Lenovo ThinkPad Z61m Review (pics, specs)

by Ted Lynch

Overview

Thisis a review of the new 15.4" widescreen ThinkPad Z61m with titanium cover.The Z61mis the update to the newer widescreen Z series of ThinkPads. It sports Intel's latest and greatest CPU, the Core Duo amongst other upgrades, but that's the big one. The Z series is the more multimedia oriented notebook in the ThinkPad line witha widescreen display, built-in web cam, media card reader, FireWire connector and more. The Z61m will start out relatively modestly with the Celeron M all the way to mucho dinero with all the do-dads. For someone in need of an exceedingly well built notebook for around the house/office notebook with infrequent jaunts about town, I can't think of a better choice.

The Z61M the first time it was turned on (view large image)

Competition

The Z61m is a business class notebook with stellar build quality. There are lots of choices in this sector. Here are some other well built notebooks in this class.

• HP nc8430
• Fujitsu e8210
• Dell Latitude D820
• Asus V6j
• Acer TravelMate 8204

Specs

Here are the specifications of theThinkPad Z61mmodel under review:

• Model: Z61m 9450-39U
• CPU: Intel Core Duo 2.0GHz T2500
• Chipset: Intel 945PM Express
• Memory: 1GB DDR2 P5300 2 Slots, 0 Open
• Hard Drive: 100GB Fujitsu(MHV2100BH) SATA
• Screen: 15.4" WSXGA+ 1680x1050 Matte 200 Nits
• Modular Optical Drive: Matshita UJ-850 DVD+/-RW/-RAM
  o8x DVD+/-R
  o4x DVD+/-RW
  o2.4x DVD+R DL
  o5x DVD-RAM
  o24x CD-R
  o16x CD-RW
• Graphics Card: 128MB ATI x1400
• Networking: Intel Wireless 3945A/B/G, Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet, Modem and Verizion EV-DO Network Adapter
• Inputs: 86 Key Keyboard, Two Button Touchpad with Scroll Bar, PointStick with Separate UltraNav Buttons, Fingerprint Reader
• Buttons: Power, ThinkVantage, Power Up and Down, Mute, and WiFi/Bluetooth On/Off Switch.
• Other
  oBluetooth
  oWebcam
  oThinkLight
  oSecurity Lock
• Ports:
  o3 USB 2.0 Ports - Two Left Side, One Rear
  oFour Pin Firewire Connector
  oPort Replicator/Dock
  oS-Video Out
  oVGA Out
  o4-in-1 Card Reader
  oLine Out
  oHeadphone
  oIR Port
• Slots:
  o1 PC Card Slot Type II
  o1 ExpressCard Slot 54
• Battery: Six Cell
• Dimensions:
  oWidth - 14.1"
  oDepth - 10.3"
  oHeight - 1.6"
• Weight: 6.7 Lbs.
• Operating System: Windows XP Pro
• Warranty: Three Year Warranty With One Year Battery

Build & Design

I wasn't sure what to expect before I received the Z61m with the titanium lid. I like the Johnny Cash look of ThinkPads a lot. It says I mean business.

Top view of the Z61m.(view large image)

Let's just say, "she had me at hello". I fancied the titanium lid from the get go. It added some panache and toughness to the Z61m. People asked me about it regularly when I took it around. You can of course opt for the black cover if you are more of a traditionalist --though if you are why are you buying a Z series ThinkPad? One thing I observed right away, no more fingerprints with the titanium lid or at least you could wipe them away. I just look at my T42 and it gets three fingerprints. It is a definite improvement. I did however notice a few scratches on the lid after a few weeks of normal use. The rest of the Z61m looked like a black ThinkPad which isn't a bad idea. The Z61m is the biggest ThinkPad now that the oldG series of ThinkPads has gone away. Although the Z61m has gone on a bit of a diet compared to the old one, it continues to be a smidgen too heavy in comparison to other notebooks in its class. When you add in the adapter and all the other accessories one carries with a notebook, it probably works best as an occasional traveler and not a road warrior. For those who need more portability, the 14" Z61t will weigh under five pounds. The Z61m is also still fairly thick at 1.6" for my tastes anyway.

