ThinkPad Experts Chime In: T61 14.1" Widescreen or X61 Tablet?

I'm a university student looking for a new computer in time for the summer sessions (starting May 2007). I take a lot of notes, write a lot of papers, and read a lot of scholarly articles (usually in PDF form). I live in Canada so ordering online via Lenovo Canada is an absolute must-not ( This is why.) My school's bookstore is offering two Lenovo computers that I'm interested in for discounted prices. Here they are:

T61: 76632EU ($1375.95 CAD)
T7500 (2.2GHz), 120GB 5400rpm HD, 14.1" WXGA+, 128MB nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M, CDRW/DVDRW, Intel 802.11agn, Bluetooth, 6-cell, WinXP Pro, 3-year Limited Warranty.

X61 Tablet: 7762B6U ($1729.95 CAD)
L7500 (1.6GHz), 120GB 5400rpm HD, 12.1" XGA touchscreen, Intel x3100, Intel 802.11agn, Bluetooth, 8-cell, WinVista Business, 3-year Limited Warranty.

 

What kind of classes are you taking?

The only reason I ask is because I brought a tablet into my freshman year of engineering only to find that I missed having the performance of a regular laptop and the added luxury of being able to occasionally write on the screen for those "I can't type this equation" moments didn't make up for the added cost and decreased performance. I ended up selling the machine and never since have I wished I still had the tablet.

 

Those prices aren't very discounted and I consider them to be a rip right about now. Never buy laptops at university stores. I can only agree with HookEm, i don't miss the tablet that I replaced with my T61p.

 

I can really appreciate your position.

Tablets are often seen as unnecessary luxuries by many skeptics. I don't stand too far from this view. What keeps me distanced from it is the hope that I could benefit from having a tablet, even as a second-year undergrad taking courses in Philosophy and Classical Studies primarily.

Note-taking is a very important skill in my "line of work". I take notes and then combine them with the readings, online articles, etc. I think that a tablet combined with a program like Microsoft OneNote could really increase productivity.

Am I wrong?

I would love to hear all your opinions.

I compared these university bookstore prices with Lenovo Canada's already discounted prices using almost the exact same configurations, and I still save anywhere from $50 to $100 buying from the bookstore as well as the time it takes for Lenovo to ship my computer to me. So, any way you look at it, the bookstore prices are technically discounted.

Also, keep in mind that the prices are in Canadian dollars.

 

Well I wouldn't call myself a skeptic of tablets because they definitely have their uses I just didn't end up benefiting from them.

Do you play any games? Run any GPU/CPU intensive applications?

Onenote was built from the ground up to be useful with or without a pen. Typing notes in the outlining mode is just as easy as writing notes in inking mode. The feature you will miss out on if you don't have a tablet is the ability to mark up pre-existing documents. While this is a pretty useful feature I found new ways to live without such as color highlighting areas and color highlighting the coordinating comments I had.

Don't buy a tablet because of the "cool" factor especially if it ends up being just a glorified piece of scratch paper like mine did. Really think about whether or not you are going to use the features and what you are giving up for those features.

 

No to the first question. For the second question, Photoshop is the only app that comes close.

I will continue to think about this. It seems that I'm running short of arguments to support a X61 Tablet purchase!

There's also the infamous X61 Tablet bezel issue...

 

Tablet issue aside, have you thought about battery life? In general, an X series model, whether a tablet or not, will last far longer on battery than a T series. My T61, 14-inch widescreen with integrated graphics burns through its four-cell battery awfully fast. I've not measured lifetime rigorously, but I've learned to count on only an hour or so from the battery. (You'll get longer life from the six-cell, but still).

There is also physical size to consider. I have that T61 14-inch widescreen, but my X30 is the one I bring to the breakfast table so that I can read the news over my morning coffee. The wide, T61 just eats up too much tablespace. Similarly, the X30 is the one I want on an airline tray table.

Tablet issue aside, do give some thought to whether you plan to use the machine unplugged a lot, or in cramped spaces.

Not an easy decision, I know. I agonized quite awhile over whether to get a new X61 or T61 this year.

 

i would definitely hop onto the T61 bandwagon...also remember that you do NOT get an optical drive with an X series(unless its an X300)

 

So my last 4 notebooks were as follows.
X41 Tablet, X61 Tablet (never had a problem with my bezel), P1610 XP Tablet, X60 non tablet now a T61.
Which is my favorite? My T61, why? Simple, I cannot read my writing now, and I type 99% of everything I do so why keep a tablet. I tried hard to use a tablet every day for the last year and half. The day I dumped my tablet and went back to a regular notebook was a fantastic day.

