Do Lenovo owners think their notebooks are the best?

Typing speed is measured in words per minute, not words per second. Your claim of 135 words per second comes out to 8100 words per minute. Not possible. Not for one minute or 50 minutes.

/end derail, back to topic.

 

Actually this is more proof that Lenovo's are the best. Their keyboards are so awesome a student can blast out 8100 words per minute on them. I knew I'd bought the best! BTW, I just typed liked a sumb!tch a minute ago, spelling out a stream o' conscience about the beautiful day we had here in Colorado and I still average about 75-80. That lady in Oregon--her fingers must be a blur. I wonder if she does it on a Thinkpad? You think?

 

Seeing as the record was established in 1985, I'd guess it was more likely an IBM Selectric.

 

Lol, I made a mistake. Even then, I can't hold it up forever, so yeah, just ignore whatever I said.

Although I would enjoy typing at 8100wpm.

 

First off, this is my first ever post on the board and I would like to give salutations to everyone. I just found the forum today and have been perusing the information about the Lenovo laptops since my choice is now between Lenovo and Apple. I recently Xed out HP (hard thing for me to do) and Toshiba.

I do have one question about the T61 that hasn't been asked in this thread or any of the others I've read so far. It is regarding the picture on the screen. Apparently, I have read from a few different sources online that the screen is slightly off-center. I hear that it is something that can be considered negligible by some, but it can also be a major nuisance to others. I have to say that I'm the kind of person that falls in the latter category. Little details like that annoy the heck out of me. To all of you who own or have spent considerable time using the T61 model, is this truly the case? If so, is it a huge issue? Does it hinder your work? Does it annoy you? Any information about that would be great.

Also, what issues have any of you noticed, if any? I have heard some people on other forums complain of the dreaded blue screen after just a few uses. Still, others have complained about hardware failure of different kinds. Does any of this stuff hold weight with or sound familiar to any of you?

I am really interested in giving Lenovo a try since I've heard so many good things about them. This will be my first laptop and I want to make a good purchase that will last me some time. I've heard some really good things about the T61 model. I've also heard that the customer service and ordering from Lenovo's site is dreadful, but I guess that's a different topic. I would appreciate any help that I can get from any of you.

 

Let me just tell you that you'd have to be a very nitpicky person (which is alright) to have the off center screen annoy you. The picture itself is not off-center at all; it is the screen.

Example:


Notice the slight difference in the left and right bezel of the LCD screen. This has not been an issue whatsoever and I don't even think about it. Everything is the same as a normal notebook, just the screen slightly shifted to compensate for antennas.

 

I haven't had any problems with hardware failure and the "off center" screen doesn't bother me at all.

 

After having a ThinkPad T43 for years and loving the heck out of it, I decided I was going to try out Dell. I bought two different Dell models and returned them both -- significant build quality problems and display issues. Now I'm back with a Thinkpad and couldn't be happier.

 

Ah, I see now. Thank you for even posting a picture. Believe it or not, this is the best picture I've seen illustrating the off-center screen. Thank you very much.

Thanks for your information as well.

 

Absolutely, positively. ThinkPads are actually REALLY CHEAP when you consider what you get. "Consumer" notebooks don't have hot-swap optical drives, a magnesium frame, or an awesome LCD. The ThinkPad competes with HP's business line and Dell's business line, and it's cheaper and better than both.

I have a T61 14.1" widescreen and it is, by far, the best notebook that I have ever owned or used extensively. I also have an HP 6910p (from my company) which is almost identically configured to my ThinkPad.