A Nokia 6170 mobile phonenext to the Z61m (view large image)

To get an idea of the relative thickness of the Z61m, my cell is a thick phone and itis still less than half the height of the Z61m.

I know some have commented that ThinkPads have eroded in quality since Lenovo took the reigns of the company. All I can say is this is most assuredly not true in this case with the Z61m. I would describe the feel of the Z61m as substantial. In addition to the sturdy titanium lid, the inside of the Z61m is made from rugged and elegant plastic. The Z61m is unyielding, most likely due to its remarkably rigid roll cage. Nowherethat I pressed on the Z61m could I make it give in any way; not the lid, the inside nor the underside. I would have no problem strapping it to my arm and going outside to play Knights of the Round Table --which I do do from time to time. It feels as though it has been carved from one stone.The Z61mis significantly stiffer than my ThinkPad T42 which I thought was already fairly stout.

Screen

Adding a bit of color to the Z61m (view large image)

The Z61m, like all ThinkPads, comes with a matte screen. This particular model has a higher resolution 15.4" WSXGA+ screen. Matte is my favored screen of choice for a notebook. Needless to say, I was in screen heaven. The screen is secured to the base using metal hinges. At no time did I ever see the ever screen move or wiggle. I had to open it with two hands every time. I don't think there is much of chance in three years it will have any problemswith the hinges wearing out. I liked the screen on the Z61m a lot. It was clear and bright with none of the glare issues you get with glossy screens. It had a scintilla of light leakage which was only slightly noticeable when the screen was completely dark. I watched a few DVDs, surfed the web, and typed the bulk of my review on it. It all looked good. I myself am more of a one thing at a time person. The whole widescreen vs. standard doesn't bother me much. I could see where the extra width would come in handy for those who like to multi-task, watch DVDs or do Excel. WSXGA+ was the perfect resolution for its size in my opinion. Like all matte screens, viewing angles were not particularly great especially horizontally, but as long as you remained relatively on center, it looked good. There are seven brightness levels. I felt anything three or above was workable. Here is a shot of the Z61M next to my T42 with FlexView screen, the standard for notebook matte screens.

ThinkPad T42 on the left showing "Airplane". The ThinkPad Z61m is on the left showing "Dick Tracy" (view large image)

The Z61m on the right might look better in the picture because the shot is brighter, but the T42 screen looked better to my eyes. It was one of the few areas where my T42 outclassed the Z61m.

Performance & Benchmarks

I don't think I am breaking any new ground here telling you the Core Duo is the best notebook CPU at the moment.

Screen cap of CPU-Z (view large image)

It will be interesting if the Intel Merom processor debuts in August, as has been rumored. Just about the time people are getting their hands on these YonahCore Duo processorsin larger numbers; the CPU would already beovershadowed by the 64-bit dual core Merom. The Core Duo, coupled with the faster 5400RPM drive and a generous 1GB of memory, had very good performance. Everything I did on it from converting MP3s to Photoshop to internet usageto MS Office worked great and ran smoothly. Conceivably a 7200RPM drive might have kicked up the performance a notch, but not hugely in my opinion. While surfing the web or using Office, the performance bump wasn't as big over the Pentium M in my T42, but using things like Photoshop or converting MP3 files were decidedly faster on the Core Duo over the Pentium M. I may have to dump the T42 for a Core Duo machine even though it will hurt the wallet!

Super Pi

Super Pi is a useful tool for gauging relative CPU performance. Right now the Core Duo is king of the hill.

