Lenovo IBM Thinkpad T60 Widescreen Review

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by Alex Chiu

Introduction

Thinkpads. They are the Hummers of business laptops. Only until recently did the Thinkpad name come from IBM. In 2004 Lenovo, one of China's biggest PC makers, took ownership of IBM's &quot;Think&quot; PC division, including the ThinkCenter and ThinkPad business. Ever since then, Lenovo has been changing the existing lines while also introducing their own. They have still maintained to keep IBM's level of quality, performance, and ruggedness to maintain the Thinkpads’ legendary status.

Reasons for Buying

 

As a college student, I wanted something that would last me through my education as well as through the daily tasks and environment of a college dorm. While I would be mainly using it for simple tasks like note taking and internet usage, I did want to have the power and capability to do more if necessary.

Being an employee of Best Buy, I had seen many of the multimedia laptops that we carry and decided that I would not want one that had the fancy webcam, dual mics, and special media controls that were mainly seen on laptops such as HP and Dells. I essentially wanted a business laptop - a no-frills laptop that has plenty of power and ruggedness to last. After looking around at HP's nc8430 (I had heard that the fan on this laptop stays on quite often due to the X1600 video card), Dell's Inspiron 6400 (I did not like the asthetics / bulkiness), I finally landed on Lenovo's website, and immediately became attached to the T and the Z series. The Z series was most interesting because it had an option for a titanium lid, which appealed to me as I have a few titanium products that have proved to be very durable. However in the end I decided on the T60 Widescreen as it was more inclined to my needs and it was also lighter/thinner as well.

Purchasing

I bought my T60 Widescreen laptop direct from Lenovo on their website. The buying process was very easy - I went into the notebooks section, chose the Thinkpad line of notebooks, then the T series. From there it is very much like any other CTO website - you have options which you choose and the price gets updated. After ordering I found out that I wouldn't be getting my laptop for nearly a month! While I was somehwat disappointed in that (HP and Dell had both quoted delivery within 2 weeks), I did learn that all of the system building / parts will be coming from China. The funny thing is that in the end I received my laptop only FOUR days after leaving Hong kong, China. My laptop consisted of the following specs: (Note: Just like any notebook manufacturer, Lenovo does not use one exact brand for some of the parts. I will be listing the brands of specific parts, as they are &quot;the best&quot; according to feedback I have received in learning from the forums)

• Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 2.0Ghz CPU
• 2 x 1 GB DDR2 667 RAM
• 15.4&quot; 1680x1050 LG Phillips Widescreen Display
• NMB Lenovo Keyboard with UltraNav
• LG 8x DVD Dual Layer Burner
• Thinkpad 802.11 a/b/g (Atheros AR5006EX Chipset) mini PCI express Wireless Adapter
• ATI 128 MB X1400 Graphics Card
• 100 GB Seagate Momentus 7200.1 8MB Cache 7200 RPM SATA HDD
• Integrated soundMAX audio chipset
• 9 Cell Sanyo Battery Pack

Unpacking

While it took nearly three weeks for the laptop to be built, it took only four days to come all the way from Hong Kong, China to my university in Merced, CA. Talk about fast!

It’s here! (view large image)

Accessories Box: 9-cell Battery, manuals, phone cable, AC adapter, misc manuals/documentation, screws for securing UltraBay, and UltraNav eraserhead caps (view large image)

UltraNav eraserhead caps – default cap not shown. (view large image)

The T60 Widescreen. (view large image)

Left ports, from left to right – Exhaust vent, VGA, modem, Ethernet, Kensington Security slot, Microphone, Headphone, USB, and Expresscard/PCMCIA slots (view large image)

Right Side: 8x DVD DL Burner, 2 x USB Ports (view large image)

Laptop open (view large image)

Top View: You can see the 9 cell battery poking out the back. (view large image)

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UltraBay: The LED to the left of the 2 USB ports lights up when the unit is powered on and there is a device in the UltraBay, which in this case is the DVD Burner. Pressing the switch to the left of it releases the lever underneath the burner, allowing you to hot-swap and pull out UltraBay devices with the laptop still on.

