their crap (No offense if anyone can live with these screens) is here again, and I would not want my ThinkPad to have a sub par screen.

Anyway, the other notebooks companies use the same screens.

 

The best I can do is direct you to my response in the "T61 XP Clean Install" thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=136351&page=5&p=2650048

It's pretty easy to do, as long as you perform a few necessary steps in order.

 

Thanks for the extensive review, it was very helpful and i'm sure many others will find it useful as well. I think i might have to pass on the wuxga, I do alot of design work, and rendering, so a fadded screen is out of the question. A high resolution screen would be nice for a roomier work space... but i dont think i'll be able to handle severe light leakage.

Thanks for the extra info on the heat and wireless.. i'm currently experiencing this with my hp. How does the palm rest feel while playing games, or browsing the internet? Does it get uncomfortably hot? or warm?

 

Had my T61p for a couple weeks now and am quite happy with it. I did do a clean install of XP which really brought the machine to life. I work with a lot of different CAD software and this machine smokes all the other computers running CAD in my office including desktops. I do have the Samsung screen that I see lots of people complaining about but IMO it has a very nice picture with brilliant colors, very slight light leakage at the bottom (can only be detected with a black background) and zero dead pixels. Kinda suprises me that LG screens are deemed better by most as LG is just a new name for Goldstar which was known for making very cheap and low quality electronics and Samsung used to be known for its high quality monitors and products. Maybe I got lucky. Oh, FYI mine is WSXGA+ my eyes are no longer good enough to consider WUXGA.

 

Ive had my laptop for a few months about. I am very happy with my T61P overall. The build quality is superb, and the LCD has no dead pixels (WSXGA+). The only negative think I can think of as far as the build is concerned would have to be that the machine smudges rather easily, and it the palm/keys wears rather quickly. Aside from that though, it is pretty much as solid as it gets.

As far as performance, it is also top notch. I have a 2.2ghz, vista, 2gig and it is fast for all my needs (video editing, photoshop, orangebox runs like a dream).

The LCD screen is pretty good for a matte. I have no dead pixels, and the brightness is ok, though it definitely can be a few notches brighter. Thats probably my only gripe with the LCD...but again, its not too bad. There is also light leakage along the bottom of the screen...but thats pretty typical in most laptops. Everything else about the screen is satisfactory...its definitely nice, and sharp, and the colors seem to good too (atleast to me).

Overall...I am very happy with the purchase.

 

Quite happy with my machine. It runs AutoCAD, Blender, Photoshop and other design and graphics programs without hiccuping, and plows through my library of games without much trouble, though as others have mentioned, it does get pretty hot. The graphics chip would seem to be more or less right under the WASD keys to boot, which can make FPS games just a little bit uncomfortable. As fars as displays go, I got the LG-Phillips WSXGA+, and though does have slight leakage at the bottom (not bad at all) my biggest gripe with it is that it's pretty washed-out looking compared to the desktop LCDs I'm used to; doesn't really have much color contrast. I'd certainly not use it for colormatching. All things considered, I'm confident that it was the best value for my money, and it's likely to outlast anything else I was looking at by a fair margin.

 

I am not sure about the notebook having many problems. I got my t61p back in septermber. The lcd has no dead pixels, and it's actually very bright. I have 2 gb ram with xp pro so don't know about whatever problem you have with 4 gb. I haven't experienced any gpu issues, unless you mean the heat. The notebook does get warm after prolonged use, but nothing unbearable. You have to keep in mind that the more powerful you gpu is the more heat it will generate. It's a necessary trade off if you want dedicated graphics.

 

T61p | T7500 | WSXGA+ | 3GB | 200GB 7k200 | Quadro FX 570M | Verizon WWAN | Samsung Screen

GOOD
------
1. Very solid and well built. Coming from Dell this thinkpad feels like a tank
2. Very quiet, can hardly hear a whisper from this unit while working
3. Runs cool under normal load, but games will heat it up fast as others have mentioned
4. Excellent wireless performance, range and stability.
5. Very snappy performance under XP pro. Coming from a dual core, RAID workstation and I don't feel like I've lost any performance. Really quite amazed.
6. Keyboard & touchpad are excellent
7. No dead/stuck pixels
8. Handy thinkvantage tools. nice having the auto update feature.