Notebook	Time
Lenovo Z61m (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 16s
Dell Inspiron e1705 (2.0GHz Intel T2500)	1m 12s
Sony VAIO FS680 (1.86 GHz Pentium M)	1m 53s
IBM ThinkPad T43 (1.86 GHz Pentium M)	1m 45s
IBM ThinkPad Z60m(2.0 GHz Pentium M)	1m 36s
Fujitsu LifeBook N3510 (1.73 GHz Pentium M)	1m 48s
Dell Inspiron 6000D (1.6 GHz Pentium M)	1m 52s
Dell Inspiron 600M (1.6 GHz Pentium M)	2m 10s
HP Pavilion dv4000(1.86 GHz Pentium M)	1m 39s
Asus V6Va(Pentium M 1.86 GHz)	1m 46s
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 18s

PCMark04

Notebook	PCMark04 Results
Lenovo ThinkPad Z61m (2.0 Core Duo)	5,027 PCmarks
Dell XPS M1210 (2.16 GHz Core Duo)	6,033 PCMarks
Lenovo V100 (2.00 GHz Core Duo)	4,665 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron XPS2 (2.0GHzIntel Pentium M)	4,082 PCMarks
Acer Aspire 5002 WLMi (AMD Turion 64 ML-301.6GHz)	2,392 PCmarks
Acer TravelMate 4400 (AMD Turion ML-30, 1.6GHz)	3,104 PCMarks
Toshiba Tecra A6 (1.66GHz IntelCore Duo)	2,653 PCMarks
PortableOneSR2(Intel Pentium M Dothan 735 1.7GHz)	3,274 PCMarks

3DMark05

The Z61m has the 128MB ATI x1400 graphics card. It is a good mid-level card. If gaming is a primary interest there are probably better choices.

Notebook	3DMark 05 Results
Lenovo ThinkPadZ61m (2.0GHz Core Duo, 128MB ATI x1400 128MB)	2155 3DMarks
Apple MacBook Pro (2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB	2866 3D Marks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60 Nvidia GeForce Go7800 GTX)	7,0783DMarks
Dell Inspiron e1705 (2.0GHz Intel T2500, ATI X1400)	1,791 3D Marks
Asus V6Va (2.13 GHz Pentium M, ATI Radeon Mobility x700 128 MB)	2,530 3D Marks
Fujitsu n6410(1.66 GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400 128MB)	2,2733DMarks
HP dv4000 (1.86GHz Pentium M, ATI X700 128MB)	2,536 3D Marks
Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi(2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 256MB)	4,157 3DMarks

Here is a shot from The Chronicles of Riddick. It is a bit of an older game, but since I used Half-Life 2 for my last three reviews, I thought change was good. As you may be able to tell, Riddick does not support widescreen.

Riddick captures his breath after a bit of action.--graphics look a little stretched width wise because this game does not support it (view large image)

HD Tune

HD Tune is a hard drive utility. Here is a screen cap showing the Fujitsu's performance:

(view large image)

Resultsseem fairly normal for a 5400RPM drive.

Drives & Storage

The Z61m comes equipped with the Matshita UJ-850 DVD+/-RW-RAM optical drive. It is a modular drive. There will be options for extra batteries and hard drives.

The Mashita UJ-850 unplugged (view large image)

Unlike the T series ThinkPads, the UJ-850 is a standard 12.7mm height drive (the T series uses a slimmer non-standard size optical drive to stay thin). For those tinkerers at heart, you could probably replace the drive with something better if you can work out the bezel and fit issues. The CDs I burned had no issues. It took just under six minutes for a 24x burn. I also burned a couple of DVDs. For a full single layer disc, burn time was just under 14 minutes at 8x. That's a little slower than I would have liked. As you can see from the picture below, while overall the quality was good, the error rate gets a little higher than we would have hoped at the end of the disc.

Nero CD-DVD Speed. It is a useful tool measuring disc quality (view large image)

The drive also supports DVD-RAM and dual layer burning.

The Z61m came with the 100GB Fujitsu SATA 5400RPM hard drive. After deducting the recovery partition, there was 88GB left on the drive. As you can see, the drive is conveniently accessed for upgrades through a panel located on the bottom of the notebook.

