Thinkpads Forum

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum. I read through a bunch of helpful posts here before placing my order for a T60, but I still have a couple of things I'm wondering about.

I'm currently using a Thinkpad X40, and I absolutely LOVE the size and weight, but recently I've come to realize that I need some more "real estate". The 1024x768 was getting cramped for certain applications. I decided I needed to upgrade to some more pixels, even though I was reluctant to add weight. I think the best compromise seems to be the T60 14.1" 1400x1050.

I just placed an order for the T60 2623D4U, which has the hi-res screen and an ATI x1300 video card. I also ordered the mini-dock (yes, I know many units have had problems, but the sales rep ASSURED me that they have just recently fixed the problem. He says he'll forward me the white paper detailing the changes. So far I haven't received it from him, but I can post it to this forum if I get it)

Question 1) Is the 64MB card sufficient for driving two external monitors through the mini dock? I'm unclear about how the video card interacts with the two video ports on the dock. I understand that it has one VGA port and one DVI port, and I'm fine with that.
Is the video card a factor? Should I have ordered the 128MB card? I don't do any gaming or 3D work. The most video-instensive stuff I do is photoshop. Accurate color would be nice, but I don't really expect to get that. What are the advantages of the the 128MB card vs. the 64MB one?

I have two 20-inch monitors right now, but I might want to upgrade one of them to the Dell 24" in the future. Will the larger screen be more than this setup can handle?

Question 2) How tricky is it to get the laptop in and out of the mini-dock? Does it take a lot of fiddling or does it pop right out?

Question 3) Was it dumb of me to stick with the smaller 6-cell battery? In an attempt to keep the weight as low as possible I opted not to get the larger battery. However, I hedged by also ordering the Ultrabay battery, figuring that I'll be able to bring it when i really think I'll need it, but I won't have to put up with the weight all the time.
Does anyone here have any comments about the ultrabay battery? I couldn't find much information here in the forum about it. Is it worthwhile? Is it a pain to carry? Does it add a significant amount of usage time?

Question 4) I briefly considered getting the Thinkpad Z61t (94402BU) It has a 14.1" 1440x900 screen. Very intriguing. I'm not a big fan of widescreen, generally, but this sounds like it's probably a similar screen to my X40, probably about the same height and a good deal wider. I have to wonder whether it would have been any easier to work on than the T60. I think it is slightly lighter weight than the T60. Since there's no way to actually SEE any of these models before ordering them, I decided to go with the more familiar orientation of the T60. I'm just a bit curious about this Z61. Has anyone used one? Seen one? How does the work area compare to that of the T60? I have a feeling that the standard orientation of the T60 will be easier to work in. I often use Dreamweaver and Flash, both of which are very vertically-oriented programs. They would benefit more from having additonal vertical room to work in rather than horizontal. (as opposed to Photoshop, which benefits from having some extra horizontal room for palletes.) Since I consider vertical space to be more valuable than horizontal, I didn't try harder to explore the Z61, but I'm kind of curious about it.

I'd appreciate some input while I still have a chance to call back and change my order if necessary. I'm already thinking that I might want to cancel the order for the ultrabay battery. The Lenovo sales rep tells me that "ALL SALES ARE FINAL. NO REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES!" so I need to be pretty confident that it's what I want before the thing ships! I'm a bit shocked that this is Lenovo's policy. It was NOT the policy when I ordered my X40 last year. The rep tells me that this policy is "industry standard", though I was unsuccessful in convincing him that he's wrong about that. In the past, I've been able to return laptops to many different vendors, including IBM/Lenovo. He says their policy has just recently changed.


Anyway, thanks for any input, Guys. Sorry for the somewhat rambling post. It's my first post, and I'm kinda still thinking through the decision process. Hope it wasn't a pain to read.

Hi,

1) The video RAM of 64MB is enough for your monitors. I am not sure if the video card supports two 1680x1050 screens at a time though, but if it doesn't, the 128MB model won't either (because both are sufficient for the framebuffers).

2) Dunno about the T60 mini-docks, at least T4x mini-docks weren't that hard to detach, although some fiddling was required.

3) I have a Ultrabay Slim battery for my T42p. I didn't buy another one for my T60p though - the price/capacity ratio is very bad. You can get an extra 9-cell battery for the price of the 2 or 3 -cell ultrabay battery.

4) Note that the Z series are plastic (even though still sturdy) compared to the metal T series casings. So I would still prefer a T series.

Olli

Thanks, oggialli.

So...in response to your comment about the spare 9-cell:

The 6-cell battery comes with the system I ordered. There's no option to upgrade it. Let's say I follow your suggestion and purchase a spare 9-cell to toss in my bag in case of emergency, how would I charge it? Is there a way to charge the spare battery while the standard 6-cell is attached? Or would I have to fully charge one battery while it's connected to the laptop and then remove it and attach the second battery to charge that one?

Maybe that's a dumb question. I can't think of any other way it would work. There's no special external charger for the battery is there?

I expect that I would want the lighter-weight battery most of the time, unless it turns out to be dreadfully underpowered. I'm still trying to minimize weight and size.

Thanks.

Hi,

take a look at http://www-131.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/store ... 8425101127.