Pros for the HP:
- Looks better. The HP looks really, really sharp; the ThinkPad is growing on me but it's not as nice.
- Smaller. The HP is basically the same size but has an internal 6-cell; on the T61 14.1" widescreen the 6-cell sticks out the back.
- Charges faster. The T61 charges in like 60-90 minutes, which is great, but the HP charges to 90% in like 30 minutes which is REALLY helpful when you're traveling and you only get a few minutes to plug in while waiting for your flight.
- Better speakers. The T61 isn't bad, but the 6910 has AWESOME speakers (for a notebook) that are very loud and have decent bass.
- Better battery life. The 6910 goes for 5 hours on the 6-cell; my T61 is more like 3.5. This is because my 6910 has Intel Integrated graphics instead of the Quadro that my ThinkPad has; the T61 gets similar life with Intel graphics.

Pros for the ThinkPad:
- Better keyboard. By far the T61 has the nicer feeling, nicer sounding keyboard. The T61's keyboard is so much better than the 6910's keyboard (which isn't bad) or any other notebook keyboard that it's just not funny. It's tactile without being too loud.
- Better feel. The touchpad on the T61 is textured and lower friction than the smooth touchpad on most notebooks. The front edge on the T61 is angled so it doesn't hurt your wrists. The palm-rest on the T61 is textured and feels great.
- Better screen. Both of my notebooks have 1440x900 14.1" widescreens, but the T61's doesn't have the "dithered" grainy look that the HP has.
- Better graphics. The T61's Quadro NVS 140 is WAY faster, great for older/lower-end games like WoW. It will also drive my 30" 3007wfp (with the dock), unlike the Intel in the HP.
- Better trackpoint. The mouse buttons on the 6910 are kind of mushy; the buttons on the T61 are absolutely excellent. Both the 6910 and the T61 have a pointing stick, but it's uselessly stiff on the 6910. The T61 has a middle mouse button too.
- ThinkLight. Doesn't seem like a big deal but it really comes in handy when you're working late at night; you can use it to look at documents, unlike a backlit keyboard. It helps reduce eyestrain, too.
- Better buttons. The 6910 uses "touch sensitive" volume/mute buttons, which absolutely suck.
- Removable drive. I just have the CD/DVD combo drive, but you can throw a battery or a second hard drive in the T61's bay. I'm thinking of getting a SSD and putting the hard drive in the bay; that way I have the performance of an SSD and the storage of a hard drive.
- The T61 is the QUIETEST computer I have ever used. It's pretty much silent at boot and under normal use, and it stays quiet under prolonged load (WoW, media encoding, etc.), unlike my 6910 or really any other notebook I've used.
- The T61, similarly configured, is $600 less than the 6910

The T61 isn't perfect, and it's not sexy. If you're looking for a style piece you're in the wrong place. If you're looking for a damn fine notebook at a damn fine price, the T61 is where it's at.

Lenovo ThinkPad T61
Core 2 Duo T7200 (2.0GHz 4M L2)
2GB DDR2
Quadro NVS 140m 128M
Hitachi 7k200 7200rpm drive
CD/DVD combo
6-cell battery
$1009

HP Compaq 6910p
Core 2 Duo T7200 (2.0GHz 4M L2)
2GB DDR2
Intel GMA X3100
Hitachi 5k100 5400rpm drive
DVD-RW
6-cell battery
$1409

 

bsoft Great writeup. Thanks.

 

Pretty much everyone thinks THEIR laptop brand is the best one..... gotta try to justify that 2000$+ expense...

 

Well, since u use the term 'top', then it's not really that difficult. To top 100 wpm means to touch it, for any decent length of time. I am 100% sure that I can 'top' 100 wpm.

And as for the misspelled words thing, I first learned type using Microsoft Word 2000. It taught me accuracy in a way nothing else ever could.

 

I have a T60. When I got it I thought it was great. Now... not so much. I am looking to leave the realm of windows all together and go for a macbook pro later this year. ThinkPads are decent though, I think I may have just gotten a bad machine.

 

Hi,

I have been wandering this site for a week or so. Trying to make a decision about a new computer. I have a Dell Inspiron at the moment, which is on it's last legs at 5 yrs old and I am anxious to replace before it goes completely. I came this close to ordering a T61 about a week ago and a few concerns stopped me. I am happy to read this post from happy T61 users.

