What can you say about this T60 model?

I have been itching to get a Thinkpad. I almost ordered within this week but held off for a while. And now...

I would appreciate feedbacks/comments about this particular model of Thinkpad T60:

(from: http://www-8.ibm.com/lenovoinfo/sho...nextpage=seriesmodels&ctry=ph&gpid=C2272GNXPA)
ThinkPad T60 Notebook PC
Part No: 195123A

Specifications:
• Intel® Centrino® Duo Mobile Technology
• Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2300
• - 2Mb L2 cache, 1.66GHz, 667MHz FSB
• Intel® 945GM Express Chipset
• 256Mb DDR2 Memory
• 14.1in. XGA TFT LCD Monitor
• 40Gb 5400RPM SATA (Hitachi Travelstar)
- with Active Protection System
• CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Drive
• Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN (54Mbps)
• 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit LAN
• Bluetooth Technology
• Integrated FingerPrint Reader
• 56K V.92 Data/Fax Modem
• IrDA + Touchpad
• Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional Edition
• Li-Ion Battery
• Carrying Case
• Weight: 2.34Kgs.

Sadly, it's the only T60 model available at the moment here. It's not customizable. The best thing I could do with it for now is add one 1GB DDR2.. I have two external USB drives (1 40GB and 1 80GB) so I wouldn't bother much about the harddisk that came with it.

The next best Thinkpad models available would be these:

IBM ThinkPad T43 - CA2

Intel® Centrino™ Mobile Technology
Intel® Pentium® M 750 (1.86GHz, 2Mb L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
14.0in. SXGA (1400 x 1050) display
60Gb 7200RPM Hard Drive
512Mb DDR-II SDRAM - - - WOW !!!
CD-RW/DVD-RW (CD 24x Read, 16x Write) (DVD 3x Read, 2x Write)- optional / DVD/CDRW standard . . .
Standard 6-cell battery and optional 9-cell extended life battery
Ports: 2 USB 2.0, 1 ExpressCard slot, 1 PCMCIA card slot, 56K Modem, Ethernet LAN port, PS2 port, headphone jack, microphone jack, parallel port, VGA out port
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2
ATI RADEON® X300 Graphics Card with 64Mb RAM - - - WOW !!!
Intel® PRO/Wireless 2915 802.11 a/b/g internal wireless card
Fingerprint scanner for security

/*--------------------------------------------------------------*/
(from: http://www-8.ibm.com/lenovoinfo/sho...nextpage=seriesmodels&ctry=ph&gpid=C2272GNXPA)

ThinkPad Z60m Notebook PC (Titanium)
Part No: 2531A11

Specifications:

• Intel® Pentium® M processor 750
• - 2Mb L2 cache, 1.86GHz, 533MHz FSB
• Intel® 915PM Express Chipset
• 512Mb DDR2 Memory
• 15.4in. WXGA+ TFT LCD Monitor (1680 x 1050)
• 80Gb Hard Disk Drive 5400RPM
• DVD±RW Drive Multiburner
• ATI Radeon X600 PCI-Express Video Controller
- with 128Mb video memory
• 802.11b/g Wireless LAN (54Mbps)
• 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit LAN
• Bluetooth Technology
• Integrated FingerPrint Reader
• 56K V.92 Data/Fax Modem
• IrDA + Touchpad + Firewire port
• SD Memory Card Reader
• Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional Edition
• 6-Cell Li-Ion Battery
• Carrying Case
(one store even offer free 512MB iPod Shuffle )

The Z60m and the T43 seems to give more value for the money but I want the Core Duo that is in the T60...


Purpose: Programming in Visual Studio, Access as front-end and SQL Server as database. No gaming. If ever, just SIMS2, which, I believe would run in GMA950. But, if not I won't mind not gaming. It almost all work and no play with me. I don't travel much. I just want to take home my work and back. I have an hp dc7100 3.0GHz P4HT 2x80GB SATA HDD 1GB DDR, I used at work connected to our network. And an hp d530 with almost the same specs I used to connect to the Internet through DSL. So this laptop will basically be an 'in between' machine...


Please help me make a decision... Thanks!

 

Hello! Just curious, which country are you from? The Thinkpad specs being sold here seems very similar to what you've posted.

 

Yes, I'm from the Philippines also.

 

If you like XGA then option one would be a good choice.

 

Oh cool! While Thinkpads are great, I think they are not priced to sell in our market as selection is too little but specs are so low for the price.

As a consolation, I have a few friends who have been using Thinkpads over the years and they say that our service center is quite good!

Dude, please check your pm.

 

@jagged,got your pm
Sorry, this would be a company computer (I just have the leisure of choosing the notebook they would issue to me) so we would only deal with local companies and we do not pay cash but checks in 15 or 30 days term. I am not sure if I could make exemptions. Can you tell me how and where you ordered your T60? I can't seem to find stores that deliver internationally.