Accessing the hard drive on the Z61m(view large image)

The drive comes with Lenovo's hard drive protection utility called Active Protection System (APS). Should you drop the notebook or otherwise run afoul of the notebook Gods,APS will park the hard drive to hopefully prevent damage.

The Z61m came with 1GB which is more than enough the typical user. The slots are stacked on top of each other under the touchpad. Both slots were utilized. I followed the service manual located on Lenovo's site, yes it is already up, and popped off the palm wrest.

The Z61m shown with the palm wrest off (view large image)

Perhaps the underside would have been a better spot to locate the at least one of the memory slots for the more technically faint of heart. The palm wrest did require a little schmoozing to snap off, but not too bad.

Keyboard Area

What can I say? It's a ThinkPad. I think people by now know what that means, the best laptop keyboard known to man. The keyboard was very firm with no flex. It felt as though each key was its own island. Key travel was excellent and feel was top notch.

The Z61m keyboard.Ooh-La-La! (view large image)

The ports are clearly marked along the edge of the keyboard. A few of the keys on the bottom row had to be downsized to accommodate the Windows key, such as the Alt and FN keys. I did find myself miss-hitting them a few times. I think if this were your rig, you would adapt quickly. The Z61m has dedicated keys for Home and End which pleases me greatly as I use them frequently.

The touchpad felt a wee bit smaller than I am used to. It seemed smaller than the one on my T42 by sight. It certainly worked well enough. They used a different kind of plastic for the buttons than on my T42. Not worse, but they were just different. The important part is the silky smooth action when using the buttons. Unlike most other notebooks buttons I have used which make clicking noises when using them, these buttons make no such loud noise. Loud and clicky notebook mouse buttonsdriveme to the brink of madness.

As with all ThinkPads, you get the little red nub in in the center of the keyboard with its own separate buttons, commonly called a pointing stick and ultra nav buttons. I know some people will think I am loco (and that's not far from the truth), but I hardly use my pointing stick. I just never got used to it. Nonetheless, the ThinkPad point stick is still the best in the business, despite my indifference to it.

The Z61m also comes with the integrated fingerprint reader which is integrated into the Trusted Platform Module (TPM). I am not going to spend a lot of time here. I hardly use the fingerprinton my T42. I will say the reader on the Z61m seemed to be a lot fussier about swipes than the one on my T42. It took about 20 swipes to enroll my first fingertip. You need three good swipes to enroll a fingerprint. For those who work in a data sensitive business andneed that level of security, or for those whoare just that anal, it's there.

Battery & AC

The Z61mI havecame with the six cell battery. There are nine and modular cell battery options available as well for those who need more time away from the power grid. With the screen turned down to three out of seven and had WiFi/Bluetooth on, I was able to get 3:20 minutes of battery life. I went from 100% battery life down to 5% before I plugged the AC adapterin. I consider this to be excellent battery life in light of the smaller battery and larger screen -- though still not close to Lenovo's 5.6 hour max estimate they list for this battery. I mainly did normal things like surf the web, work on my review, install software, played a couple ofhands of solitaire, etc. I figure with the nine cell and modular batteries you could get close to a full days work out of it. I did not use the optical drive while testing the battery, which probably helped. The AC adapter seemed a little larger than normal, but I don't think people will be too portable with the Z61m. It's not a huge issue.

Heat & Noise

The Z61m has three vent to help push out hot air; one on the back, one on the left and one on the bottom. During normal use, it got warm, but never uncomfortable to use. During gaming and running benchmarks it got even warmer, but again never too hot use. It's no MacBook, but it will do. I don't recall the fan ever turning on. If it did it wasn't for very long or loud for that matter.

