Have some questions regarding the T61p

I'm planning to getting a Lenovo ThinkPad T61p and have some questions.

1. How much installed "bloatware" does the T61p come with?

2. How is the screen? I understand there are two brands, Samsung and LG. Which is the better one and which do I have a higher chance of getting?

3. If I did a fresh install of Vista, will I have to install all the drivers manually or will Vista do that for me? If I have to do that manually, what components will I have to install drivers for?

4. I will be gaming on the T61p, I understand that with a driver change the 570M can offer equal or better performance to that of a 8600M GT, correct? Where can I get these drivers? After the driver change, is the GPU recognized as a 570M or 8600M GT?

 

1. Not that much, though I found Vista somewhat slow. Since mine arrived defective I didn't take the time for a clean install. A clean install of Vista on a Sony Vaio did speed it up quite a bit.

2. I found the WUXGA screen on the T61p to be the worst LCD I have ever seen. Severe light leakage and very dim. Lenovo was sent photos of the defects and they said it's within their specs. This was a Samsung screen.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10144&d=1188928170
http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10145&d=1188928170

3. You will have to install the drivers manually.

4. A great place for lappy vid drivers is http://www.laptopvideo2go.com


**edit: links fixed

 

How is the WSXGA screen? They don't seem to offer the WUXGA screen anymore.

 

One more question...how much of a difference is there between the 6 cell and 9 cell battery?

 

Well I don't have a 6 cell battery to try out but I would definitely recommend the 9 cell if you want to most battery life. I get about 4 hours on battery life (full screen brightness) while websurfing. The battery sticking out the back really doesn't bother me too much. I have pretty much forgotten that it was there. lol
Tim

 

I find the WSXGA+ screen to be bright and very vibrant in its color range. Often times I find myself having to bring it down a notch or two cause it can be very bright in dimmer lighting conditions. Light leakage is low and only from the bottom slightly. Its one of those things you'd only notice it on boot-up or when a dark screen save kicks in... and only in a dark room... and looking or it. The model I got is rockin' an LG-Phillips but I'm still trying daily to work out a red stuck pixel on the right side of the screen... just my luck.

I'll be getting my WUXGA model from my long lost July order tomorrow so I'll see how the screen compares to what I have now... and see if the light leakage on my WUXGA is as bad on my screen as it was on MonsterMaxx's...

 

What are the chances of me getting a screen with 1 or more dead pixels?

 

Well considering your screen has millions of small pixels on it, the odds of a perfect screen are not in your favor. This is pretty much true for any LCD screen you buy. The higher the resolution, the more pixels it has. The more pixels a screen has, the better chance you'll get a few dead or stuck ones.

 

I will be very interested in the comparison.

 

Yes, please do post your comparisons.

 

Yah considering that many won't get a chance to see two different T61p models side-by-side, I'm gonna take a little extra time to document the screen differences. My g/f has a Canon Rebel XT so I'll take a few pictures of both screen in various lighting conditions and resolution differences. If there's any specific things you want to have me look for(aside from light leakage and resolution comparisons), post it here in this thread.

 

Well, from a customer that is returning his, I hated my T61p, and I had a ton of bloatware on mine, way to much stuff. Got lots of BSODs, feezes, etc. Horrible experience, hope you have better luck.

 

Really? What did you replace it with?

 

Yah and when did you get yours? Aside from ThinkVantage, Office Vista 30-Day Trial and maybe a toolbar app, I found my ThinkPad to be completely devoid of any real bloatware that didn't take more then a grand total of 20 minutes to remove. I heard about the BSODs on ThinkPads but have yet to expereince one. Just sounds like you got a bad egg. Also curious to know if bloatware varies from OS to OS. I got Vista Ultimate on my WSXGA+ T61p and Premium on my WUXGA one. Considering Premium to be the platform the majority of users will go, it'll be interesting to see if Vista Premium customers gets a larger ratio of bloatware over Business and Ultimate users.

 

I really didn't find that much bloatware, but it was slow and did BSOD frequently. Not to menion that it wouldn't suspend/hibernate (well, actually it would, but then about 30sec later it would wake itself up, even with the lid closed) so I guess I should say it wouldn't do it properly.

