Thinkpad R51 Review!

Well, after years of drooling over the thinkpads, i finally got a nice deal on an R51 thinkpad. Let me say one thing folks, now i know why they're so expensive when compared to other brands that have much more features (or so i thought). They make these laptops like tanks with thick armour! Here is what i got:

IBM/Lenovo R51 Thinkpad
Pentium M 1.7 (Dothan)
15" (1400X1050) SXGA+ Flexview+IPS
30GB HDD (upgrade soon to 80GB 7200RPM)
CD-ROM (Upgrade Soon to DVD Writer)
256MB RAM (Upgrade to 1GB ASAP)

I ordered the laptop online on Lenovo website and recieved it after 10 days (yesterday). From the way it was packaged, you could tell something really special was inside. After turning it on i was amazed at the beautiful LCD screen and was glad i chose the flexview as i had previously read a lot of rave reviews about it. You can view it from almost any angle and its bright and very sharp.

The construction is very strong and even though it's ABS plastic, you cannot hear any creaking sounds and no flex at all. Im glad the Thinkpads are still on top of their game, but the best part is the really neat software utilities it comes loaded with. You can tweak anything from the battery to the wifi and there is just so much detail that you cannot help but praise IBM tech support.

Then you come to the security features and here is where the Thinkpads have earned their reputation for being one of the most secure laptops. The suite of security features can be really overwhelming from the boot up passwords to the BIOS passwords and another separate security software that you can install from IBM which goes even deeper. Crazy! The reason i chose IBM thinkpad is that i used to work on laptops about 8 years ago and came across some thinkpads, they were just very high quality build and always intrigued me.

To be very honest, the IBM utility and security features were alone worth the price that i paid. Although i sometimes miss my Apple powerbook mainly because of the OS-X which i like far more than Windows XP, but as far as quality is concerned, Thinkpads are just as solid as the Powerbooks, not to mention, better keyboard.

 

Great review...I own the R51 (w/ 40GB HD, 512MB RAM) myself and have had ZERO problems with it.

Just a quick question though...your computer only came with a 24GB hard drive?

 

yeah i chose that as i already had planned to get a 7200RPM HDD . Thanks for the comment on the review.

 

Nice job. The FlexViews are amazing.

 

Probably a 30GB HD, with the hidden recovery partition taking its space.

 

How much you pay?
The price of R51 UN09MRT (IPS) PM 1,7 512 Mb Ram 60Mb HDD is 1718 USD. My location is Moscow Russia

 

That doesn't sound like a very good Thinkpad. You can get an R51.

 

dr_st is right i checked the list again and it says 30GB HDD. I knew i had chosen their smallest HDD. Has anyone upgraded to the 7200RPM HDD on their R51 without any issues? I've heard the T-42 had some problems with that. Im surprised they call the R series their value model but they haven't compromised on quality at all.

 

That's a great review.
I own an R51 with a Pentium M 1.6 (Dothan), 15" 1400x1050 SXGA+ with Flexview, 80GB hard drive, DVD Recordable drive, and 768MB of memory (it originally came with 256MB).

 

they call it Performance & portabilitiy.. the site can't even spell properly.
http://www-8.ibm.com/lenovoinfo/au/notebooks/thinkpad/index.html

 

Before the site was updated, they called it Value but it's good to know they now call it exactly what it is, although some people in various forums (thinpads.com) still look down upon it as the poor cousin of the T series and call it value! lol

 

You shouldn't have problems upgrading the hard drive. The problems only happen frequently on T43, that uses a unique SATA-PATA bridge, and maybe on R52 (it uses the same chipset so maybe it also uses the bridge). T42 and R51 don't experience any general problems with HD upgrades.

The R series costs noticeably less than a similar T series, due to using different materials (more plastic) and a less slim design. Other than that, there isn't much difference. However, real "economy" models, like the R50e and R51e are seriously crippled, when compare to the non-economy R and T models - they have no mic, no touchpad, no APS, one speaker, no docking station support, only XGA screens. But they still have the Thinkpad build quality, and for some that's enough.

 

Thanks for the info dr_st, im glad this forum has so many users with great advice and information especially regarding thinkpads. That puts my mind at ease and im going to order the 72K HDD.

 

The Dothan chipsets don't support SATA so you should be in good shape.

 

Well, they're wrong.

 

Hi Folks !
I'm new here, but not new to Thinkpads. Use a TP 770 - 233mhz - 5 Gb - 64 Ram this moment, when awaiting my "new" PM 1.6 512 40 R51 which I look much foreward to, specially as I don't expect the need for "fancontrold" prg. as was the case with all the T42, 43 and 60 used before. No games or nonsence, just normal office computing and stuff. Though wander what it needs to plump a bigger HD in - will it be accepted right away ?
Not the fastest, but really love this TP770

Kind regards,

Max