Wireless & Networking

The Z61m has the Intel 3945 WiFi card and Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet card for networking purposes. Both worked well. I was able to use the WiFi card throughout the house and outside, but not from the neighbors houseabout 50-60 feet away. I was also able to use it at the local library as well which has free WiFi access. I did have issues with the Symantec firewall yet again as I did with it when I wrote the review for the LenovoN100. It would disconnect for seemingly no reason or not connect at all when I was five feet away from the router. If I disabled it or shut it down it would then work fine. After I dumped Symantec and installed NetVeda's SafteyNet firewall, everything worked great. I would think when one is paying this kind of money for a notebook; the WiFi should work out of the box.

Wireless connections available in my neighborhood as detected by the Z61m (all one of them) (view large image)

It is obviously not a hardware issue since it worked after disabling Symantec. There is also a 56k modem for those still in the dark ages of internet connectivity.

The other important option on the Z61m, is the addition of the Verizion EV-DO wireless wan card option. The antenna sticks off on the right side of the notebook. It seems a bit odd to include this on notebook not very likely to travel much, but what do I know? Unfortunately, I live in a small Midwesttown of about 3,000 people, which is probably less thana typicalblock in NYC where this site's other ThinkPad reviewer abaxter resides. As such, Verizon doesn't even offer cell phone service here. I could not test this feature. It had a nice little connection utility, but I couldn't get past the "cannot acquire signal" error message. So a note to small town or city dwellers, check Verizon offers servicein your area beforeeven consideringthis feature.

The Z61m also has Bluetooth 2.0. Think of it as short range wireless USB. I connected my Kensington Bluetooth pocket mouse without a hitch. It also has support for Bluetooth Audio which I was unable to test due to my lack of havingcompatible headphones/speakers.

Ports & Connections

The Z61m has most of the ports the average user is going to use on a regular basis. Since it is the most multi-media oriented of ThinkPads, perhaps a DVI connector would have been a nice enhancement.

On the front of the Z61M are the 4-in-1 card reader, IR port, and WiFi/Bluetooth on/off switch.

Front of Z61m (view large image)

The left side of the Z61M has the VGA-out, Ethernet, modem, headphone, line-in, Firewire, PC card slot and ExpressCard Slot 54.

Left side of Z61m (view large image)

The right side has the S-Video out, two of the usb ports and security lock.

Right side view of the of Z61m (view large image)

The back has the other USB port and power connector. The underside(not pictured) has the port replicator/dock connector.

The back of the Z61m (view large image)

Sound

The speakers on the ThinkPad Z61m are located on the sides of the keyboard. For a notebook, the sound emanating from them was pretty decent -- itwas clear and crisp.The speakers did not get very loud and could have used a little more bass, but hey it's a notebook. If you are an audiophile, a good pair of headphones is recommended.

Webcam

Owing to its multimedia ambitions, the Z61m came with an integrated webcam. It sits a few inches to the right of the ThinkLight. To be honest, I didn't even know it was there until I saw the software on the desktop.The camera was so well hidden itlooked like justa screw hole prior to discovery andinvestigation. I am not sure how many megapixels it has, but as long as you remained relatively still, it took good shots. Here is a photo of me working on my review.

Using the built-in Z61m web cam to take this picture, you can seeI am hard at work on the review you're nowreading(view large image)

The room was actually kind of dark when I snapped the web camshots you see. I was a bit surprised it turned out so well. Perhaps the screen lit my face to provide a pseudo illumination / flash. Here is another in a lighter moment.

You can call me abit of a wunderkind (view large image)

Software

I am glad to report there is almost no bloatware on the Z61m, save for Google Desktop which is easily removed if you wish. I guess it is hard to turn down that money Google is throwing around nowadays. If it helps keep the cost down and is easily removed, I'm a happy camper. Windows XP Pro and Home will be yourtwo options for Operating Systems. The important software on the machine is the ThinkVantage tools. It is a suite of software that allows one to secure, recover, manage, protect, etc. all aspects of your notebook. It is the industry leader in this regard.

The ThinkVantage and Windows start menus morphed together (view large image)

Just press the ThinkVantage button and you'll learn morethan you will ever need to know about your ThinkPad. One odd thing is there is no word processing software, not even Microsoft Works. It seems peculiar for a business class machine. I guess they want you to pay for Office.

