Thinkpads Forum

Delivered today (5/27/08) pushed back a day due to the holiday. Too bad I'm at work. I'm counting the minutes down to when I can get my hands on it.

So updated:

ordered: 5/19/08
Shipped:5/22/08
Delivered: 5/27/08

Ordered early AM on 5/28, ship date is 6/18

Keeping my fingers crossed for an early surprise!

I highly doubt it will take that long. When I ordered mine on 5/19 I was given an estimated shipping date of 6/9/08, and it was shipped on 5/22 and I got it (typing on it now. ) on 5/27/08. I would be surprised if it took until mid June to ship.

I hope you are right. I have some work I could really use the system for, and my HP dv6000 is just not cutting it anymore. Here is what I ordered, hopefully nothing out of the ordinary:

INTEL CORE2DUO PROC.T8100
MS WIN VISTA BUSINESS
15.4 WSXGA+ TFT
INTEL GMA X3100 GM 965
2GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 2DIMM
KEYBOARD US ENGLISH
UN(TRACKPOINT TOUCHPAD)
160GB HDD,7200RPM
DVD REC.8XMAXDUAL LAY UB-S
PC CARDSLOT EX CARDSLOT
INT.WIRE.WIFI/LINK4965AGN
6 CELL LI-ION BATTERY
CPK NORTH AMERICA
LPACK US ENGLISH
LENOVO THINKPAD PROTECTION WITH THINKPLUS DEPOT REPAIR - EXTENDED SERVICE AGREEMENT - 2 YEARS - PICK-UP AND RETURN
LENOVO THINKPAD 65W ULTRAPORTABLE AC ADAPTER - POWER ADAPTER - 65 WATT

Order placed via phone on 05/23/08 for the following:

Quantity 3
Part No. 6459CT
43Y3426 SBB INTEL CORE2DUO PROC.T9300
42V8012 VBB MS WIN VISTA HOME BASIC (clean wipe and ugrade to Ultimate 32 bit when they get here)
42V8287 SBB 15.4 WSXGA+ TFT
42X5976 SBB NVID QUA FX570M-256MB OPGL
41W2064 VBB 2GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 1DIMM (ordering 2GB Crucial chip for each to bring total to 4GB...I know 32 bit will only see 3GB of RAM, but I'll upgrade to 64bit OS at some point)
42V8195 SBB KEYBOARD US ENGLISH
42V8295 SBB UN(TRACKPOINT TOUCHPAD)
42X5218 SBB 160GB HDD,7200RPM
42V8193 SBB INTEL TURBO MEMORY 1GB
42V8172 SBB DVD REC.8XMAXDUAL LAY UB-S
42X0805 VBB PC CARDSLOT EX CARDSLOT
42V8177 SBB INT.WIRE.WIFI/LINK4965AGN
62P6054 VBB INTEGR.BLUETOOTH PAN
41W1508 SBB 6 CELL LI-ION BATTERY
39T6442 SBB COUNTRY PACK NORTH AMERICA
42X1524 SBB LP-US ENGLISH

Est. Ship Date right after the order was placed was 06/13/08.

Credit card authorization occured on 05/29/08. There as a delay due to the Memorial Day holiday weekend. No complaints obviously.

New est. ship date after credit card authorization: 06/19/08

Shipping confimation sent: 06/01/08

Tracking code sent: 06/02/08

Est. delivery date via UPS: 06/06/08

I guess they just set the expectation very low just to be on the safe side.

UPDATE: Delays

Not sure what's going on here, but it looks like there are some issues with my packages getting clearence. Has anyone else had this happen with their shipments.

Package Progress
Location Date Local Time Description
LOUISVILLE,
KY, US 06/05/2008 8:43 A.M. THE SHIPMENT IS BEING HELD BY BROKERAGE FOR REASONS BEYOND UPS' CONTROL / BROKERAGE RELEASED SHIPMENT. SHIPMENT IS SUBMITTED TO CLEARING AGENCY FOR FURTHER CLEARANCE
LOUISVILLE,
KY, US 06/04/2008 1:58 P.M. THE SHIPMENT IS BEING HELD BY BROKERAGE FOR REASONS BEYOND UPS' CONTROL
ANCHORAGE,
AK, US 06/03/2008 11:05 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
06/03/2008 1:32 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
GUANGZHOU,
CN 06/03/2008 7:39 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
GUANGZHOU,
CN 06/02/2008 3:53 P.M. EXPORT SCAN
06/02/2008 3:50 P.M. HUB SCAN
SHENZHEN,
CN 06/02/2008 3:47 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
06/02/2008 7:17 A.M. ORIGIN SCAN
CN 06/02/2008 1:16 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED


Tracking results provided by UPS: 06/05/2008 9:26 A.M. ET

Anyway, it's just a few days of delay, but I do think that Lenovo has some problems with it's manufacturing and distribution process.

ethant wrote:I hope you are right. I have some work I could really use the system for, and my HP dv6000 is just not cutting it anymore. Here is what I ordered, hopefully nothing out of the ordinary:

INTEL CORE2DUO PROC.T8100
MS WIN VISTA BUSINESS
15.4 WSXGA+ TFT
INTEL GMA X3100 GM 965
2GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 2DIMM
KEYBOARD US ENGLISH
UN(TRACKPOINT TOUCHPAD)
160GB HDD,7200RPM
DVD REC.8XMAXDUAL LAY UB-S
PC CARDSLOT EX CARDSLOT
INT.WIRE.WIFI/LINK4965AGN
6 CELL LI-ION BATTERY
CPK NORTH AMERICA
LPACK US ENGLISH
LENOVO THINKPAD PROTECTION WITH THINKPLUS DEPOT REPAIR - EXTENDED SERVICE AGREEMENT - 2 YEARS - PICK-UP AND RETURN
LENOVO THINKPAD 65W ULTRAPORTABLE AC ADAPTER - POWER ADAPTER - 65 WATT

Nice work! You chose a very good configuration.
And I can tell you from personal experience you are really going to like the small and light 65W AC adapter. And nothing against HP, but compared to the ThinkPad, you are going to be shocked at how good the keyboard is, the cursor control via track point or touch pad. The build quality and structural rigidity of the ThinkPad is simply stunning. Your new ThinkPad will serve you very well, and last a very long time. Just check out the list of ThinkPads in my signature. And frankly since I took really good care of them, I've kept every single one if for no other reason that they are still worth more to be than the money I would receive if they were sold. They all still work really well, it's only due to the nature of my work needs that I upgraded so frequently, as I do everything on a ThinkPad. No desktop for me. I move around too much in my travels for work. This is one purchase you will be very happy with.

Enjoy your new ThinkPad!

Thanks! I am excited. The HP actually has been a pretty good machine for a consumer level notebook, but there are some things about it that bug me, most notably the very loud fan. And I have some projects I am working on right now that would be much easier with the extra resolution on the WSXGA+.

So I called today to make sure there were no problems with my order. I was told that the order had been "sent to be built today" but that the turn around time on this would be 10 to 15 days ! So I am still hoping that I will get a pleasant surprise. I paid for two business day shipping, so hopefully that will help once it actually gets shipped.

ethant wrote:Thanks! I am excited. .

Believe me I have been in your position of having to wait for my new ThinkPad on many occasions.
Here's my take on it. They are building a fresh, new ThinkPad just for you, to your specifications. Lenovo has a great system for doing so. They also test every machine after it's built. Just think, of the hundreds of ThinkPads I've deployed in my company (over 500) we have never had one that failed out of the box. You will be enjoying a laptop built with all the latest components, drivers, BIOS, etc. The day that it arrives you will immediately forget about the wait and be enjoying the best laptop you've ever had. Once you have it loaded with your software, preferences & sit down to use it, you are going to be as much of an advocate as I am.

Cheers!
Sent via BlackBerry

It's here!

Ordered: 5/28
Shipped: ?
Arrived: 6/6

This is a VERY welcome surprise, because I really need it for a project. I have been watching the Lenovo site closely as well as calling every few days for a status update. The site still says the order is in progress with a estimated ship date of 6/18. This is also what the people on the phone have been telling me.

So imagine my surprise when it showed up today! So far everything looks good and there don't appear to be any problems with the unit but I will be doing a more thorough check later. I never received any shipping notification from Lenovo, and it's a little disconcerting that their phone people don't appear to have any idea whats going on, but at this point I am just happy to have my ThinkPad!

Ordered 6/8
T61 2.5ghz T9300, 14.1" WXGA+, 1gb (going to upgrade myself), 160gb 7200rpm, bluetooth, DVDRW, 4695AGN, free upgrade to WWAN antenna installed (cool?), fingerprint, etc

hoping it will be shipped soon

how do I know when my order will ship? It has been about 4 business days, and the status on the order page has not updated...do they email you a new update or just update the order status page?

Thanks!

I ordered my T61 6465-CTO (T8300, 15.4" WXGA, 2Gb, 80 Mb drive, DVD-R/W, Intel 3945 WLAN card, Bluetooth, and no preloaded OS) on Sunday, 6/1.
On Monday, 6/2, got email telling me that the unit would ship 6/30.
On Tuesday, 6/3, got an email telling me that the unit had shipped (a CTO ready that fast?). Tracked the unit from HK to Inchon, KR.
On Wednesday, 6/4, the unit was delivered.