I wanted an Apple, but cost and connecting to work were problems I haven't gotten past. Tech support is my priority, and according to reports I have read Lenovo is supposed to second behind Apple. I am wondering if that was true before Lenovo took over IBM, but maybe it is too early to tell if that will continue to be true. I do see some threads here reporting that when there have been issues, Lenovo is not quick to acknowledge and some arm twisting has been necessary for them to take responsibility and to get replacement parts.

Because of that, I started checking out Dell. I could not dispute that Dell has more hardware problems, but we have had one for 5 yrs and have not had to spend any money out of pocket and they readily replaced motherboard, g card, monitor, onsite and with minimal trauma. But after just pouring over the first 11 pages of the Dell forum here, I am just very fearful that a Dell could turn out to be a nightmare.

So...back to Lenovo consideration..lol. I am going to give myself whiplash soon. I was very happy to see the off center screen explained earlier...that one was bothering me. I thought the 'picture' was off center, which would have driven me crazy. So, after that one is not such a big deal...the issues with Lenovo that are still on my mind...

The Wireless Woes thread on this forum
The concerns about quality of the screen, which is important to me due to heavy photo use.
Potential tech support reluctance to take responsibility for probs with the computer and needing arm twisting to get repairs/replacements

Negative experience with a Lenovo salesperson that told me I only had a few days to take advantage of a quote and now I see I have 30 days, now I am not sure I can get the price I had before.

I am a big trackball fan and have no idea why they took them off other machines. I have arm and wrist problems and the trackball really makes navigating the keyboard the easiest on me.

If any T61 owners...especially any that have made purchases since Lenovo took over IBM...that could address any of these issues, I would appreciate it.

adam [who also cannot type 8000 wpm (g)]

 

Yo, adamm321--you only have to say you type 8000 wpm. That's the same as actually doing it if you believe it! I really think the guy (?) who says he can in fact does not know what he's saying, it's that simple. As far as your T61 purchase, I like mine but I'm one of the newbie notebook owners so don't listen to me. Or do, if you want a great machine.

 

I don't read the Dell forum a lot, but I'm guessing most of the problems are from home users who chose home or budget-level Dells.

If you choose a Dell Latitude D630/D830, or a Precision Workstation, you'll get a great quality machine. Built solid, and their business level support has been great. I stand watch over a lot of Dell systems, and I firmly believe their D630 and D830 (and Precision workstations based on the same chassis) are the best designs Dell has ever done.

That said, I just picked up a ThinkPad T61 because the price was unbeatable. Which is really surprising to me, but right now Lenovo just seems to have some incredible deals. After I do a price match this week, I'll have a full-featured T61 with discrete graphics for a grand. Dell couldn't match that, and HP's business laptops couldn't either. I've only just received it, so I can't give a full report on it yet, but I'm typing this post on it, and the keyboard is absolutely superlative, and the LCD is as good as it gets too (maybe I just got the best LCD panel on the line that day).

 

Well, I know there were some good deals with Lenovo but not sure there are any left. My problem now seems to be that because I am not sure of what I need, I over compensate and try to configure the best machine and then it is pretty expensive. I have made the mistake in the past of not having enough Ram and everything ran slow. I also multi task a lot so I need enough performance to do that. I also want to run Photoshop E6. Use spreadsheets.

So...I was looking at putting a dedicated graphics card with 256MB and a hard drive w 7200rpms, a Duo core processor, not sure which is the sweet spot for me. RAM, I would love 4MB but can't afford it and would try to stick to 2GB. Then I want to add 3yr on site, recordable DVD. By the time I am done...lol...I am up around $2,000 before discounts.

Any suggestions for how I can pack in the most for the least? Anything I could leave out that won't make that much difference?

Thanks..
adam

 

Spotburner, you are funny! [g] Enjoy your wit.

