How hot does the T61 get?

I am considering a T61 with the 14" widescreen but I am concerned about heat when it's sitting on my lap. My previous experience with the Core2Duo in notebooks is that they get so hot that they are uncomfortable on my lap. Those of you who own them do you find the same problem? When selecting options from Lenovo's build screen the 2.5Ghz is a reasonably priced upgrade but I am also worried that increasing the cpu speed will also increase the heat.

 

The heat emission depends on what you're planning to do. For me, the only time the bottom of my laptop gets hot, and it's only at the vent areas, is when I'm gaming. I have the 140M card.

So for me, other than gaming, my notebook runs fine, no problems at all when placed in my lap.

 

same here.

 

I find the t61 incredibly cool compared to other laptops.

 

I have a T61 14.1 widescreen with the T7300 processor. I think it's the coolest running laptop I've ever felt. I even upgrade to a 7200 rpm HD which I was concerned would make it hotter over the hand rest area, but no, still relatively cool. If you cover the vents on the bottom it does get a little warm... but I mean, you're not really supposed to cover the vents, that's why they're "vents" Still though, it's way cooler than most.

My other laptop, an Acer 5672 with a T2300 gets smokin' hot... Sometimes I think something inside must be melting... The T61 is a fridge in comparison!

EDIT: The air coming out of the vent on the left side is sometimes quite hot while I'm doing CAD work or playing a game, but that's a good sign, it means that the cooling system is doing a good job getting the heat OUT of the laptop instead of keeping it inside!

 

This is one of the main reasons I picked up a ThinkPad and makes it much more comfortable to use. I think heat and noise is sometimes overlooked when deciding which one to choose.

 

I have the 15.4" T61 with the T8300 2.4GHz CPU. The laptop runs cool and quiet. Of course, I'm not currently running full-bore video rendering, image processing, or CAD, but this is still quite cool for as powerful a machine as it is.

 

What about battery life? Can the DVD be removed and exchanged for another battery?

 

acctually , i feels T7250 and T7700 is the same thing. for me^^

With 7250 i can n e v e r full load it to 100% use!~

 

You can remove the optical drive and replace it with a 3-cell UltraBay battery which will add about an hour and a half to your battery life.

 

Not hot enough to bother me when playing a good game while its sitting on my legs lol....most of the heat you feel right around cpu vent...not too much heat goes thru the bottum...if anything its a good leg warmer

 

My Thinkpad was reasonably warm when I was encoding movies. THat's the only time I thought it was a little too warm, but then again, I was at a relative's house that was 75 degrees, so I was already uncomfortable.

That was on AC power, and generally I wouldn't be encoding movies while browsing on it.

On Battery, I've never once noticed the warmth. Even on AC, if you set it to adaptive (meaning the CPU will scale up and down as needed, not always running at full speed) it's not an issue.