 

Closeup View: Infrared and Wireless Switches. Note that the green is painted, and not an LED, although there are LEDs for the Bluetooth and WiFi on the lower part of the front screen bezel. (view large image)

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Underside of the laptop – Note how there are no direct vents for the fan, but rather several vents located throughout the laptop’s underside to help cool the entire laptop.

 

Software

This is one spot that I believe that there is a bit too much. There was a lot of software on here from Lenovo, while it may not have been as excessive as some other manufacturers, there was still quite a lot. Because I use my computer a lot I did not want to bog my computer down with so many programs, and therefore proceeded to uninstall nearly everything that came with the laptop except for Lenovo's Access Connections, Active Protection System, System Update and ThinkVantage software. I kept these programs as I thought that they were the most useful for my needs. Lenovo did include other software, such as Client Security Solution (a solution designed in part with Symantec, giving you Symantec Antivirus Corporate edition, which is a nice touch, as well as Symantec Personal Firewall), and Rescue and Recovery. Another note about the software - a majority of the Lenovo software was outdated! I had to update and restart several times to be fully updated with the software that I had chosen to keep on the laptop. Lenovo does constantly improve and update its software, though, as nearly 4 updates have been released since I received my laptop. The one gripe I have is the video card drivers. ATi's Catalyst drivers are not the latest on the T60, and while I probably can simply download Catalyst 7.2 directly off of ATi's website, their online tool says that I should stick with Lenovo's drivers instead.

Rescue and Recovery

There is a 4.5GB hidden partition on the hard drive that contains restore information as well as other tools offered by Lenovo as part of the ThinkVantage technologies. By pressing the blue ThinkVantage button upon startup, you can backup, restore, and even browse the Internet through a limited version of Opera! One thing I did like is that even though I uninstalled Rescue and Recovery from my laptop, it is still part of the hidden partition, meaning that despite it not being accessible through Windows I can still access it through the bootup ThinkVantage. Being a computer enthusiast, I use Acronis True Image Home and had no problems backing up / restoring my laptop using the full image that I made, which took about 8 minutes to create, and 20 minutes to restore.

Usage

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If there's one thing that Thinkpads are extremely well known for, it's the keyboard. They are supposedly the best keyboards in the world for laptops, and I have to agree. As I am typing this review right now on my laptop it is very comfortable to type on. It is not noisy and provides ample amount of feedback. In particular, the keyboard that my laptop came with was made by NMB. Lenovo uses three different manufacturers for their laptops, NMB, ALPS, and Chicony, and best to worst is in that order.

As for the mouse, the UltraNav system is excellent. I have become accustomed to using the eraserhead and was surprised to find out that there is a feature for the eraserhead similar to the tapping mechanism available for touchpads - simply tap the eraserhead and it will register as a click! The touchpad is also equally as useful, although I seem to be using the eraserhead more as it is more convienent from a layout perspective. I would have to agree with the popular opinion that the touchpad is a little bit on the small side. I have a roommate who has a Dell Precision M65, which is built to a similar grade and caliber to my T60, and his touchpad is substantially bigger. However, his is also bigger and heavier. The laptop also came with two other caps for the eraserhead, although I am using the default one. Carrying the laptop around is very easy due to its slim size and weight. While I carry it in a slip case picking it up and taking it with me is not a problem at all.

Heat and Noise

I always use my laptop on a flat surface and not directly on my lap. Even so, the laptop barely gets warm, even after extended use. The only moderately warm areas are the lower right palmrest (hard drive underneath) and the upper left, where the vents are located. One interesting note is that unlike most laptops, there is no direct vent in which the laptop's fan sucks air in from. There are a multitude of intake vents located all across the underside of the laptop from which the fan pulls air in from and then expells it out both on the left upper side as well as out the back vents. The vents themselves are very open and free flowing. As for fan noise, there is very little. The fan comes on only every now and then, and even when it does it is barely audible even in a near silent study room. So far I have only been able to distinguish two different fan speeds, and again both were very quiet. I would like to make a point that I am very sensitive to noise, and therefore a quiet fan to me is most likely near silent to others.

