Which to keep - T61 or R61?

Hi, just need a bit of advice. I'm a big fan of Thinkpad's and recently acquired a refurbished Thinkpad R61e just before October for my new job which i'm using at the moment and loving it. However one day I was a bit bored and did a curious bid on a T61 on ebay, I did a bid of £370 for a month old T61 which I thought would never win since the T series on average fetch well over £450 at least, but I manage to win it in the end though! I heard alot of good things about the T series, I wanted one initially but didn't have the budget at the time to stretch so got the R61e which I adore. Ideally I love to keep both but financially in the long term I can only keep one so just seeing what other people would suggest. Here are the specs and price I got for them.

Choice A - Refurb Lenovo Thinkpad R61e 7650 - Got it for £380

Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 - 2.1Ghz
3GB DDRII RAM (currently upgraded from 2GB)
160GB Hard Drive
Intel X3100 Integrated Graphics
Intel Wireless
DVD+/-RW Drive
15.4" LCD (1280x800)
Integrated Bluetooth
Trackpoint only
1 year warranty

Choice B - Used (1 month) Lenovo Thinkpad T61 7659 - Got it for £370

Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 - 2Ghz
1GB DDRII RAM (Got spare 1GB module so easily can upgrade to 2GB)
80GB Hard Drive
Intel X3100 Integrated Graphics
Intel Wireless
DVD-ROM/CD-RW Drive
14.1" LCD (1280x800)
Integrated Bluetooth
Integrated fingerprint reader
Ultranav
3 years warranty

Just like to ask, despite the same display resolution will I notice a severe difference between 14.1" to 15.4"? I only tend to use my Thinkpad for office work and internet browsing though I do the odd graphics designing and multimedia playing (not a pc gamer though). I tend to think which one would be good for the long term, any advice from T61 (or R61 owners ) would be appreciated. Hopefully can upload some pics of the two together once I receive the T61.

 

t61 FTW

 

I would keep the T61 because of portability and longer warranty.

 

The T61 is a better built machine (lighter, stronger, better battery life). Your R61 has marginally better specs (bigger HD, more RAM, slightly faster, DVD Burner, trackpoint only [This actually is an upgrade because you have a clean palmrest]) but I would still recommend the T61. More RAM (2GB should be fine) and/or a larger hard drive for the T61 would make it great. Additionally the DVD±RW from the R61 may fit in the T61 (although the T61 uses a slim drive, and the R61 may use a standard so maybe not), I am pretty sure both are hot swappable, so give that a try. The smaller screen should not be a problem, both are the same resolution and 14.1" is plenty big to make 1280x800 readable (in fact 12.1" is big enough for that).

 

Thanks for the advice guys, seems the T61 is really favourable. Can't wait to get it now!

 

Agreed! T61 baby! And take Jon's advice and try to do a parts swap. You'll have a very nice machine for a really great price that will last for a long time!

 

T61 because you have a 15.4" R61, which doesn't have the top cover rollcage. If it were a 14.1" R61, it would be a toss up between the two.

 

Another vote for the T61 here, they're nice machines.

 

before you sell the R61,

swap the RAM
swap the HDD
swap the DVD+/-RW

 

Yes, swap the RAM, HDD & DVD+/-RW to the T61.

Seriously the T series are the premium Thinkpads, you should not hesitate to make the change.

 

T61 and you can upgrade ram HDD later on.

 

You can't swap the optical drives. The R61e's drive is not modular like the T61s and it's too big height wise.

I guess it would depend on whether you need any mobility. If you do, the T61 seems a better choice, but if it's on your desk all the time the R61e I think offers better value. Perhaps you can re-sell the T61 for more than you paid for it.

 

Like he said. Keep the T61, but swap the RAM and HDD first onto the T61.

 

Yep swap those over.

 

Seems the T61 is a clear winner, I thought the disparity between the R and T series is very small but I guess from the comments they're two completely different breeds.

I thought the same too as R series uses Ultrabay Enhanced than Ultrabay Slim the T series use. I'm happy with the DVD/CD-RW combo anyway so no fret about that guys!

 

The R series uses a standard 12.7mm height drive like most other notebooks whereas the T series uses a 9.5mm height drive. That's why it's slimmer than most other notebooks. The R61e's optical drive is secured to the chassis and cannot be taken out like a modular drive.