Z61t first impressions

I ordered a Z61t on 11/29 and it arrived on 12/20. I've had some time to play with it and can now offer my initial impressions of the device, as well as some suggestions for "cleaning up" the factory install.

First, the device. I ordered the 9440-D9U, basically fully loaded. This model was far cheaper than any other model in the EPP sale, even models with seemingly identical configurations. I got the T7200 2.0 GHz, 14.1" 1440x900, 1GB RAM, 120GB HD, Finger/Cam, Bluetooth, XP Pro, 7 cell batt, DVD+CDRW, and MS Office for $1377.

Strangely enough, the stickers on the bottom give indications that this unit was prepared for the Singapore market. The XP Certificate says "Windows XP Professional Lenovo Singapore" and the "made in" note says "Manufactured for Lenovo (Singapore) Pte Ltd." Weird.

The unit is pretty solid. Definitely the most solid PC notebook I've used, but not quite up to par with my previous Powerbook G4. I could carry that around with the LCD open, by gripping the wrist rest with one hand, easily. If I try that with the Z61t, the plastic flexes and gives. The Powerbook construction is just a little more solid. The Thinkpad keyboard is good though. As good, if not better, than the Powerbook.

There is too much bloatware installed from the factory, and the fingerprint scanner is completely useless. I was able to get the hang of getting a good, consistent read, but you have to do it so slowly and carefully it's just easier to type a password. After realizing this, and noticing how slow everything is from the factory (I don't care what benchmarks say, if you're sitting around waiting while the system is "Checking the status of the embedded security chip" for 30 seconds or more before you can log in, it's annoying and unacceptable) I decided to attempt a "clean" install.

I loaded the ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery console and performed a Custom Recovery, unchecking ALL options except the ThinkVantage system update. I then used the System Update to install the latest version of Access Connections (I didn't want to do this, but this was the only way I could figure out how to turn on the bluetooth radio). I ignored all other recommendations for non-critical ThinkVantage software. Also, very important, I ignored ALL setup wizards for the Client Security Solution, canceling out of them as soon as they popped up. Despite unchecking all options during the custom recovery, CSS, Password Manager, and Fingerprint Software were still installed by default. I promptly uninstalled these. I then installed all recommended Windows updates and configured XP to be as Windows "Classic" as possible. It's amazing how much faster and reliable my system performs now! No slow load times for login, no quirky wireless access issues.

In conclusion, I'm really happy with the Z61t and the performance/features it offers for the price. It did take a little over a day and a few complete system installs to get the system "right" in my opinion, but in the end I feel the system is much better now.

 

Enjoy it

 

Good to hear your happy with the machine.

 

when you did the thinkvantage recovery console, does this mean you reformatted and reinstalled windows? or is it possible to remove the bloatware without a reinstall

 

rhizopad...from searching previous threads i saw that u were the one who also had an extra gig of ram in ur invoice, u never said if u got it or not can u confirm this.

thanks