Wireless

In the wireless arena, Atheros is one of the best. I can say from both experience as well as opinions from many users that Atheros does easily beat the Intel wireless chipsets in performance. That said, my laptop easily accesses the university's A, B, AND G networks without any problems, especially with the help of Access Connections, a client utility from Lenovo that manages profiles and adapter settings. The only problem that I have yet to solve is that one of my friends owns a 5 month old Gateway tablet PC with a Intel 3945ABG wireless chipset, and when we are both on the A network with our laptops next to each other connected to the exact same access point he is able to get nearly 25mbps down whereas I am only able to get 6. I have tested with several other laptops running Intel 3945ABG and Broadcom chipsets and they have produced results similar to mine. Maybe my friend is running a hacked firmware, I don't know

Battery Life

I went with the 9 cell for my laptop as I knew that I would be using my laptop for long periods of time without being able to plug in. That said, the battery on my laptop lasts about 6 hours on medium brightness with the wireless on and using mainly Word, Excel, and Firefox. I believe I could probably get about 7 or 8 hours if I dimmed the screen to its minimum and disabled the wireless (and maybe even undervolted), however those options make the laptop uncomfortable to use as the screen becomes *very* dim towards the lower settings. One good thing about Lenovo's Power Manager utility is that it does have an option to optimize charging for maximizing battery lifespan. It also includes the usual settings for dimming the screen after a set amount of time of inactivity, turning off the screen, sleeping, turning off the hard drive, and even has a PowerPoint presentation mode.

Screen

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I am exceptionally happy with my choice to go with the WSXGA+ resolution for my laptop. I have become so accustomed to the WSXGA+ resolution that anything less makes me feel as if everything is extremely large. Even after using my laptop for a while returning to my 21&quot; LCD makes me want to get a 1920x1280 24&quot; LCD! The contrast is excellent, there were no dead pixels on my laptop. There is minimal light leakage along the bottom, and is overall a great LG Philips panel compared to the Samsung panel that I have heard so many bad stories about.

Speakers

There is nothing really much to say about the speakers here. As most have said in the forums, the speakers are a bit on the quiet side. Even at maximum volume they are similar to desktop speakers at normal volume. As with most laptop speakers, they lack bass, but still do sound pretty decent for playing music with nearly no distortion at maximum volume.

Other Thoughts

Thinklight in broad daylight with display off. (view large image)

Thinklight at night with lights off and display showing blank screen. (view large image)

One thing that I was not aware of was the ThinkLight. It caught me off by surprise when I first opened the laptop. I had thought that it was only an option on the Z and R series, and that I believe one of the series uses an orange LED whereas the other uses a white. In my case, mine uses a very bright single white LED to illuminate the keyboard, and does a very good job of doing it. Granted, some may see it as a gimmick, but it has come in handy every now and then, especially in some of the classrooms with very dim lighting or no lighting while the instructor is giving a presentation via projector. The picture makes it look brighter than it really is, but needless to say, the ThinkLight is a great feature.

Another surprise was the fact that the T60 comes with BOTH an ExpressCard AND a PCMCIA card slot. Granted I do not think I will ever need to use either slot, it is exciting to know that the laptop has support for both expandability options for laptops available nowadays. One last thing about the laptop that is somewhat of a letdown is the lack of FireWire / few USB ports. Granted, the T60 is designed for business users who would not have a need for FireWire at all, and would also use very few USB devices, it is still somewhat of a letdown.

Performance and Benchmarks

The Seagate 7200 RPM HDD is extremely repsonsive and quick. It is also very quiet in comparison to the Hitachi 7K100 that my roommate has in his Precision M65. The Active Protection System is also responsive, parking the heads of the hard drive to prevent damage when it detects any sudden movements. Following is the performance results from HDTune for the hard drie:

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3DMark06 Graphics Results

I ran 3DMark06 at the default ATi driver settings and default 3DMark06 settings:

Notebook	3DMark 06 Results
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0 GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	923 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks
Apple MacBook Pro (2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB)	1,528 3DMarks
Dell Precison M90 (2.16GHz Core Duo, nVidia Quadro FX 1500M)	3,926 3DMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60 Nvidia GeForce Go7800GTX)	4,085 3DMarks
Compal HEL80 (2.0GHz Core Duo, nVidia Go 7600 256MB)	1,654 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1710 (2.16 GHz Core Duo, nVidia 7900 GTX 512MB)	4,744 3DMarks