I'm looking hard at HP's 8510W. Seems like a very nice alternative and no one in the HP forum is saying anything about crappy screens or poor customer service like Lenovo's getting.
If you can tolerate a bigger screen the HP 8710W has even more graphics punch. I've seen this size case (different machine, but same physical specs) at CompUSA and it struck me that the 17" was about the same physical size as the T61P 15.4".

 

I had vista premium, can't remember everything that was on there, the thing also ran very hot, and it wouldn't let me install AIM 6.0 (I made sure it was the vista 32 bit version) and I ended up having to uninstall in safemode, I got the BSOD a lot, anytime I would be on firefox for awhile, playing a game, running mulitple apps (this computer can handle all that fine, AMD 3700+, 1.5gb ram, nvidia 6600) so it was very disappointing, i also had the issue where it would lock up for about 30 seconds then unfreeze itself. I had to pay the 15% restocking fee, I saw someone here said that they told them it was broken and they waived it, however they told me I would have to send it to them for repairs, get it back, and if it was still broken THEN I could get that 15% waived, however, that was B.S. I didn't have the time to deal with that, because there is nothing they could really do to fix it, and I don't wait to wait a few weeks to get it, and I would get it back after the 21 days I can refund it, the Indian man told me I could still return it, if it was still broken after they "attempted a physical repair" but I have a feeling he was lying to be, he had such an attitude, jeebus. So now I am looking at the Sager 2090, it is very well priced, wonderful specs, I have been looking at it forawhile actually but then Lenovo had a sale, guess that was the worst idea I ever took into. Hope this helps you in your descion!

 

For those experiences BSODs, did you have Intel Turbo Memory?? I've had my T61 w/ no intel turbo mem for a few weeks now and 0 BSODs, zero freeze ups...

btw, thenighborkid, I hear that when sending your thinkpad in for repairs it could take as little as 3 days from the day you sent it in, till it arrives back on your doorstep. There is a guy who had a problem with his thinkpad so he sent it in on a monday, got it back on wednesday, still not working, so they said send it in again, he sent it in on thursday, and got it back that monday. People are reporting that the repair service is lightning fast.

 

Couldn't you just dispute the charge on your credit card? If there's anything wrong with my T61p I'm not going to pay 15% for a faulty machine, even if it does "meet their standards". That is BS.

 

Well, as being 18, the notebook was supposed to be a hey enjoy this *** machine at college, but it was more like, here is a P.O.S, what would I tell my faja to do in order to dispute it with his credit card company? Thanks sorry for totally changing the subject

 

Did you order with intel turbo mem?

 

It doesn't sound like you've ever had a notebook before.
So, have you ordered that Sager yet?

 

I'm planning to getting a Lenovo ThinkPad T61p and have some questions.

1. How much installed "bloatware" does the T61p come with?

A lot IMHO. It is ridiculous. I started up with 90+ processes. After reinstalling Vista and putting on programs I wanted for start up, I was down to 70, which includes full anti-virus, anti-everthing software.

2. How is the screen? I understand there are two brands, Samsung and LG. Which is the better one and which do I have a higher chance of getting?

People are saying the LG screens are better. Hard to say if it is true unless someone actually has both screens in front of them. This same kind of "lottery" of sorts happened when I bought my 22" Samsung external monitor. I got the supposedly "bad" panel, but I have always though it has been great!

3. If I did a fresh install of Vista, will I have to install all the drivers manually or will Vista do that for me? If I have to do that manually, what components will I have to install drivers for?

I was actually surprised that Vista installed a lot of them for me. I did install many on my own though. In the IBM/Lenovo thread, a member Stallen, created a clean install guide that tells you the bare essentials you need. It is a very good place to start. Also, if you do clean install, make sure to make your recovery disks first.


4. I will be gaming on the T61p, I understand that with a driver change the 570M can offer equal or better performance to that of a 8600M GT, correct? Where can I get these drivers? After the driver change, is the GPU recognized as a 570M or 8600M GT?

Good question. Let me throw out a suggestion. Before you do the driver swap, see how the card funs with the Quadro drivers. I have played a few games on it and it worked great IMO. I ran Quake Wars, FEAR and PREY, and they all ran at decent settings.


Hope this helps a bit. Good luck!

 

Sounds like user's problems (for not getting rid of all the conflicting bloatware on the first bootup).
Thinkpads come with tons of bloatware just like about every notebook out there.
It's highly recommended to do a custom reinstall.
Don't even bother booting it up as configured from the factory, especially if you have less than 1 Gig of memory.
All you had to do is hit that blue "Thinkvantage" button while booting.
That would bring up the "Rescue and Recovery" utility.

