Thinkpads Forum

I have had a t30 for over a year and loved it, but I'm a gamer and need more speed. I also fried my motherboard (my stupidity,) and I bought a new one off eBay, it fried within a month (no reason why, just won't boot.) I wanted a t60 anyway, but I'm one who can't keep his fingers out of things and have to be able to upgrade, so I have a few questions for owners:

#1. Is the t60 gonna be as reliable as a the previous thinkpads I've had (i1300 and t30, both took some work to kill. Those tanks were thrown around hard.)
#2. Are there any known issues I need to be warned about?

#3. I was thinking about buying a bare bones off eBay, where a warranty would not be an issue and I could upgrade the components as I was adding them. The Lenovo warranty is voided by a CPU upgrade, correct?

#4. How high of a CPU can I go?

#5. Is it worth it to go to the t61 or t60p, or should I just stick with the t60 for now?

THANKS
Truk

The CPU isn't nearly as important as the GPU when gaming. If you are looking for a business class notebook that can game, the HP nc8430 seems like a better option or the upcoming Santa Rosa version, the 8510p, but those aren't ThinkPads, right?

I will be doing programming and multitasking, along with the fact that I like to have the fast CPU just for bragging rights. As for the video card, as long as it has 64megs dedicated VRAM and will kick this radeon 7500, I am not gonna be too picky. I am going to have to save up all summer for this thing, and I plan to get an advanced dock so I can add PCIE graphics if need be. I do want the best graphics card I can get, but I don't have all outdoors to worry about it with. As for anything but a Thinkpad, absolutely not. I have seen too many newer laptops fall apart. And when I say that, it's literally for an HP and a Toshiba.

Oh, and to add another question, are there any known issues running XP? I know Lenovo's had some trouble with drivers and such, and I will be running XP pro.

THANKS
Truk

FredGarvin wrote:The CPU isn't nearly as important as the GPU when gaming. If you are looking for a business class notebook that can game, the HP nc8430 seems like a better option or the upcoming Santa Rosa version, the 8510p, but those aren't ThinkPads, right?

That nc8430 seems nice. I compared the Precision M90 against the nc8430 and the former have the powerful Quadro 1500M wonder why the new T61p wouldn't sport that powerful cards. I think Thinkpads are lagging behind not offering higher-end graphic dedicated chips. However Quadros are not suited for gaming, the X1600 is a medium performance card

The M90 is a 17" notebook. You're not going to see those kinds of cards on a 15" notebook.

Thinkpads are NOT for gamers but for serious work, period!

krutoj wrote:Thinkpads are NOT for gamers but for serious work, period!

Wrong, thats the beauty of the Thinkpad; they are for whatever you tell them to be. I will be planning to work when I'm out on the road, so there isn't a need to be able to run games. When I get home, I can have a PCI-E card on a larger screen. Even my t30 played games well past it's time. I will agree that most gamers would prefer to have the integrated graphics, but they also don't throw computer around like a thinkpad can handle.

truk wrote:

krutoj wrote:Thinkpads are NOT for gamers but for serious work, period!

Wrong, thats the beauty of the Thinkpad; they are for whatever you tell them to be. I will be planning to work when I'm out on the road, so there isn't a need to be able to run games. When I get home, I can have a PCI-E card on a larger screen. Even my t30 played games well past it's time. I will agree that most gamers would prefer to have the integrated graphics, but they also don't throw computer around like a thinkpad can handle.

I respect your opinion, but Thinkpads are not equipped with gaming graphic cards. You can easily fry those thinkpad cards when gaming, and those are impossible to replace unlike in desktops.

krutoj wrote:

truk wrote: Wrong, thats the beauty of the Thinkpad; they are for whatever you tell them to be. I will be planning to work when I'm out on the road, so there isn't a need to be able to run games. When I get home, I can have a PCI-E card on a larger screen. Even my t30 played games well past it's time. I will agree that most gamers would prefer to have the integrated graphics, but they also don't throw computer around like a thinkpad can handle.

I respect your opinion, but Thinkpads are not equipped with gaming graphic cards. You can easily fry those thinkpad cards when gaming, and those are impossible to replace unlike in desktops.

Nah, the T61p should be a solid gaming laptop. Though it will have an nVidia workstation card, the card will be on par with the newest gaming cards from nVidia, and with gaming drivers, it should be able to handle the newest games at adequate settings. I have a T60 with an ATI x1400, and I can handle alot of games fine. I would have to disagree with you, I believe the Thinkpads are adequate gaming machines.

Yah, that would be pretty cool with the 3d cad and the games I play, but unfortunately a t61 is actually out of the question. One of my biggest requirements is that I have a standard 14.1" screen. The t61 only comes in the wide screen. The t60s use discrete graphics though, so can't I drop an after market gaming card in it later? Do all the t60s have the slot for it, even if they have on board video? I'm thinking of buying a bare bones off eBay for that reason; I can get a square trade warranty and upgrade it to spec as I get the cash, without voiding it.

I don't know what the "official" policy is - but when the mboard went flaky on my T42 - they replaced it under warranty and moved my upgraded CPU to the new mboard - no questions asked.


BTW - the GPU in the T60 may be underpowered for high-end gaming - but there is no way you will fry it by using it for games. It is designed to be used at 100% capacity indefinitely.

You cannot upgrade video in any ThinkPad. The video chips are soldered on, and the system board can be different for each one.

The ATI X1400 in my T60 seems adequate. The FireGL 5200/5250 in the T60p may or may not work better for you, but it's mostly made for 3D engineering, not gaming.

And now it appears there will be a 4:3 14.1" T61 too.

Yah, that was my mistake; I was looking at the wrong page. Actually, I noticed the 14.1" 4:3 t61 last night, and I think I may just wait until they show up with the nvidia workstation card.I'm gonna need that long to get the cash anyway. I don't think some people understand; I don't want a gaming laptop, just a much better gaming laptop than my t30 was. Anyway, I plan to run a PCI-e video card and a smaller, faster hard drive in my dock if I have any desire to do any serious gaming. The Thinkpad's 14.1" screen isn't really enough of one for gaming in my opinion, along with the fact that I like my wireless mouse and keyboard also.

although the build quality is not as good as before, it is still very good. so i think t60 is reliable enough. the cpu should depend on how fast you need and the heat sinking won't be a problem since it is qualified. i would suggest the larger cache ones for better performance.

the screen, to be honest, isn't bright enough. and my screen hinges get a little bit floppy after 1 year (i never have such problem for my a30 after 4 years use).

but generally it is good enough.