 

PCMark05 System Results

PCMark05 was also run with the default settings:

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0 GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks
Fujitsu LifeBook A6010 (1.66GHz Core 2 Duo, Intel GMA 950)	2,994 PCMarks
Fujitsu N6410 (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	3,487 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX)	5,597 PCMarks
Sony Vaio SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks
Toshiba Tecra M6 (1.66GHz Intel T2300E, Intel GMA 950)	2,732 PCMarks
Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400)	3,646 PCMarks
Sony VAIO FE590 (1.83GHz Core Duo)	3,427 PCMarks

 

Detailed results from PCMark05:

PCMark05 Detailed Results
HDD – XP Startup	7.554 MB/s
Physics and 3D	166.419 FPS
Transparent Windows	335.116 Windows/s
3D – Pixel Shader	41.410 FPS
Web Page Rendering	3.311 Pages/s
File Decryption	54.410 MB/s
Graphics Memory – 64 Lines	777.755 FPS
HDD – General Usage	4.645 MB/s
Multithreaded Test 1 / Audio Compression	2200.313 KB/s
Multithreaded Test 1 / Video Encoding	349.557 KB/s
Multithreaded Test 2 / Text Edit	134.284 Pages/s
Multithreaded Test 2 / Image Decompression	26.836 Mpixels/s
Multithreaded Test 3 / File Compression	4.647 MB/s
Multithreaded Test 3 / File Encryption	25.940 MB/s
Multithreaded Test 3 / HDD – Virus Scan	28.171 MB/s
Multithreaded Test 3 / Memory Latency – Random 16 MB	7.825 Maccesses/s

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Conclusion

In closing, I believe I made the right choice in purchasing a Lenovo. It has performed beautifully to my standards and surpassed my expectations. After customizing it to my preferences, I believe that this laptop truly is one of the best laptops out there overall. While it may not be appealing to the gaming community, for everything else this laptop has it. I finally have my dream laptop.

Pros:

• Extremely sturdy
• Comfortable keyboard
• ThinkLight
• Quiet fan
• Thin and light
• Great screen

Cons:

• Few USB ports
• Small touchpad

 

Other ThinkPad T60 Reviews from NotebookReview.com:

• Scientist Review of Lenovo ThinkPad T60 Widescreen
• Lenovo ThinkPad T60 Core 2 Duo Review
• Lenovo ThinkPad T60 with ATI X1300 Graphics Card Review (pics, specs)
• Lenovo ThinkPad T60p Review (pics, specs)
• Lenovo ThinkPad T60 Widescreen Review
• Lenovo ThinkPad T60 Review (pics, specs)

 

 

 

Thanks for the review!

 

Nice comprehensive review, but what's with the blue line at the top of the screen in the picture where you demonstrate the light leakage?

 

Oh. Oops. That's StatBar. It's auto-hiding.

Feel free to ask me anything

 

Good review, although the reference to "Hummer" in the Introduction nearly put me off. To me a Hummer is symbolic of excessive size and ugliness.

6 hours battery life is impressive given the CPU and display size. Lenovo must have done a good job on tweaking the power management.

Do you have any measurements to support the "slim size and weight" mentioned in the text?

John

 

hmm, I didn't see the picture with the ThinkLight in action...

great review though!

 

i like the look of the thinkpads but for me i fell their too businessy
i like the light on the top though reminds og the dell D620ATG with red lighting
that was cool too

hummers are intepreted as bling bling by others and down right ugly by others it usually attracts people with extreme opinions im the latter acctually

the picture with the lights off was taken on a bed i presume

overall great review and great pics too
thanks

 

Thanks for the great review!

How much did you pay for these specs ?