Warranty & Support

This particular model comes with a three year warranty with one year on the battery. Depending on the machine type, the warranty will be one or three years unless it is refurbished. I did not have to use support during the Z61ms stay with me. But in the past, ThinkPad support has always been excellent for me.

Conclusion

Sadly, the ThinkPad Z61m'sstay with me is about to come to end. To say I liked it would be an understatement. What's not to love about the Z61m? It is built like a rock, performs like a champ, and with the titanium lid she's a fetching lass. Plus you get all the trimmings of a multimedia notebook like the widescreen, card reader, webcam, etc with the enhancements and quality of a business notebook. The benefits of the Z61m clearly outweigh any minor negatives associated with this machine. For a business or individual with the disposable income to toss around who wants the best, the Z61m should be at or near the top of your list.

Pros

• Exceptional Build Quality
• Attractive Look
• Exemplary Performance
• Clear and Bright Screen
• Phenomenal Keyboard
• Silky Smooth Buttons
• Respectable Sound
• Lots of Connection Options
• Minimal Bloatware
• ThinkVantage Tools

Cons

• Too Heavy & Thick for Mobility
• Scratchable Lid
• Symantec

Price & Availability

The 9450-39U machine type of the Z61m is available on Lenovo's site for $2199 with a stated shipping time of three to six weeks.

Glamour Shots and More Pictures

For a few more pictures of the Z61m and its travails in asmallMidwest town click here.

 

I echo your take on this being a "beefy" notebook. I reviewed the Z60m when it came out and have had a chance to play with the Z61m, and it really would serve well as say a bullet proof vest if you could discreetly slide it down your shirt (which given its size, you cannot).

Zaz can you comment at all on any issues with battery wiggle that so many seemed to have problems with on the Z60m series (if you remember dietcokefiend's review: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2777). The battery life you got with the 6-cell is actually quite impressive.

Sorry you'll have to be returning this notebook to the folks at Lenovo, seems like you're quite smitten, and I'm sure it'll miss the entertainment provided by a small town, but you look a little young to be driving this thing around town

 

wow that is one Thick lid! great review!

 

Awesome review. Bullet proof vest. xD. I'm getting ideas.

The Titanium lid certainly looks cool.

 

quick questions...is that video card overclocked, or stock? also, the thing you use to find wireless connections, is that a common tool in intel cards?

 

Excellent review, thanks!

 

NOS,

In the review the Z61m is using a Thankpad tool.

Tou can still right click on your wireless connection and select 'view wireless networks'.

 

I double checked it, the battery is in there solid.

Thats is Access Connections, ThinkPads wireless tool. You will only find it on a ThinkPad, but other makers have their own software. I personally did not overclock it.

Yes I liked the Z a lot, but my next notebook is gonna be lighter/smaller. Even my T42 which is about a half pound lighter is heavy even just around the house. My next notebook might be the X, but I don't know if I can live with 1024x768. Perhaps the 14" T.

By the way, not having a license is no impediment to driving.

 

The thinkpad is much thicker than a "pad". More like thinkbox. But still,an awesomely cool thinkbox. I like it - a lot =)

 

that cell phone - I guess you use it for self-defense from time to time?

P.S. enjoyed pictures from around town...

 

I agree the Nokia 6170 is a bit thicker than other cell phones, but it is also much studier than most of the plastic ones sold nowadays. Still fits in my pocket which is all that matters to me.

 

Zaz,

Can you tell me if the integrated webcam works with
Skype ? Also, you mention an unknown amount of pixels.
In the tabook, it's specified at 0,3 megapixel, which
should produce 640*480. This match the pictures you
posted, but just to be sure, were you at the max
resolution when taking them ? Finally, is it possible to
figure out the webcam manufactrer (driver, software) ?

Thanks

 

ok, thanks for the reply. but also, is your video card overclocked, or is that stock?

