Thinkpad T61 (ND218GE) test readings

[vkyr]

The german c't magacine recently tested a Thinkpad T61 (ND218GE model), here are their test reading results.

Display:

• 14,1" 1440x900 (120dpi, 16:10)
• Contrast: 315:1
• Luminance: 5...185 cd/m²
• Viewing angles: 50° horiz., 62° top, 30° bottom

SPECS:
CPU: Intel Core2Duo T7300 (2.0 GHz, 4 MByte L2-Cache)
Chipset: Intel 965PM (965PM, ICH-8M, FSB800)
RAM/max.: 1 x 1 GByte PC2-5300/ 3 GByte
GPU: Nvidia Quadro NVS 140M
Sound/Modem: HDA:Andrea SoundMAX/ HDA:Conexant D110(V.92)
LAN: PCIe:Intel 82566MM (GBit-LAN)
WLAN: PCIe:Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (802.11a/b/g/n)
IEEE 1394/Cardbus: PCI:Ricoh FireWire/PCI:Ricoh R5C476 II
Bluetooth/stack: USB:Broadcom 2045B (2.0+EDR)/Microsoft
HDD: Seagate Momentus 5400.3 (120 GByte/5400 min^-1)
ODD: Matushita UJ-852 (DVD+-R/RW/DL/DVD-RAM)
Battery: 37Wh Lithium-Ionen
Power-Supply: 90W (477g, 100...240V)
Weight/Size: 2.36kg/33,4cm x 23,8cm x 3,7cm

Test readings:

Contrast: 315:1
Luminance: 5...185 cd/m²
Viewing angles: 50° horiz., 62° top, 30° bottom

Runtimes at low CPU load/Video DVD: 2h (20.5W)/ 1.2h (34.2W)
Noise without/with CPU load: <0.3 Sone/0.6 Sone
Noise HDD/DVD-Video: 0.4 Sone/1.6 Sone
HDD read/write: 39/41 MBytes/s
USB/FireWire read: 22/37 MBytes/s
11n-WLAN: D-Link/Netgear-Router (1m; 20m): 7.0; 3.9 MBytes/s / 7.4; 3.3 MBytes/s
3DMark 2003 / 2006: 13162 / 1567
Cinebench: 352, 633, 388, 967, 1513
Vista-Perf.-Index: 4.9/4.5/4/4.5/4.7


Well, the battery runtimes of the new T61 with the standard battery are pretty poor. The display viewing angles are -as espected- just those of a common TN-panel, the luminance is not spectacular, but quite halfway Ok for a Thinkpad. BTW, the video signal quality of the VGA port was just mediocre and in contrast to other vendors VGA or DVI ports unconvincing.

The goodies are, that heat and noise have been indeed improved and that the overall build quality is still very good. - Some of the test results could have been better, if Intel and MS Vista would have better optimized drivers. Also a quicker HDD would have given a little more boost in the overall reading/writing data speed.

Finally the T61 got overall very good critics (...especially for build quality, ergonomics, heat and noise etc.), except for it's weak supplied standard battery which is somehow a shame.

[RonS]

The battery results fall in line with this review and is what can be expected from a 4-cell battery. The T60, by comparison, comes standard with a 6-cell or 9-cell battery.

The rundown test with a 6-cell battery got 3 hrs 41 minutes. A 7-cell battery is also available.[/url]