 

To answer the questions...
- Yes, there are pictures showing the ThinkLight in action with both the lights on and off. Its in the 'Other Thoughts' section.
- I used the Hummer analogy as in durable, actually. Hummers nowadays, though, as most people have already said, tend detract from that concept.
- I paid about $2000 for this laptop when I first ordered it in 2/07. However with the sales going on, I was able to get a price match for about $500 off I believe now it is about $1800 as they are probably pushing to sell their remaining stock to make way for the T61.
- The slim size and weight that I mention is coming from my past experiences. My two laptops that I had before this was a Compaq Presario 1800T... weighed a ton but had a nice 1400x1050 display. After that I had a HP DV5035NR, which was lighter and thinner, but not by much. This T60 is lighter and slimmer to me in reference to the past laptops I've had. I do not have a scale here in the dorms, but according to Lenovo's spec sheet,

The laptop's dimensions are... 358mm x 255mm x 29-34mm and weights about 5.5 lbs.

My friend that lives in the same hall as me just got a X60... and I must say... DAMN that thing is SUPER light. The great thing about his is that they managed to fit a full sized keyboard onto a laptop so small. Only bummer I think is the lack of a touchpad, but that is a minor gripe as my friend and I tend to use the eraserhead more.

If you have any more questions, just let me know

 

Thanks for the review, great looking laptop. I owned a ThinkPad for a long time and would also recommend it.

 

I forgot to mention to Queshy, StatBar is a program that displays some stats about your computer. It's set to auto-hide, and displays a very thin blue border when it is hiding. Just wanted to clarify

I just want to make this very clear also for new Lenovo laptop owners - I have seen in many cases (mainly about 4-5 people I know actually) that Lenovo ships OLD VERSIONS of their ThinkVantage software programs with their laptops! The easiest way to remedy this is to download System Update 3.0, which is in my signature. Just a tip for those of you that have just bought a shiny new Thinkpad and want to keep your computer up to date, since they come already outdated out of the box =[

 

Hey Alex

Great review! You've really convinced me to get a Thinkpad T series laptop as my next machine... I just hope my keyboard is NMB!

 

Excellent, thorough review. I've always sort of admired the overall "solidness" of the ThinkPad line.

I know some people say they are too "businessy", but I think there's something to be said for that in a laptop.

Could you tell a bit more about what you thought of the screen? The one thing that has sort of turned me off of ThinkPads I have seen at the store at least was that the screens seemed kind of dull and lifeless, even at full brightness.

 

great review! ive been waiting for another t60 ws review so this is good!

btw, what are you majoring in at uc merced? I live in modesto(about 40 miles north of merced) and am considering going there.

 

I am majoring in Computer Science Engineering here. I was supposed to go to UC Berkeley, but was turned down due to "ethinic" issues? (They said because I'm asian that they would not let me in and that they need to "diversify their ethnic profile")... so I'm a little bitter about that. So I came here instead.

In regards to what zadillo is asking, I love the screen. It is very bright and easy to read. There is minimal leakage along the top and bottom as the pics show. Granted it is not SUPER bright and vivid as what I"m used to with my Gateway 21" Widescreen or the Sony X-Brite screens I"ve seen on their FE series, but it is still amazing to look at and very enjoyable. The 1680x1050 resolution is what I run at on my 21, and seeing it on my laptop makes me want a 1920x1200 24", hehe. Like most of the other threads have said, the Samsung screen is probably what you have seen. It isn't that great. I myself have not seen one in person, though. My LG screen is great. Even at the lowest brightness setting for max battery it is still plenty easily readable. The viewing angles are good, and the tough hinges help a lot too (I love not having LCD wobble when adjusting my screen).

Any more questions, just ask, again. Hehe.

AuroraS, I would recommend based upon your sig that if you are happy with your ASUS and its size to get the T61 when it comes out. I believe ZaZ said something about a 1680x1050 (WSXGA+) version of a 14" T61 being a possibility. I'd kill for that

 

Actually, I just stopped by Best Buy today and took another look at the T60. The screen actually was quite bright and readable. Definitely a nice machine overall - love the keyboard too. Just has a great solid feel all around, as does the whole laptop.

 

The one that you saw @ BBY probably has the LG screen. Just as a FYI the configurations you see at the Best Buy, you can actually buy even higher powered configurations on Best Buy for Business. www.bbfb.com I think, there's also a link on BestBuy.com for their business division. Or you could just buy it off Lenovo direct

 

Yeah, you know, I've had a weird problem with the bestbuyforbusiness site; every time I try to register, after filling out the registration page I get a generic paging saying an error occurred, with no explanation.

