t61 owners: satisfied?

Hey all, I'm thinking about buying a thinkpad t61 for use in college, but I frequently see complaints on this board from users who have t61. They report problems such as the BSOD and other things. So, are these lemon thinkpad t61s a rarity or are they commonplace among the t61 thinkpads? If they are, I might just go for the r61--not too big of a difference for me.

 

I received mine this past Monday, so far 100% satisfied.

 

Are there any people who used to think T60 was superior to T61 (last ibm build etc.), then after using T61 changed their mind? I'd really like to know! Can you really feel any advantages of T61 over T60 (e.g. cooling, quiet, speed...)?

 

Don't believe them even if they tell you. T60 was built by Lenovo as well.

There is absolutely no evidence that the T60 is better and was built by IBM. People just like to create drama and says these things. If anything, T61s are better.

Keep in mind people who come here usually have some kind of complaints. People who have their T61s in perfect condition have no reason come here and complain. Hence the problem is magnified @ NBR.

 

Mine has been spot on.

 

I know how you feel. I ordered one last week, and started regretting it when I kept reading the forums. But that's the way it is. People come on forums to complain.

Do a search for T61 Satistfaction .. There's a whole thread about people satisfied with their purchases.

 

Mine's fine. Check out these polls for people's opinions too.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=135664&highlight=t61+satisfaction
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=142897&highlight=t61+satisfaction

 

I haven't seen any complaints about T60. All the comments I've found are in praise of T60.

 

I use my T61 everyday for business and pleasure and it is outstanding. Night and day better than the Dell it replaced.

 

I am sure there are. You just have to go down the older threads.

My guess is that since T61 is the newer model, people currently are getting the newer models. Hence there is more talk about the newer models.

 

Remember these polls are biased. And these opinions are neither right nor wrong.

 

When did T60 first come out?

 

Well there are reviews from 1.5 years ago.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2702

 

I felt the same way. I ordered mine (T61, T7300, 14.1" wxga+, XP, etc.) on 7/22 and got it on 7/31 and after reading some of the comments, I got a mild sense of buyer's remorse before it even arrived.

I have had a T42 and T60 and now a T61 (as well as Dell D630 and D420 for work). Although the D420's size is sweet...I definitely prefer the TP's. My T61's LG LCD looks fine and the computer hums. Now, I cannot speak for Vista on a T61.

I will definitely need several more weeks to give a more accurate impression. Try to take some of the postings with a grain of salt....people tend to post issues more than accolades.

 

Apparently that's what floats the OP's boat. He wants to see NBR opinion, so I show him links to NBR opinion. You seem to think NBR opinion can validate which brand of laptop is better. That foolishness is on you.

 

Here's my 2-minute review of my brand new T61:

Good:
- Great size and weight, general appearance. The rubberized finish on the outside provides good grip and the IBM logo looks great. I ripped off the cheesy Intel/MS stickers.
- My T7300 is fast, even with Vista (2G RAM, and after Vista64 install)
- Runs fairly cool, very quiet
- Keyboard is awesome, possibly the best thing about it (and I'm a keyboard snob.)
- Screen is comparable to other 1440x900 screens I've seen, even a Mac owner said "Wow, that's really lifelike!" There is some light leakage, but I haven't yet seen anything better in this resolution.
- The included Thinkvantage buttons and software really are a good added bonus, especially the Power Manager.

Not so good:
- Fit & finish is just ok. It is not good compared to my HP nc6400 business laptop (also 1440x900), but it is better than the $299 specials you see at Office Depot. (No warped chassis, no squeaky bezel, etc, as others here have reported.) On my machine the left LCD latch is rather loose, not really something you'd expect in a business class machine. If you want a machine with better build quality, look at an HP nc6910p (nc6400 no longer produced), a Sony, or an Apple - but all of those will also cost hundreds more.

So, don't believe all the naysayers claiming every T61 is a lemon, but it's not the perfect laptop either.

 

Were there a lot of preloaded unnecessary programs running when you turned it on?

 

Yes, and the first boot took probably 10 minutes. I can see why people complain that these machines are slow. (To be fair, once it had booted the speed was good.) But that's all part of the fun in buying a Windows laptop - you get to tweak it! If you don't like tweaking, get a mac....

 

I'll add my affirmation for the T61. I've had it now for about three weeks. Right now I'm setting up a Toshiba Tecra M8 for a colleague. It's a nice machine, but the keyboard is not one I'd like to use for extensive work (the T61 keyboard is, as so many have said, is great).