What did they do? Have an open 6465, slap in the memory, Bluetooth, WLAN card, and DVD-R/W, box it, and give it to an employee to carry to the US?

Wow thats quick! I actually just got an email that my unit had shipped today (6/12). Praying that somehow it gets here in 1 day like yours, before the weekend

enjoy her

Order placed for my T61 on 5/30 (T8100, 14.1" WXGA, 2GB RAM, 160GB disk, CDRW, 4965AGN wifi, Intel graphics). Estimated ship date was originally 6/13. On 6/14 the estimated date rolled forward to 7/18. Then today I got email notification of shipment, however my CC has not been charged yet, so we'll see what happens I guess.

I'm eager to get my hands on this thing, it will be my first ThinkPad and I've heard high praise for their build quality and good design. If it lives up to expectations I may throw in an X300 since I'd like an ultraportable as well.

** Edit **

Overdue update but I received my T61 on 6/17, I had only requested UPS ground shipping but looks like it got sent express. No complaints here!

Ordered 6/11. ESD 6/25. and now it shows that it was shipped on 6/16. With any luck i'll have it by the end of the week.

***Update*** Yesterday UPS said Delivery 6/24, but today there is no estimated delivery.

Ordered CTO T61 on 6/15. Shipped 06/18.

T61 T8100 1 gig 100g 7200 HDD WXGA w/Camera Win XP

Ordered my T61p on May 21, 2008, was informed by Lenovo that the estimated ship date would be June 18, but received it on June 7. It made it through customs pretty fast

Mine has been in town all weekend. Hopefully they deliver it tomorrow, but the estimated arrival is still Tuesday.

After somehow managing to miss the UPS guy monday and Tuesday, I picked it up from the UPS hub Tuesday night.

So far, so good!

Ordered the 21st July (ordered by phone) and confirmation from China Representative on the 22nd that the laptop has been sent.

We were told by the sales rep that ordering through a sales rep is quicker (a week or a little bit more) as opossed to internet sales which can take up to a month.

I have been told today that the computer should be here possibly later in the week!

P.S. I am in Australia
Tony

I ordered a T61P on the 21st as well :p. Mine says it has an estimated ship date of 8/4/08 so we'll see . Regardless I can't wait to get a hold of it . In the meantime it'll give me a chance to order the case and extra memory I am going to get for it.

Case:
http://www.pelican.com/cases_detail.php?Case=1495
Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820227251

Well, I configured and ordered a customized T61 = 7658CTO on Monday evening July 21, and it arrived at my door the following Monday morning, July 28.

This machine has the following options:

• T9300 processor,
  downgrade to Win XP, with recovery disk
  14.1 WXGA+ TFT, no camera
  Intel GMA X3100 GM965 "integrated graphics"
  2 GB SDRAM
  UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad), no Fingerprint Reader
  100GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
  no Turbo memory
  DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim
  PC Card Slot & Express Card Slot
  Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN
  Integrated Bluetooth PAN
  Integrated Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN)
  Wireless WAN Ready - Integrated Antenna with no Provider Card Installed
  9 cell Li-Ion Battery
  3 Year Depot Upgrade with 3 Year ThinkPad Protection

I was curious to see if the price has changed, so I tried to create the same configuration today, ten days after my order.
Notably, Bluetooth is no longer offered as an option, and the total price (before tax and recycling fee) actually went up by $8.40.

acz wrote:Well, I configured and ordered a customized T61 = 7658CTO on Monday evening July 21, and it arrived at my door the following Monday morning, July 28.

Glad to hear that your came so quickly . Like I said above I ordered mine on the 21st as well but as of today it still says "In Process" .

The specs on mine are:
T9300 (2.5gz)
Windows Vista Business 64 w/ Win XP downgrade
15.4" WSXGA
1gb RAM (1 stick)
UltraNav (TrackPoint & TouckPad) w/ finger print reader
160gb 7200rpm
no Turbo memory
8x dvd recorder
PC Card Slot & Express Card Slot
Intel Wireless A/G/N
Integrated Bluetooth
Integrated WWAN antenna but no provider card installed
9-cell battery
3 year depot upgrade w/ thinkpad protection

So quite similar to yours :p, I wonder which item(s) are holding mine up? On a good note the case and memory that I ordered to go with it arrived already. I ended up getting the case (Pelican 1495) from the link below which seems to have one of the cheaper prices especially since it comes with the carrying strap.