 

You guys are too smart . Not being racist it was one of the reason I switched from engineering to business.

 

Wow, 6 hours? Sure makes me glad I ordered my T60 WS w/ the 9-cell as well! Knowing me, I'll be one of the people trying to squeeze out that extra hour still, lol.

 

Well I only really got the 9 cell because I knew that, being the lazy person that I am, that i wouldn't bother to recharge it every day. I have only like 1-2 hours of class each day, the rest is all done in my dorm or group meetings.

Do keep in mind though that the 6 hour rating is with the CPU all the way undervolted and at its slowest speed, with the screen ALL the way down. Normally under regular settings (4/7 brightness, adaptive CPU, wireless on) I average about 4-5. Still, that is pretty phenominal when you compare it to older laptops. The 6 year old Compaq 1800T lasted me only 2 hours long ago when it was brand new, and now lasts only FIFTEEN MINUTES. HAH!

EDIT: I just wanted to add this little tidbit for those of you planning to buy notebook chillpads/coolers -

The Antec Notebook Cooler (not the S version) is perfectly sized for this laptop, as in the laptop does not overhang anywhere. HOWEVER, because the feet are rather thin on this laptop, there is very little clearance between the cooler and the laptop bottom. As a result, the notebook cooler actually gets LOUDER due to the fans "suffocating" trying to grab air.

The Targus Chillpad/Chillhub is a quieter cooler that works perfectly, but is a bit undersized. The T60 overhangs generally on the front by about an inch if you put the laptop's back flush with the back of the cooler.

I have not tried the Zalman notebook cooler yet. It seems slightly more interesting... has anyone used this cooler?

 

Thanks for the clarification. It looked a bit big in the photos but, as you point out, slimness is relative to what you are used to. It would be useful to do a check on the claimed weight. Manufacturers tend to use small batteries, have empty media bays, etc before they use the scales. This can be annoying since travel weight is as important as size for portability.

Unless Lenovo use better batteries than most, your 6 hours is likely to be 4 hours after a year of use (and so on). In my experience the recent Lithium batteries don't last as well as the older ones.

John

 

Bah about the laptop battery thing....

I believe the PDF off of Lenovo's website lists the weight of the laptop with the optical drive installed and the regular 6 cell.

 

Aren't you getting sidetracked by wanting a notebook cooler? A T7200 + ATI X1400 shouldn't need extra cooling. You will most likely find that the T7200 can be significantly undervolted (mine is running at 1.05V max and others claim to have got down to 1.0V at 2GHz). This will massively reduce the heat produced by the CPU when under load.

John

 

I'm surprised... mine I have set using RMClock from .950 @ the 1Ghz to .975 @ 2.0 Ghz...

I didn't really need one, I just had both of these available. I thought it would be kind of nice to have one in case when I go back home I would have my laptop on all the time. Dont get me wrong its not like I don't trust the cooling system on my laptop, its jsut that i believe by having a notebook cooler it will help with the longevity of my laptop in the long run

 

0.975 @ 2GHz is low. Did you verify this overnight soak test using a couple of instances of Prime95 torture test?

I agree that heat isn't good for longevity, but I tend to sell or give away my computers within a couple of years. My biggest concern is that some computers cook their HDDs while others manage to keep them cool. That's the component most likely to be affected by accumulated heat. But my HDDs are usually relegated to an external caddy within a year because something bigger has arrived.

One effect of undervolting can be reduced fan activity with reduced airflow and cooling of the other components.

John

 

I have not used any kind of tests to ensure stability for my laptop with my undervolting. However, I have played WoW for about 6 hours straight. If it can do that, that is stable enough for me ...

I believe that what you are probably talking about is the actual voltage though, because when I use Everest to measure the voltage it says about 1.0V instead of .975V.

 

Great review!

 

THanks! I wanted to be very comprehensive and cover all the topics that most people want to know about the legendary T60s ... The great thing about NBR is that there is the forums in case there was something I missed! That way I can answer people's questions that were not answered by my review!