My only complaints (minor) are that the screen brightness is relatively low (compared to the Tecra M8 or an HP DV1000) and there is not much volume on the sound. The microphone also doesn't seem to be sensitive.

 

Alot of the kids who complain here just got out of diapers and never owned a laptop before. The T61 is a really good machine. I've owned HP's, Compaq's, Dells and a Toshiba. The ThinkPad T61 is the best of the bunch, by far.

 

That's unfair because some people really did have problems. I will agree though that the assumption that the issues are widespread is stupid as hell.

 

Actually it's quite foolish of you (especially after that long debate yesterday) to think that I think NBR opinion can validate which brand is better.

 

When a person essentially says:

"NBR's general conensus is that T61 is better. So why should I get an inferior D630?"

The person thinks NBR's general consensus validates that the D630 is better. If that's not what you meant, then you need to sharpen up your English skills.

 

100% satisfied.

 

Why did you quote me when when I never said that exact statement? What is conensus?

Looks you need to sharpen your English skills or maybe comprehension skills?

Regardless, we are going way off topic. But since you already went this far. Here I'll quote my self.

"My main argument was that HERE AT NBR.COM, most would agree that a T61 is better than a D630. Now I don't care if NBR is right or wrong, but if someone was looking for an opinion from NBR, NBR collectively would point to a T61."

The OP of this thread is doing the same thing of the OP of that (dell vs. lenovo thread). They posted @ NBR. Just like you gave him the polls, I pretty much did the same thing. Maybe I wasn't clear about my intention in my very first post in that thread, but I made it VERY CLEAR later.

Now did I come to the conclusion that a T61 is better than a D630 (my opinion)?
1)Research
2)Looking at both lappys side by side
3)Talking to the owners of both lappys
4)NBR
5)Reviews from all the major magazines

NBR was part of my little research, but no one should look at NBR and form their opinion based solely on NBR. When I bought mine, I got the cheaper price and it fit my style more...so I went with the T61.

 

Let's stay on topic then. But next time, don't bring that discussion up with you snide comments or I will call you out in return and I could care less what the topic is.

 

Snide comments? I didn't say anything until you started calling my assumptions (assumptions that you made up) foolish and questioned my knowledge of English.

 

That was annoying to no end, added nothing to the thread, and only served to try to "contradict" me for suggesting the OP take a look at T61 satisfaction polls. Now, please, STOP bringing this up.

 

Very pleased. T7300 + 2 GB RAM.

Now if Vista worked as slick as it looks, this would be the perfect laptop.

(Obviously can't blame Lenovo for Vista's shortcomings but can't help but notice how much faster XP loads applications on the old laptop I gave to my wife).

 

Fair enough. However, I was not trying to annoy you; rather, I was actually joking about the whole rather intense opinion discussion yesterday (more of an inside joke, I guess).

Regardless, back to the subject. The only thing I am not happy about Lenovo so far is the shipping date. But then again shipping date has nothing to do with the physical laptop itself.

So if you really need the laptop now, I suggest ordering a WXGA screen (apparently upgrading that feature delays the shipping).

 

Or get a 15.4" WSXGA+. Mine got shipped in 5 days!

 

ahaha thanks guys, I ordered my T61 (sans WXGA+) 2 days ago. The ESD is 8/21, but I'm hoping it gets here earlier =P

 

Mine was 8/16, and it shipped 8/3. I think things are running much more smoothly now. (excluding the WXGA+ fiasco)

 

I ordered mine (matching all the specs you posted earlier) before you, and I'm still waiting .

 

Once mine comes in like 3 years I'll update this post.

 

I'm also pretty much satisfied. The build quality is good, theres a few very small creaks here and there but its only when you pick it up with one hand. The palm rest could use some reinforcement, above the ultrabay could also be better.

The screen could be better though, the brightness can be uneven, mostly on the sides when looking at solid colored screen (deadpixel buddy). Theres a good amount of light bleed but unnoticeable unless you're looking at a pitch black screen/background. All this isn't unusual for a TN matte notebook screen though (TN is the cheapest and oldest technology compared to MVA, PVA and IPS).

Very good notebook overall, I'd much rather have this screen then put up with the reflective glossy crap that other notebooks have.

 

Man, in that case, I don't know how their system works. Doesn't make any sense. Hopefully yours ships soon.