Lonewolf, thanks for the suggestions on the Dell. If I get back there I will be sure to take a look at those systems.

adam

 

Sorry...I forgot, I also collect mp3s and want to copy VHS tapes to DVDs and scan old photos into the hard drive. Will those two activities require any particular hardware needs?

Thanks..last post..lol.
adam

 

drop the ram to the minimum config and get it at an online reseller like newegg. you can get 4gb of ram for around $50 - $60, instead of the 100+ lenovo charges.

 

With laptops the items you want to go as high as you can are:

Graphic Card
CPU
Monitor (pick the resolution you prefer)

Those are things impossible or not easily upgraded

Like wuzertheloser says, RAM can be gotten elsewhere. Hard drives can be easily upgraded as well.

 

It's not that they think their notebooks are the best...it's that they KNOW their notebooks are the best!

 

Requirements --a large hard disk drive (preferably a 7200rpm version), a DVD burner, and an analog-to-IEE1394(Firewire) converter box, such as the Sony DVMC-DA1 or DVMC-DA2, pictured here:

http://www.videomaker.com/article/7571/

Because the Thinkpad has a mini-firewire port (these don't provide power over FireWire) you will need the AC adapter for the converter as well, which may be an additional purchase. This box converts the analog outputs on your VCR into digital that can go through the FireWire port.

You may also be able to find an ExpressCard that has analog video connections; I haven't worked with any of these, though I have worked with the Sony boxes in a Macintosh environment (they work for both Mac and PC, no drivers needed). They aren't cheap --I think they cost us $300 apiece, but they work very well. You may need to go to Ebay now to find them, I didn't see anyone who had new ones for sale.

There are also some analog-to-USB converters. I think the FireWire ones often work better, but the USB ones are cheaper and easier to find. Pinnacle makes the Dazzle Digital Video Creator line, and Plextor (who I'd choose, though they cost more) makes the ConvertX and the PX-AV200U (ConvertX is a DVR too, the PX-AV200U is capture only). Plextor is a solid brand; I think you'd have more luck with their product.

You'll need software to take the video in and work with it. The Plextor may come with rudimentary software. For how little I transcribe VCR to DVD, I usually use an old version of Nero (I'm crotchety, I still think 6.6 was their last, best version, versions 7 & 8 are bloatware). I took content from two VHS tapes and a DVD and made them into chapters for a single DVD for the employer of a parent awhile back for a medical waiting room, and it worked out well.

As usual, processor horsepower helps when taking video in and encoding it to MPEG-2 for burning to DVD. Good to have some RAM for the procedure, though more than 2GB isn't necessary unless you're running Vista.

Hope this helps. Sorry for the long winded post, but it's definitely a detailed process.

 

Thank you all for great input. I was thinking I need the 7200rpm hard drive and I will keep that and not change it. Will stick to the 2MB RAM and get the best screen and keep the 256MB video card.

Well...I wish they would make some new device that would allow easy transfer of VHS to DVD. Thanks Lone Wolf for the link and the explanation helped.

adam

 

Well, I don't think mine is the best but it's what I like the most. If that means anything.

 

I got my T61 with the 14.1" wxga screen. I work at a place that sells the Sony SZ's right along side the MacBook Pro.

I've sold the SZ to more than a few people. Hell even a few I know personally, and I see the laptop quite often.

My thinkpad trounces the competition.

A 15.4" Macbook Pro base model is what $2200 canadian. Gets you a T7500 2.2ghz proc, 1GB of ram, 120GB(5400rpm) HDD, a 128mb 8600m, a single 34mm expresscard slot... Fixed battery size as well, and aluminum overplastic doesn't make it tough... Webcam built in with LED backlight.

A 13.3" Sony SZ which is now $2000, Gets you the same 2.2gz, 2GB of ram, 250GB(4200rpm) HDD, 8400M 64MB or Intel onboard, same small expresscard slot, with the addition of a onboard "Memory Stick" slot. Carbon Fibre body with Magnesium Skeleton/wrist rest. Better able to take cold temps and general life than the Macbook, also upgradeable battery. Webcam built in, with LED backlight.