 

Great review , I dont care much about think pads but read them for the homour and the stings in the replies ...

They should do something with the inner desgin and that old logo , it looks like something from the 70's , all its missing is that fake wood panel they used to slap on electronics .

 

it's definitely stock

 

any plans for a z61t review anytime soon? Also (probably for abaxter) does the z61m run hotter than the z60m? Zaz mentioned some heat in his review.

 

wow..u got some good scores on that card then. i wonder why the dell versions are so low

 

NOS, it's probably due to all the bloatware.

 

thank you very much for the review.

Good job.

 

The camera manufacturer is Chicony. There was no option to change the resolution. No idea about Skype since I do not use it.

 

Great review ZaZ, nice photo-taking.

Nice machine, but none too portable as you noted. At 6.7lbs, that is fairly heavy for a 15.4" - to me, that would be considered light; mine weighs in at a hefty at 7.5lbs. Still would make a great primarly desk-bound machine for a power user.
The X1400 isn't a bad card, looks like it was handling The Chronicles of Riddick fairly well. I don't think I would opt for that if this was for business - can't have employees playing games, LOL.

 

Hmm... Is it just me or are the dual core intels not avialable on the IBM/Lenovo site anymore, I'm interested in getting a new 15" or 17" laptop (this was in my top 3 or 4) but now it looks like you can only get the Pentium Ms on the Z series...

 

It happens a lot with them when a new computer is released. The newer models are available sporadically, it seems.

If you're ordering within a month or two, I'm sure the Z61 series will be out in full swing. Or so I hope...

 

ZaZa, do you know what is the difference between z61m and z61t apart from screen size, weight and dedicated graphics card ???.
z61t weighs almost 2 pounds less than z61m and is very thin.

 

weird - around here Verizon is the only one to offer good service in the boonies. Cingular is spotty, and Sprint/Nextel are nonexistant.

 

I'd say those are the major points.

 

Nice detailed review, and fun to read too

But I do think you should have not let Lenovo slip away so easily. It may be because I really didn't like their HP look adaptations... I mean have a look at it from the sides and anyone will shout out HP!!!

As long as they don't bring in the girlie curves into the T-Series, I am happy, but I have a good feeling that they are gona try incorporating their modernism ideas into the T too some time in the near future.

The USB port on the back is not a great thing in m opinion. I am wondering how accessible it will be when it is docked? A port on my T43 at the same location will be un-accessible if docked.

Wonder why the finger print reader is causing issues?? I had problems with mine when I got my system, but now, no matter how I try to mess it up, it reads my finger PERFECTLY. Just one perfunctory swipe and I’m in. I know in my case the Finger Print software update released by Lenovo really made the massive difference.

I have one important question with this regard. Have you tried to see you can reset the Power on password, hdd password or others via software for times when you forget the password? On the T43 it says not combatable, but I was wondering if they incorporate the newer systems with that feature.

On an ending note, I think you ought to give the finger print reader another try on your T42. I can’t emphasize enough as to how accurately and perfectly it works on mine.

 

I'm considering buying the Z61m (9450) and I have a few questions for anyone who owns this..

- How does the ThinkLight work? For example, if you have the lid bent at a certain angle, will it always aim at the keyboard? Can you adjust the light or does it auto-adjust?

- Is it easy to take the XP CD and reformat this thing, and reinstall the ThinkVantage software and the proper drivers?

- Does this thing set your lap on fire?

 

great word!

 

I liked the look much of the Z61m a lot, much better than the dv5000. Plus its gonna last a lot longer.

There is usb ports on the back of the dock. It think it is a good spot for a mouse.. Keeps the plug out of your way.

I did not try any of the password stuff.

The fingerprint reader on my T42 works fine.

I think the ThinkLight will work fine as long as it is not flat.

If you try to format it, probably will need the SATA drivers for XP. I would recommed burning off the recovery CDs first.

It ran warm, but not hot in my opinion.