Yes the Tablet had great battery life, but with a 7 cell my T61 14.1 widescreen is just about par with it.

Couple of things that were nice with the tablet slate mode when reading (although it is heavy to hold for a long time (well the P1610 is not). Other than that, the pen was basically useless for everyday use unless in slate mode, then there was always the problem of having to type anything when in that mode, like responding here for example, out of slate back into regular mode and type.
My writing is bad enough the software (XP, Vista, and Onenote) could never learn what I was writing.
I still use OneNote every day. I just do what I always did and that is type everything.

I have a college who swears by his tablet and would not give it up for the world.
All of mine are gone except my P1610, that is now my EBook reader.

Tablets are not for everyone, and it is an expensive toy to purchase to find out you hate it. See if you cannot get one to demo for a day or so and see how you like it. Trying it in a store will not tell you much.
if in doubt, then pick up a regular notebook and forget the tablet all together.

Would i change my T61? Not at this time. It is a fantastic machine and out of the 5 I have had in the last year and half it is by far the best.

 

University classrooms are often cramped these days, that is, for me and everyone else who doesn't go to Harvard or Oxford. So the desk sizes are tiny. I used to have a XPS M1530 and I didn't even bother bringing that sucker to class.

Amen to that.

(Willard, I read the rest of your post, but I found this part interesting.)

Could you possibly give just a rough estimate of battery time for both your X61 tablet (8-cell) and T61 14.1 Wide (7-cell)?

Thanks to all that replied.

 

U could always get a Bamboo One, a Bamboo, or a Bamboo Fun, all under 100 Euros(about 150 Dollars i guess). Of course u cant compare a tablet with a tablet pc, but it still gives u an idea how it feels to "write" into ur computer. I got a Bamboo One, the cheapest model, and now i know that i totally suck at writing into a computer and i cant use it to draw, coz im anything but creative.

Itll propably still serve me well enough for the occasional inking of a formula or a graph, so id( and propably will myself) go with the T61 plus a Bamboo tablet for experimenting.

About the battery life: Theres also a 9-Cell battery availible now for the T61 14"

 

It all depends on your settings I can achieve three to four hours on my T61 with a 7-cell but to do that I have to disable wireless, set limits at maximum processor speed, and dim the screen to an almost unbearably low level. I usually average two and a half to three hours on a single charge. The X61 on the other hand could probably achieve four to five hours at any settings and seven to eight if you really pushed it.

If you are going to be away from an outlet for long periods of time with your T61 you can pick up a modular battery and stick it in your optical slot.

 

There have been a number of compelling arguments for the T61 in this thread. Thanks to everyone who wrote. There was a moment there where I was very close to deciding on a T61 but I am confident now that my choice will be for the X61 Tablet for three main reasons (from a student's point of view):

1) Size - I considered the size of the desks at the University I attend and concluded that a 14.1" widescreen laptop will, in most cases, be a tad too big. Also, my campus is pretty huge- or at least, there's tons of walking involved every day to get to class. A relatively light notebook will mean less strain on my back. Plus, more room in your bag means more room for textbooks!

2) Battery Life - Through experience, I find that locating somewhere plug your AC adapter in can sometimes be a hassle- more so in old buildings and crowded areas (like a student union building). If your notebook's battery lasts a full workday then you bypass this entire experience.

3) Added Functionality - There's a lot of debate here so I'm just going to offer my own perspective and see what others think. With the X61 Tablet comes the benefits of having an ultraportable (ie. reasons #1 and #2) and tablet functionality. With so many courses going ALMOST paperless (online course websites, powerpoint notes, scholarly articles in PDF formats), note-taking becomes easier with a tablet. Some people here feel that they simply can't find reasons to use their tablet even if they tried! But I just still have to differ.

Of course, there are the downsides: slight decrease in performance (but I don't use any GPU/CPU intensive apps... except photoshop), price (I'm not exactly pinching my pennies at the moment), and of course the dreaded X61 Tablet bezel issue (all will go out the window if my notebook has this problem.)

...other than that, I'm set!

 

Jazz, your reasoning looks sound. I think you made a good choice. And I can see a tablet working well in a classroom setting.

Good luck!