X61 any flaws?

Hi, I am planning on purchasing the X61 soon (using visaperks).

I was wondering if X61 had any flaws like dell laptops that I should be aware of.

Also, it has no optical drive, so will the laptop come with some form of external optical drive or would I have to purchase it in addition to the laptop?

Thanks in advance

 

You'll need to purchase an external drive separately.

 

Oh I see.... Do I have to buy it from Lenovo or can I just go to circuit city or Future Shop?

 

Any USB external drive will work.

 

or you could get a dock for it that snaps on the underside, its much more versatile because you can put another hard drive or battery in the cdrom bay, and it gives you good speakers and extra ports, and X61's only real flaw is that it doesnt have dedicated graphics.. if it did it'd be perfect

 

I think the low resolution is the biggest kill.

second would be heat

 

low resolution and no touchpad... i cant use the red dot

 

jor i agree with you about the screen resolution but i don't know what you mean by heat. The heat is in normal parameters. (a little bit hotter where the wireless card but not that hot)

As for the optical drive I bought an external one for about 60 $

except the resolution and a little lose battery there are no other flaws. from 1 to 10 I would give it a 9,9.

 

Does x61 have the switch on the front to turn off the radios (wifi, bluetooth etc...)

 

I had no heat problem with my X60s. But I've heard so many people complaining about their X60/X61, how hot the right palmset can get.

Yeah, my biggest concern was the low resolution. 1024 X 768.... that's awful.

 

Yes.

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I am thinking about gettin a X61 as well..though Kevin(who reviewed the x61 here) says the screen is crap...as in bad viewing angles and contrast..is this true still? or maybe just on screen panels at the start?

 

I can attest to that the ThinkPad screen is pretty crappy.

 

I don't think the screen is crappy... Pretty sure mine is a samsung too because its not super bright. But plenty bright and plenty sharp.

I read in a couple reviews where people were reporting under 5 hours battery life with the 8-cell. I am getting 8+ hours with wireless off and screen brightness at about 35%, under Vista. About 6+ with moderate wireless usage as well.

Very satisfied with my x61. The only thing that bugs me is that the x3100 vista drivers are really bad right now, mostly because TnL isnt functioning properly.

*edit*
Is it possible to get a higher resolution than 1024x768 on a 12.1 inch screen? wouldn't that be hard to read?

Concerning the palm area, mine has never gotten noticeably hot. Even while gaming it doesn't bother me.

 

Plenty of 12.1'' widescreens have a higher resolution than XGA. I'm not sure about standard screens though. I have a feeling the next X series are going to have widescreens since standard screens are becoming more expensive to make.

 

If you often work at your desk, I would recommend you to get the X6 Ultrabase docking station along with the Super Multi-Burner Ultrabay Slim Drive (long name) which is swappable with i.e. a hard drive. It can be used on the go as well drawing power directly from the battery, but it makes the notebook become quite bulky.

My X61 came with the X6 Ultrabase and the DVD burner, but you can buy it separately as well. Both items are readily available through Lenovo or i.e. eBay/Amazon.

If you often need to access an optical drive on the go, I would buy an USB DVD drive, as Sp00n suggested as well. Just make sure to get one which can draw its power directly from the USB port without needing an electrical socket. The Lenovo USB DVD burner has this ability, but many other drives do as well. Plextor has a nice one. It does not match aesthetically, but the drive is a good one.

 

Two questions,

I've read a lot about turbomemory causing BSOD, was it fixed?

I'm planing to buy a X61s but I'm not sure if should buy with or without turbomemory.

Also several people had mentioned crappy screen, does it apply to the UltraLight screen?

Thanks,

 

I don not see any flaws.

I love my x61s