 

ya... it is a great placement for using the wired mouse, probably, that was the rationale by Lenovo for placing it there

 

ZaZ..
Nice Review man...
I was waiting for a good review of this model..
i'm planning on buying one as soon as they are available in canada to order..
couple of questions though....

1. does it support SATA 2.0?
2. is It really vista (aero) ready? (because I heard laptops will need hybrid HDDs to run premium vista...)
3. now if we upgrade to hybrid HDD.. will bios of this machine detect that?
4. is GPU on this machine upgradable?

thanks to anyone who can give some answears..
and thanks to ZaZ again..

 

1. Not sure. It is probably whatever the chipset supports.
2. I would it will run vista nicely.
3. No idea. Probably a Windows issue.
4. No it not upgradeable.

 

@ZaZ
Very nice review... Now, I'm having second toughts on ordering the T60. I hope you don't mind, I have a few questions.

Can you say that the build quality of T60 and Z61M are the same, considering that T60 is business class notebook while Z61M is multimedia oriented?

You see, I'm almost set to order T60 on Monday but in the back of my mind, I'm wanting a widescreen LCD that the Z61M have. (And hp business class mobile workstations are offering widescreen LCD's... more choices... )

I like the titanium lid but I'm concerned with what you said that it easily scratches. I'm afraid that it might not look good anymore after a few months. Is it that bad?

How about the price? On similar specs, which one would be cheaper?

Thanks so much for the information..

 

I wonder if it's because the X1400 in the Dell E1505 is only 64-bit while possibly the one in the Lenovo is 128-bit? On ATI's site the X1400 is listed as being 128-bit i believe but some people were asking about that in the Dell forum the other day with why theirs was only reporting as 64-bit in Everest. It's strange how the Fujitsu w/ X1400 scored higher then the Z61m even though it only had a 1.66 Core Duo but i guess the CPU speed doesn't have much impact on 3DMark05. Does anyone know if the clock speeds are different on the X1400 in the Dell?

Although the Z61m offers widescreen and is more multimedia orientated then the T60, they are both business class notebooks.

 

Zaz, how do you manage to get 2155 at 3D Marks? I tried it but only get 725 marks on 3DMarks05 at 1024 X 768.

3DMarks detects my video memory is 256mb instead of 128mb. In dxdiag showed 512mb of video memory. I am fully aware about Hypermemory in ATI graphics card but i think 3dmarks should detect the discrete video memory of 128mb. What is happening?

 

Hiya folks, just ordered my Z61m finding it to be a great blend of price and functionality given the other ThinkPads currently available. Yes its not as sexy as the T series when it comes to looks - but the titanium cover and integrated camera should make up for it. Also wanted to let you know that by calling the toll free order line, I was able to get a further 5% discount off the web price just by asking if there was a better deal available. Try it for your next purchase. Cheers!

 

I don't know. I ran the software thats what it came up with.

 

ZaZ how did you manage to get your dvd burner to work with nero cd/dvd speed ? mine does not report C1/C2 & PI/PIF, i get message it is an unsupported function

 

I did the scans on my desktop. If you look at the picture, you'll notice in the drive it says BenQ DW1620 which is possibly the best burner ever made.

 

Thats probably the best review I've read thus far! Love the around town pics

 

ah, so there is no way to make the UJ-850 to report errors in nero cd/dvd speed

 

Sorry, but if you can't recall the fan turning on, then it's most probably because it is constantly on (and not at all quiet even when idle).
My z61m has pretty much the same configuration as yours and I can second some parts of your review (like the nice display and the good hinges).
But this notebook has an extremely poor thermal management which is actually a known problem.
See:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_with_fan_noise#Always_on_problem:

Furthermore I recently noticed cracks on the bottom of my z61m (just about 1 year old and I didn't transport it a lot).
All in all I can just advise to not buy this notebook.

 

ThinkPad T42 on the left showing "Airplane". The ThinkPad Z61m is on the left showing "Dick Tracy"