Thinkpads Forum

Any opinions on the r51??...Just curious as I'm about to buy one. Any insight would be helpful.

R51 was last R model with FlexView display.

I had owned one. All I can say is, it's a good mainstream machine, served me well and never gave any problem(s) at all.

What are you planning to use it for?

What is flex view display? Main use for it is just the everyday web browsing and for taking on vacations to download pics and videos. Nothing major

IMO R51 is suitable for your needs.

Flexview (IPS)

The Flexview LCD displays used on select IBM/Lenovo models use the IPS (In-Plane Switching) technology, which provide wide viewing angles (the display can literally be seen from all angles with no color distortions and minimal loss of contrast), better contrast (making the whites brighter and the blacks darker) and richer colors overall than the regular laptop screens.

I have an R52 and love it, it's pretty much a work horse, I did upgrade the processor, ram, HD, it's a tough solid machine.

I've bought and sold quite a few R51's lately and they seem like pretty good machines.

Bought a used R51, and it died within a day. It seemed like the backlight had failed (it showed fine on the external monitor), but a LCD switch made it clear it was not the LCD. I did a forum search and these models seem to have the problem of a motherboard failure that looks like an inverter/backlight failure. I've never had that problem with any other laptop. On that end I'd be careful.

My R52 This has served me well for almost 2 years now and the only things you might miss on this machine is Flexview (upgradeable from R50/R51) FireGL Video (You can use a T43p donor board without firewire) and extra USB ports (nothing an External USB hub will not cure). No harware malfunctions at all except for some minor keyboard keycap replacement, although this machine left my desk maybe less than 5 times.

Upgraded it to Pentium M 780 and 2GB RAM so it will be suitable for some of the work I do and now its almost time to move on.

I had an R51 for 1.5 year. It was built like a tank. Actually it felt much more solid than my T43p. It was also far more cooler and quieter. I only suggest that you get 14 inch model. I had 15 inch XGA. It was quite bulky.

My R51 is serving me well since 2004.
It has a strudy case made of APS Plasic, very stable, nothing cracked util now.
It is one of the last R5x with a 15" IPS Flexview, which is simply BRILLIANT.
Compared to my recently aquired X31, the R51 is much cooler, and
fitted with the Long Fan M10 it is also very quiet.
The original short fan, was emmitting an audible ennerving, pulsating noise,
the Long Fan also shows this problem, but it not audible anymore under normal use conditions.
At the beginning 6 cell Battery live was 3h max using all power save option,
and dropped to 1h after 3 years and 300 cycles.
In general its a great machine, can only recommend it.

Puppy wrote:R51 was last R model with FlexView display.

But only SXGA+, right? And only some SXGA+ units have FlexView, I believe.

I *think* the only R models they offered with UXGA displays were the 'p' models (i.e., R50p). The rest of the flexview R models were the 15 inch 1400x1050 variety.

one last word.

I just noticed that the R51 ABS plastic case without the rubber paint is much less
prone to wear and tear, even though I do personally prefer the rubber paint of the
T4x series. I've seen that the rubber paint wears off at the corners of the lid.

The other thing I note recently is that the15" R51 is about 300g heavyer
than a comparable T42. (same size factor, same Flexview SXGA+ screen)

Of all the laptop screens I've ever owned (and that's quite a few), the 15" SXGA+ with Flexview on my wife's recently sold R51 was the BEST by far. The whites and colors were close to ideal without adjustments, and it was my only Flexview that didn't have that ever so slight darkening in one (or both) of the bottom corners. For the price she sold it for I'd have rather kept it.

I also prefer the non-rubberized plastic of the R-series on any laptop I'm not carrying daily.

- Yak