T60 2613 EKU - First impressions

[gator]

Hi all,

Been following this formum ever since I had set my eyes on a Big Blue lappy. 'Great' would be an understatement for all the information available here. I got my new T60 just just yesterday and thought will post my first impressions here - please feel free to comment.

This is my first own laptop (have used a Dell Inspiron at school on and off) and I bought it primarily for work. I am a graduate student and will be using this for some heavy research related simulations in matlab and C. Below is my config:

Thinkpad T60
2GHz dual core, 2 GB RAM
Radeon X1400 128 MB, 15" flexview
100 GB 7200 RPM SATA
8x dual layer DVD RW
and all the other works

My first impressions:

* Laptop is very, very silent. I cannot HDD running; if I go really close to te vents, I can hear the fans ever-so lightly. Totally silent machine.

* Thai NMB keyboard is stunning. No flexing anywhere - The tactile feedback is much better than any other keyboard I've used and whatever you read in reviews never will complete the experience until you type on a IBM keyboard.

* Constuction is ruggedly solid. Though I got a 15", I can carry the laptop in one hand, and it is lighter than what I expected it to be.

* The screen's finish is really nice. No grains, no messy reflections, no ghosting whatsoever from any angle. Running at 1440*1050 at 32 bits (was set to 16bits out of the box) is a real pleasure on the eyes. Colours are true and definitely not dull.

* I did not even turn font smoothing on until my friend suggested it to see how it looked. Personally I feel the machine looks great without font smoothing.

* Laptop runs very cool - I ran some intensive simulations just for testing, and forget it getting hot - the laptop did not even get warm to touch.

* Wireless reception was excellent. It was able to connect to wireless networks that other laptops nearby did not even show.

* Sound from the speakers is a bit low compared to other laptops, but with earphones on, it was nice.

* Trackpoint - well I simply love it.

* The fingerprint reader takes time getting used to - I kept getting the "too short" message till I figured whats the right way to swipe my finger. Definitely makes life easier.

* Am yet to use the password manager extesively for websites in conjunction with the fingerprint reader; tried it once with firefox and could not get it to work. Wil update after I figure it out.

* I don't beleive in benchmark numbers much. I have a 3 GHZ Pentium IV machine (1GB RAM) at school, and from what I can compare, MATLAB 7 opens like notepad on my T60. Thats pretty fast by my standards!

* I hate the sticker that they stuck on the bottom left corner of mt T60. I dont think its a peel off - I did see posts in the forum that explained how to remove the windows and the ATI stickers, but am wary of using them. Anyone with a easy idea (without the hairdryer), please do reply.

* The only programs I had to unistall were Picasa and Google desktop. No bloatware, and thats the way it should be.

* I knew bfore purchase that the T60 did not have a S-video out, but I wish they did have one. Chucking out the parallel port for a vent was a good idea IMHO.

* The power brick is small for 20V, 90W. Don't know how they managed that.

* Thinkvantage suite of tools is amazing. I knew it was good, but only after I actually saw what it had, I realized how good it was.

I am really impressed with my machine, and it is the best purchase I have ever made. I'll update this post with some more stuff soon.

[GoofyG28]

* I hate the sticker that they stuck on the bottom left corner of mt T60. I dont think its a peel off - I did see posts in the forum that explained how to remove the windows and the ATI stickers, but am wary of using them. Anyone with a easy idea (without the hairdryer), please do reply.

It doesn't sound like you use the Trackpad, but I'm a touchpad guy. The touchpad buttons aren't as durable, and they start to click easily. I got a replacement palm rest (because you can't just get the button replaced), and the new palm rest does not have any of the stickers. So that's always an option.

Too bad my new palm rest's left button is already messed up. Bad design on Lenovo's part.

[Scratch]

I have a 2623-DDU and, early software/utility issues aside, have been impressed from day one with the build quality of this machine. I hope that you enjoy using yours as much as I do. I'm able to do workstation level CAD/CAE/CAM at home and on the road that used to require long office hours.

With regard to the removal of stickers...I was able to lift them cleanly off the machine starting with a fingernail and then removed excess adhesive with Goo Gone. No sign that they were ever there. Hope it works that way for you.