BAD
------
1. Samsung screen looks really horrible out of the box, needs to be calibrated
2. Definite light leakage from bottom of screen, although I dont really even notice it anymore
3. Viewing angle is poor, this took some getting used to for me, but I'm used to it now and dont notice it much anymore
4. ultrabay battery (optional upgrade) runs to 0% before kicking over to main system battery. This kills the battery very fast so need to manually watch the meter to force a swap before it hits 0%. This needs a fix in the power management software
5. Lame bloatware on factory build requires a custom restore. Annoying.

This is the finest laptop I have ever used, but its single biggest weakness, in my opinion, is the screen. This machine deserved a much better quality screen. I give the screen a 6/10, rest of the laptop is a 10/10

 

btw

No stability issues here. I did a burn in after I received the unit with 3DMark06, MemTest86, and a burn in test from www.passmark.com. No issues, perfectly stable.

 

thanks for all the replies. You all have been way too helpful.

 

I mostly game with one hand on WSAD and the other on the mouse, and haven't noticed the keyboard or palm rests get too warm for comfort. The bottom is what really heats up, particularly toward the rear left where the CPU and main heat sink are. It doesn't get as hot during WoW as it does during the faster FPS games like those in the Orange Box, but it still definitely gets hot enough to need something between it and you after a while.

 

Not that I care about any of these companies but...

LG Electronics (Lucky-GoldStar) is now part of LG group, and LG.Philips LCD (our case) is an independent company...

 

I started a new job about a month ago and got given a T61(Intel/WXGA) running WindowsXP, previously I used to have a Dell D820(nVidia/WUXGA).

There are various things about the T61 that I'm not happy with:
Fn key on outside of the Ctrl
Esc in the wrong position, keep pressing the wrong F key
No Serial
Lenovo support useless
Problem with port replicator killing power on laptop
They've looked the same for years, the styling is outdated
Bloated software they add
No installtion CD's
The list goes on...

I think Dell's are also cheaper than there Lenovo equivalent.

If I had the choice I'd rather swap it for another D820/D830. I was really happy with my D820, I might see if I can get one off fleebay...

 

Orange Box, COD4- default settings, full res.(1920X1200), running perfectly
GOW-default settings, 1280X768, running fine, non-native resolution makes it look jaggy, but getting 50fps, at full res getting 30 fps but occasionally dropping to 20. I echo all the other users the greatest weakness of this laptop is the screen, but if you are an average user it is really fine. Most of the stuff you don't notice unless you are looking for it. I love the WUXGA resolution wouldn't have it any other way. Waited 2 months for it.

 

Sorry, butchered your message but saved important details above.

1) Serial adapter is available for the ultrabay and you can buy usb-to-serial adapters. The only time I ever use serial anymore is with switches/routers.

2) Caps are available to solve this problem. They cover two of the four electostatic discharge prongs on the dock. Very simple fix, works like a champ, search the support site.

3) Clean install guide in this forum is excellent, or do a selective install via Thinkvantage

4) See #3 (above). You can reinstall to factory defaults, selectively remove programs, or follow the clean install guide and use a Vista Upgrade Anytime CD with your exported key (assuming Vista, might have deleted that from your message)

5) Dell always starts out cheaper until you do a reasonable number of upgrades. Their prices are always attractive from the onset and quickly go up up up once you add features. Pricing out a comparable machine (M65/M4300 vs T61p), the T61p was cheaper and had a higher end nVidia card.

I have a M65 as well and a M4300 in my desk drawer that I use occasionally. Nice machines, but they are bulkier and heavier than the Lenovo machines.