First impressions, T61

I received my t61 14” widescreen yesterday morning and am just about done setting it up. I thought I would share some initial thoughts. First, the two day shipping and was originally scheduled to be delivered last friday, but according to ups, my “order experienced an exception” and was delayed. Evidently, it happens all the time. The machine was simply but reasonably packed in two pieces of foam and a cardboard accessory box. The specs are t9300, 1 gb, 1 dimm, (added a 2 gb dimm for 3 gb total), vista home premium, nvida 140m, 160gb 7200rpm HD, DVD Burner, 1440x900, (LG), thinkpad 11 abg, bluetooth, and 6 cell.

Taking it out of the box was quite exciting as I noticed how light it is compared to my old dell 6000d 15”. It is just about the same footprint as my even older g4 powerbook 800dvi, only much lighter. How apple ever got a 15” in that case is amazing. The top has kind of a smooth plastic/rubbery felling going on, but overall looks and feels good. The hinges are nicely tight and well, new. Ditto keyboard. The palm rest are the only part of the outer case that doesn't seem to scream with quality. The trackpad is small but sensitive and I've never had a pointer before so we'll see.

Coming from a 15” wsxga+, the screen felt small at first, but I am quickly adjusting. Once I reduced the blue a bit, the screen is actually fabulous, much better than I had hoped No dead pixels. The image is clear and bright with a high contrast look similar to glossy, only without the glare. Not sure, this may be a vista look. My only complaint here is off angle viewing is poor.

It is very quite. There is a fan, and a heat vent on the left side, but nothing when compared to my last two laptops. The wireless card works flawlessly, even out of sleep. Again, may be a vista thing, but I like it. I am measuring about 2 hours 40 minutes of real working conditions on the 6 cell with screen at half, bluetooth off, optical drive off, areo off, wifi on and streaming audio. I chose not to get the 9 cell because the extra ½ inch means it wouldn't fit in my favorite bag, but I may just order a 7 cell while I still can as I would really like 3+ hours.

Performance wise it seems quick, but haven't really tested it yet. Vista gives it a base score of 4. processor 5.4, memory 5, graphics 4, gaming graphics 4.6 and HD 5.2. It is certainly the most capable laptop I have ever owned and am very please so far with this purchase. It should be noted that I tend to keep laptops about 3 years and I didn't start out looking for a thinkpad. I have always considered them to be pricey, but the current end of model year sale made a believer out of me.

 

Great specs. Exactly what I would've gone for if I were to get a 15". Excellent first impressions as well, I'm sure this will help many potential buyers. Thanks!