@ZaZ
You're saying that despite the T60 has relatively low specs, it would still be a good choice over the others?

 

Hi Glentium, you can try euclidcomputers.com as they do international deliveries. I've ordered from before and it was ok. I don't think they accept our credit card though and you may need to do wire transfer payment.

About the T60 I was offering to you, I bought it directly from Lenovo and I can give you the invoice for warranty service. I just asked my US friend to help me with the transaction and ship it here.

For payment, I'm quite flexible so just call me. I deal with companies too and I know buying procedure . However, when the T60 arrives next week w/o any buyer, I will probably just use it and not get a T60p anymore since I really need a computer.

 

Your specs are too high for my needs, I won't get authorization to get that model...
Do you know where is Lenovo's service center here?

BTW, on a sidenote, if I order via net and have it send via UPS or FedEx, how do I pay for the taxes? Will it be included in the courier charges? Sorry, I'm ignorant in these matters?

 

The T60 will offer better performance and battery life if you can live with the XGA screen.

 

glentium,

I know of one, at Digital Hub on 3/F Glorietta Mall. I heard there's another one in Eastwood. Friends say that the IBM service centers are quite good and they will try to fix your computer on the spot. Probably one of the benefits in getting a premium brand. Not sure how many service center's we have nationwide so best call local IBM.

About Fedex/UPS, the courier will usually include the import taxes together with your bill and your company can issue a check to them upon delivery.

 

Thanks ZaZ. If ever, I could live with the XGA screen since, at work, i'll be connecting it to my 21" Samsung monitor.

Thanks for the info, jagged. Funny, Philippines is not one of the options that euclidcomputers ship to when I tried this afternoon...

 

Glentium, I think you can, its just they won't accept our credit cards and you need to use do prepay wire-transfer. Kaso lang may extra charge on both ends. About US$40 more ($20 dito, $20 doon).

 

Just came from PCCorner at Gilmore. Tried using the T60... Wow, I almost bought it! They are giving it to me for 97000 + 7500 to upgrade to 2x512MB.. Sounds good.. seems good enough for my need...

 

T60 at 104500 ?! di nga?! what's the graphics card in there?

 

please read the first post... thanks.

 

glentium, better if they can upsize your HD too. You have to consider the hidden partition Thinkpad uses for recovery and you'll be left with only about 20-25GB of useful space.

 

the harddisk is too much trouble to upgrade and would cost much. I can live with the 40GB for now, coz I have two USB HDD (1x80GB and 1x40GB)... On my current desktop, I'm consuming about 12GB of space for Windows and all my programs (under Program Files). I don't think the recovery partition is using about 15 to 20GB of HDD space, or is it? Anyone with T60 know the exact size of the recovery partition?

 

I was thinking youre losing space immediately due to of Windows OS, drivers, recovery partition, and partitioin loss.

But yeah, I guess HD can be upgraded later but maybe not too soon since few retailers here are selling SATA HD for notebooks.

 

I decided to get an 80GB HDD SATA 150 (I think the biggest capacity mobile SATA HDD available here) as an additional harddisk. I'll replace the HDD myself as most stores charge super extra if you have them upgrade it.
Since the specs are standard to the product, I believe, you still end up paying for the parts you had the stores replaced. (Then they'll sell it to others)
So, now, I'd rather take the unit as is. Then get 1x1GB DDR2 and the 80GB HDD. I'll just get an extra HDD enclosure so I can use the 40GB that came with the T60 as an external HD. Not bad, heh?

 

That would be a much better setup. By the way, which stores here sell SATA notebook HDs and the latest notebook RAMs? How much do they go for nowadays?

Also, is it true that SATA HD enclosure is different from the older PATA ones? Are the connectors different?

 

I saw the 80GB SATA 150 HD at Villman's website. Re notebook RAMs, I think you can get the latest at PC Corner. You can also try Silicon Valley. The 1GB 667MHz should be around 7-8K. Our usual supplier is Silicon Valley, Microphase and ICS (I think ICS is accredited Lenovo partner and Kingston distributor also). They are corporate resellers so we just told them what we need, bahala na sila.
Re SATA and PATA HD connectors, I'm not sure but I remember (I'm trying to search for it) reading in one of the threads that they are compatible. Then again, I'm not sure.

 

Sounds like these guys took care of you, the hard drive and RAM upgrade would've been the first thing I would have recommended, and it sounds like you have a great configuration now. Congrats!

 

Thanks MD!

 

Can you say moire about that? I've been trying desperately to find out how much the higher-res screen and the discrete radeon GPUs diminish battery life. (Weighing against anticipated GPU demands of Vista.)

Thanks