 

How about the sound card? Is it stil use Sound MAX chipset?

 

Yah. It sounds perfectly fine though o.0...

If anyone has any more questions i'd be more than happy to answer them...

 

I simply don't like AMD/ATI why don't they use nvidia too?

 

Probably because most people that use Lenovos are business people, who, for the most part, need minimal graphics... and therefore (i think) from what I've heard the ATis are the most cost effective?

I personally would've loved a 7400 or 7600 in my T60... but eh.

 

the x1400 is better than the 7400

 

I'm not saying that 7400 > X1400, I just prefer nVidia over ATi, primarily because of nVidia's Digital Vibrance Control... makes things look so pretty

 

well that can be taken as an add feature but in gaming performance the x1400 has an edge im sure

 

nVidia is better since it has good support for windows, FreeBSD, and Linux too, which is much better than ATI/AMD

Simply nVidia provides cross platform support.

 

This is one of my favorites reviews.

Acaurora, do you have the info about the exact weight of the box before open it, im mean the net weight of the pakage? thanks

 

4.10 Kgs is what UPS says ....

 

hehe cool, isnt that heavy as I believe. Thanks for the info, now I need 1150 USD

 

How do you determine which keyboard, screen type you get (i.e. phillips screen, nmb keyboard)

You said they were the best from your reviews so how do you "pick" those..?

 

There's a sticky in these forums as to determining what brand keyboard/LCD you got.

You cannot specify what manufacturer, although i believe I heard that if you were not satisfied with your keyboard you could request the NMB one.

 

Well, I'm glad to see that this thread has died down since the T61 release, haha...

But in any event, yah like I said originally get about 4.5-5 hours, I can stretch to 6 if WiFi is off, CPU is set to Lowest (1 Ghz I believe), LCD is dimmed all the way down. I still love my laptop. I recently went on a vacation to Florida and used my laptop everywhere that I went - it definately gets you noticed, especially if a very young person like me is using it ^.^....

EDIT: I looked at Dell's Inspiron 1520 - and while it may be more updated, and definitely have more power (8600M GT 256MB omg... I want that... and a glossy 1680x1050...)... but still after looking at the dimensions that I posted in my original review and the specs on Dell's website - I find that mine is lighter, not so far in depth as the Dell, and thinner! But of course, mine doesn't have Santa Rosa, the 2.0 MP webcam, or the colored lids... which I kinda like actually. *sets his sights on a XPS M1330...

 

I purchased the the T60P in the 2.33ghz version. I agree with some of the review. My biggest complaint is the screen when on battery. The screen is extremely dim on battery only. Even when you adjust the power setttings in XP and adjust the bios it still is very dim compared to my other thinkpads. My other complaint is the noice from the video card's fan seams a lot louder then previous thinkpads I have owned.

Service is not as good as it use to be as well. They are claiming that the turnarround to service your laptop is 10 business days. Currently I have had my in service for over 2 weeks.

 

I don't get it. Many people on here seem to really like this machine. I have owned one for the last 6 months, and I'm not impressed at all about the build quality of this machine. To start with, it's really heavy. Secondly, unless you remove all of the pre-installed stuff from them, the machine is as slow as an old T40. The moment Windows XP SP2 finishes loading and ready to run, the memory consumption has already reached 500Mb. Yes, without running one single application.

Now, to the problems: The USB port on the left of the machine (the vertical one) simply does not work. It would not recognize my optical mouse and would crash Windows XP whenever anything else is plugged in, be it a USB memory stick, an external hard drive or whatever. The USB ports on the right also constantly crash the machine, to the point that I'm scared of plugged anything into my machine. Wireless connection: useless. Unless it sits next to a wireless router, it would not pick up any wireless signal, and I use a Netgear RangeMAX router.

Lenovo's solution: after having a lot of trouble speaking to their customer reps on the phone, they would book a date to come to pick up the machine from my place. Waiting almost a day for the courier to come and pick up the machine. I'm now having no notebook computer and still waiting for it to be returned.

A huge thumb down for lenovo. This is going to be my last lenovo machine.