Then --> Restore your system --> Restore my hard drive to the original factory state --> I don't want to save any files --> Custom factory recovery.
You'll get to the screen where you can choose what bloatware to keep (if any) during the reinstall process.

Upon completion of the reinstall (a couple of hours) your system would be mostly bloatware free.

 

So the T61p has a separate partition for recovery like the HPs?

Those who are getting BSODs, is that a software fault or hardware?

 

How does the NP2090 compare to the T61p? How is the difference in performance and screen quality?

 

Yes
Drivers

 

Sorry, I'm off the topic:
I'm a newbie soon to be a laptop owner. So, are you saying to do this process when you first get your laptop at the first boot? No recovery disks first? In otherwords, should I boot up, make recovery disks and then follow the process outlined above? How does this compare to Stallens reinstall guide?

 

Isn't reformating using the Recovery partition the same as using Recovery disks?

 

Any updates?

 

Sorry, I haven't seen your question...
Yes, you can (should) do the factory reinstall on the first boot up.
No need to burn the recovery disks since you're not actually changing anything to the factory setup other than getting rid of some bloatware stuff.
Everything will still be there, so if you wish, you can always revert back to the original state as it came from the factory (including all the bloatware).
The Stallen's method is the "true" clean reinstall when you're wiping out everything (including the recovery partition).

 

BTW, if I get the T61p and want to play games, all I need to do is change the drivers, correct? No need to mess with BIOS or anything like that?

 

Do you mean, to update the video card drivers?
Well, I've seen some threads around here on that specific topic.

No, BIOS updates are not related to machines ability to play games.

 

Yes, meaning to install 8600M GT drivers for the 570M. Is it difficult or is it just like a regular driver change?

 

Here is one of the threads discussing video drivers:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=164383&

 

If I order from www.lenovo.com will I get International warranty even if I order from the US store?

 

Check your model eligibility here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=LOOK-IWS#sw

 

Thanks.

BTW, it seems that if you order a 15.4" T61p now, there is a high chance of getting the Samsung screen. How long does a 'batch' usually last? Is there any way to predict the best time to order to increase my chances of getting a LG screen?

 

It's luck of the draw.

 

Since they give you the serial number after you order so you can check which screen you are getting, is it possible to cancel the order and re-order?

 

Yes, it's possible if you wanna take that route.

 

After you order, do you get your serial number immediately or after some days or so? Secondly, how much time do you have available to cancel your order and get a full refund?

 

1. How much installed "bloatware" does the T61p come with?

I think it came with symantec security software and some thinkpad softwares.

2. How is the screen? I understand there are two brands, Samsung and LG. Which is the better one and which do I have a higher chance of getting?

I have not checked the brand of my t61p's lcd but it's very bright and I don't really notice light leakage unless you look for it on a dark screen. I haven't noticed any dead pixel on mine.

3. If I did a fresh install of Vista, will I have to install all the drivers manually or will Vista do that for me? If I have to do that manually, what components will I have to install drivers for?

I run xp pro so I can't help here.

4. I will be gaming on the T61p, I understand that with a driver change the 570M can offer equal or better performance to that of a 8600M GT, correct? Where can I get these drivers? After the driver change, is the GPU recognized as a 570M or 8600M GT?

Very easy. Go to www.laptopvideo2go.com and download the latest 163.44 forceware. I also downloaded the modded inf, which you put in the driver's folder to replace the original inf file (so the installer won't refuse to install the firmware) before you install the 163.44 driver.

I believe win xp still recognizes the gpu as the quadro fx 570m after installing the drivers.

 

Your serial number will appear on the order page once your item has shipped, no sooner.

 

Actually, some time after it ships.

 

The 570M in the T61p supports DirectX 10 and has DDR3 memory, correct?

 

DDR2 memory

 

Everything I've seen points to DDR3. Reference?

 

Everything I've seen points to DDR 2.
Reference?

 

I'm not sure if anyone has confirmed it 100%. But based on benchmarks, the 570M performs on par or better than the 8600M GT with DDR3 memory so I think it is safe to assume that it uses DDR3.

 

Sure.

My Reference

Go there, click search, type DDR3 t61p, or DDR3 fx570m or ddr3 570m. Try searching before you post drivel.