Thinkpad R61 Questions

Hi all,

I just got this Thinkpad R61:

Core 2 Duo T8300
2 GB RAM
80 GB RAM
WXGA+ screen
6 cell battery

I really wanted a 14" WXGA+ so I bought the R61 without having known much about it. I have done some research on NBR but it doesn't seem like many have it, so I have a few questions. The factory warranty has expired but does anyone know if I can still buy extended warranty from Lenovo? Is the 6 cell the most the R61 can handle? Are there any fan-controlling softwares for the R61? Any general suggestions regarding maintaining the R61?

Thanks!

 

Not to be a bearer of bad news, but the nVidia cards in the R61 have a much higher failure rate, but it's an otherwise well built notebook. You can extend the warranty, but it's much more expensive if the warranty was allowed to lapse.

 

For a $480 notebook, I don't think it will be worth your money to buy an extended warranty, which is quite expensive. Pretty good machine, though, and welcome to the Thinkpad club

 

You'll pay close to that for a new board unless you get lucky.

 

It appears to be working just fine, no? What do you guys think?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270433869431&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

I can see from the calendar gadget that the date is the 26th of July, which means that at least it was working until that day.

Oh and, thanks David. Finally a member...

 

I inquired about the NVIDIA recall. They told me that if the chip is on the list of recalled chips they would fix it for free, even though my machine is already out of warranty. That sounds pretty good considering I know for a fact that the NVS 140M is on the list of recalls! Now the question is: is there an expiration date on the recall?

Also I called Lenovo and they told me I can get two-year depot service for $250. Do you guys think it'll be worth it? Are there any other parts on the R61, other than the GPU, that is prone to failure?

 

You'd basically being paying for one failed board in advance. You might want to look at the warranty guide. A rider on your renters/homeowners insurance may be worth a look.

 

Pardon my comment, but you could have gotten the R400 new for only $200 more with better specs. The base model is listed at $679+tax and comes with 1 yr warranty, 2.4GHZ cpu, and 160GB HD.

 

You're probably right, but I went with the philosophy that for my needs, a C2D T8300 and a C2D P8600 will make no difference, so I decided to buy the cheapest 14" Thinkpad C2D out there. As a matter of fact the Dell in my sig is serving me perfectly fine and the only reason I bought the Thinkpad is for its smaller and more portable size. $200 would not have been a problem, in fact, I was originally going to buy a new T400, but I really doubt I will see much of a difference for what I do (web, MS Office, PS, DW, and the occasional CAD). I already have a Seagate 320 GB HDD and I plan on upgrading the RAM to 4 GB later, which can be had for next-to-nothing nowadays.

 

Unless the OS is a 64bit the upgrade to 4GB is useless as the 32 Bit support up to 3GB.

 

Yep, I have Vista Business 64 bit. The specs I listed in my sig are what's coming from the seller. It's still on its way!

EDIT: daylove, I read in another thread that you used to own an R61. Do you have any comments or suggestions for a new R61 owner? Did you ever have problems with its GPU?