Z61m experiences/problems?

hello peeps

im considering getting a z61m but have been discouraged by some posts about reliability issues, overheating, etc.

is the z61m a reliable laptop are there any known defects?

i will be using it mainly for programming/browsing/word processing - does the high native resolution make the text a little too small?

are there any other issues with it?

thanks for any experiences/comments

 

I thought the review model I had was very good, but I only had it about three weeks.

 

thanks for the reply Zaz.

i should also mention that in the store that i went to z61m on display had "up to 512mb vram" on its label. when i asked the lenovo rep what that meant he said it was 256mb ati radeon x1400 and 256mb shared, although there was no way to show this using the built in utilities.

is there such a configuration for the z61m?

i think the product code was z61m ua0hxx.

i may watch the occasional dvd if i buy the z61m, is the screen resolution suitable for that?

thanks

 

no overheating issues here... mine totally stays cool, not even warm. playing BF1942 sometimes makes it warm,because i'm plugged in whenever i play.

so quiet. no harddrive whine or any noise.

i have this minor problem... software... because i'm using mcafee antivirus enterprise v.8 ... and that is old... i sometimes have BSOD whenever i open 10 windows/programs at ones. memory dump... grr...

the text size is small, but not to a point where you are staring on your screen trying to see texts. reasonable size for me. others say it is small, but for me it is just the right size as the text looks clear to me.
yep, it says 512MB video ram, but i think that is only 128MB dedicated +128 shared. don't know where the other 256MB came from. never seen an x1400 256MB.

DVD watching is great. but be wary that the speakers are not top-notch in terms of sound reproduction. external speakers may help you with that

 

paqtrick, there are 256MB ati radeons - i have seen them on some dell models, 6400 i think.

the main pro of a thinkpad is the build quality, screen - i prefer a matt screen.

just wondering about how small the text is, is it uncomfortable for rigorous daily use? im used to a 19inch syncmaster at 1280 x 1024

can the built in wifi support 802.11 thru a software upgrade?

in Zaz's review the DVD write test showed that there were errors towards the end of the DVD, not exactly a good point on such a pricey laptop.

thanks

 

i think those cards are the ones i know, 50/50 dedicated/shared to create 256mb.

i really do not know about adjusting from a 19-inch screen to a 15in screen. maybe they'll differ on how far you will be on your screen to notice any difference.

802.11n thru software? hmmm.. i think not.

 

There are no X1400s with 256MB of dedicated memory, the maximum is 128. Antything else on top of that is shared memory (up to 512 depending on the drivers and amount of RAM). This card just doesn't need more than 128 MB of dedicated VRAM and the shared memory doesn't help performance.

The X1400 in the z61m is 128MB of dedicated + up to 512MB of HyperMemory.

I haven't had any problems with the ThinkPad z61m nor do I think I will have... and you will have hard time to find anything more reliable than a ThinkPad...

As for the screen resolution, that's a personal preference, so the best you can do is to check it out in person.

 

Have had my Z61m since 12/26 and am running Windows Vista on it. No problems with the machine at all! Quality is excellent and the keyboard (NMB) is positively gorgeous! Did not believe that a laptop keyboard could be this good

Have had a couple of minor issues with the Lenovo issued ATI X1400 driver causing screen corruption when coming out of Sleep or Hibernate. These have gone away after I installed the drivers from the ATI website. Some of the other Lenovo software (Thinkvantage) have caused problems, but this is to be expected since these are still beta software.

My ATI X1400 has 128 MB on board and as far as I know, this is the max amount of dedicated RAM on this graphics card. However, it does seem to pull in much more of system RAM than I thought it was supposed to. Currently, it seems to be using 763 MB or system RAM for a total Graphics memory of 891 MB - and I'm not complaining

No other issues with this laptop...this is my first ThinkPad and other than the unusually long wait to get it, I do not regret my decision one bit! These ThinkPads are addictive though...I've had many other laptops, but now, once you get a ThinkPad, you will keep going back to them

 

dreamer - sorry but this site says otherwise,

although it still doesnt answer the question of how much dedicated vram does the z61m come with.

could someone please download and run Sisoft Sandra to find out?

i browsed the net for a short while on the z61m and what a difference 1680 x 1050 makes, with most websites optimised for 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768 it leaves a lot of margin space! how do you z61m owners find it?

thanks

 

Thank you for the link and now again, there are no X1400s with 256MB of dedicated memory, the maximum is 128MB.

128MB of dedicated video memory.

Period.

 

heh yeah after looking at this site i would agree.

can the graphics card be replaced with a higher spec model?

 

the mobile video cards are not upgradable, if that's what you're asking for...

 

Just thought I'd chime in with my opinions.

I've had the z61m since September 06, and I've had no problems with it at all. It's very well built and dead quite. I've occasionally heard loud noises from the optical drive upon putting a new disc in, but it only lasts for 1 or 2 seconds.

The resolution was too high and the text too small for me initially, since I came from a desktop with a 15inch LCD with a resolution of 1024x768. However, I've since grown used to it and I love it! If the high resolution really is a problem with you, you can always increase your DPI setting to make the text a bit bigger.

The only real complaint I've had is that the keyboard can be a little loud when typing enthusiastically (I have the NMB keyboard). However, the feel is really great and it's very easy to type on with good key feedback. So taking that into account, the noise is only one VERY minor issue.

If you're only going to use the laptop for programming/browsing/typing/occasional DVD, then have you considered the z61t?