Case:
http://www.thepelicancases.com/PL1495.html

I'll update when the laptop arrives.

4 August 2008

In our part of the world we cannot custom build a machine, however the 6459A12 comes close to what I want.

T7500, 2 Gb memory (2 * 1GB SODIMM), 15.4 WSXGA+, 160 Gb 7200 HDD, DVD recordable, Intel 4965AGN, Bluetooth 2 + EDR, Intel Pro/1000 Gigabit Ethernet, 256 Mb NVidia Quadro FX 570 M (hmmm....) Fingerprint, 9 cell battery.

This is going to be my "production" machine and the Z61m is going to be my "development / test" machine. Has had a hard life, am on the second keyboard but it has worked flawlessy to-date bar for one little nagging problem - double clicking on the "safely remove hardware" icon in the system tray will give me an error where just highlighting the item I want to safely remove works fine.

I fully expect it to be the last Thinkpad I'll buy. I have been closely watching the resolution of the GPU / overheating problem on the T61 series and the length of time it took. It reminds me of the days I was stationed in Hong Kong and having a team of developers working for me. Enough said.

On top of this I looked at the new SL series and the overall direction where Lenovo is heading. It seems that these days it has become all "just in time" manufacturing (I think Dell started off with this). Drives the total cost of ownership up for me - now I need to "anticipate" when I will repalce the machine rather than just waiting until the present one stops and then rushing out, ordering a new one and having it arrive a day or two later.

Don't know what I'll eventually will switch too, used to have Toshiba Tecra's before switching to IBM Thinkpads over 10 years ago. Never looked back.

Although delighted on one hand to be getting a T-series laptop again I am sad at the same time. It's like saying goodbye to a dying friend.

7 August 2008

Spoke with post sales support and machine should be shipped on the 18th of August. Delay in getting some parts ( perhaps the Bluetooth? ) no information yet on serial number (need it to get the downgrade XP media).

11 August 2008

Got an email today dated 10th August 2008 telling me that the computer has been shipped via DHL. Did not say where it was shipped from, am expecting 5 - 7 business days until delivery.

Important part is that now I have the serial number so I will tomorrow morning order the XP downgrade (extra expense , ) and then hopefully it will arrive not too much later.

Had a question out on the memory but no replies as yet. Have decided that I will swap the T61p's two 1 Gb memory modules with the single 2 Gb memory module that is sitting in the Z61m. Unlikely that I'll swap to Vista - perhaps I'll go to the successor of Vista but there may be just as big a likelyhood that I keep XP going as long as I can and just put a more intelligent firewall between the XP and the internet (may get a cheap Linux machine running for that)

12 August 2008 (just after midnight) Yippee! I just discovered in the parts lookup that the machine has the 44C3931 planar in it. No worries, this is the business. Lenovo you rock!

13 August 2008.

09:00 AM - TP61p arrived from Shenzen.
10:05 AM - XPP recovery media arrived from Australia, was ordered yesterday at 3:30 pm. Don't know how that was done, very impressive.

Machine is very impressive and I would order another T61p in heartbeat if I needed another machine. Now need to install XPP but am first cloning the HDD to an external HDD, will then make the Vista Ultimate media before wiping the disk and putting XPP on.
Marinus

OK, have this machine for a little while now. Some gripes i have: Although the screen is exactly the same as on my Z61M (same manufacturer / resolution) it is noticeably darker on the right hand side.

It is rather annoying but I am not going to return it for screen replacement since the local repair outfit is normally not the best in repair. (Both my A31's went there and I was not happy.... Enough said... ) Have downloaded from Microsoft the "Zune" theme (a black theme) and put the task bar on the right hand side.

The Seagate hard disk was very annoying (loud and strange clicking noises when idle) and I decided to replace it with the Hitachi HTS722010KS9SA00. Although this is "only" 100 Gb (I use about 5 Gb for my system) it is extreemly fast and very, very quiet. I can hardly hear the disk with the fan off. And it has a 16 Mb cache versus the Seagate's 8 Mb. And I used the Hitachi Feature tool afterwards and enabled the acoustic management which made it even more quiet.

It had to be ordered in and I waited nearly 5 weeks for its arrival but it was worth it. If you need the performance but not the space and if you value your silence then this is the disk to have. Highly recommended, cannot praise it enough.

The laptop runs noticeably warmer than the Z61m, temperature normally hovers around 48 - 50 degrees C and at the latetr temp the fan kicks in. The Z61m is noticeably louder with the fan (going all the time, not on the T61p) but runs at approx 39-42 C.

No more postings have been made on new purchases of the T61p so I must have had one of the last ones.

Marinus