Well right now... The Sony already tromps the MBP...

For $1500 I got:

Thinkpad T61, T7300 2.0ghz, 1GB(one stick = cheap upgrade), 80gb 5400rpm HDD, 128MB 8400GT(NVS140M), 14.1" Widescreen 1440x900, roll cages, silent cpu cooling solution, 3years of warranty + accident damage, Ultrabay with a DVD burner in it, intel turbo memory(Sony has this too), glass screen overlay, MIMO antennae, I also got the upgrade 6cell Sanyo battery as thrown in. It has the PCMCIA and a dual purpose expresscard 34mm or 54mm slot. No Webcam(I never use one anyways), and it is CCFL backlit.

I spent $250 and I put in a 200GB 7200RPM 16MB Sata drive, and it has 4GB of ram.

So here's the cost tallies:

Apple: $2200 + applecare $400 = $2600(no accident coverage)

Sony: $2000 + 3yr warranty $330 = $2330(no accident coverage)

Lenovo: $1500 + upgrades $250 = $1750(3yr warranty +accident)

Battery life:

MacbookPro: 2hrs

SZ-650: 3.5hours(on the 8400), 4.5hours in stamina mode

T61: 3.2hours on a creative power plan...

Which do you think is the best bang for the buck?

 

Your Mac info is a bit dated. From apple.ca:

MacBook Pro 15" 2.4 GHz
* 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 2GB memory
* 200GB hard drive1
* Double-layer SuperDrive
* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB

Ships: Within 24 hours
Free Shipping
$2,099.00

3-yr applecare for about $200 on ebay

Not sayin' that's a better deal, i'm just sayin'

...and the Mac's battery lasts much longer than 2 hours, sorry. (Apple claims up to 5 hrs)

 

harsh comments?

I dont get it , I just wrote my own experience with Lenovo(noting is emotional) , and I recently changed my opinion as Lenovo seems trying so hard to improve its customer service(not at all IBM level though), my work got free laptops from Lenovo as we asked them to replace our broken lappies(actually 3).

But dont worry , I am done with Lenovo and will never come here(since I dont have any emotional feeling for them any more ) , for my work , I do let tehm buy whatever since its not my money but if it were my money, I would like to get a HP.

Dont get me wrong , I am not saying Lenovo is bad , just overpriced in Asia, if I were in US, I 'd consider it but now I am outa there.

That's all, I dont think you guys buy a thinkpad if it is priced like it is here in US too.

A T61 with T8300, 1gb ram , xp sp2 , 120gb hdd, 3945bg costs 67800baht here , it is like 2400US ,I would not buy it cause HPs are much cheaper here , that's it.

So please do not take it emotionally, I am talking about a deal , that's all not anything personal.

 

Yeah, I paid around $1150 delivered for a better build than that to Denver, CO, US of A. I remember a car comparison writeup in some magazine. The editors drove similar-use cars for a week and one of them was just a little better so they voted for that one. When told the other cars cost in the low $20's and the "best" one cost $14k more they all said "well, heck, that changes everything!".

 

Go to the lenovo outlets. I ordered a 15.4 inch T61 with the 256mb video card,2gb ram,100gb 7200rpm,2.2Ghz C2D processor, and the 9 cell batt. only costed me 850 dollars.

I bought mine because the Price was incredible and I love the design of the laptop. The only better looking laptop is a MBP.

 

Great Machine! The keyboards are definetly the Best on the Market!

It's Up There in Look, Fit, Form & Performance! Hell my Machine Rocks!!!

Got ThinkPad!!

Sircas

 

haha..i dunno about the looks department...but they are definitely functional, and durable

 

I prefer the minimalist, clean, professional look.

My Lenovo rocks it destroys the XPS M1530 that my friend has.