Thinkpads Forum

Can someone help me decide which one to buy. I want to get a laptop
to use and take computer classes. I want a fast machine. I rather to pay for it now then buy another ater but I want to get the best bargain since I'm on budget.
I can get either one of them for almost the same price.

T60p
has slower processor
T60p Intel® Core™ Duo processor T2700 (2.33GHz, 2MBL2, 667MHz FSB)
T61 [ Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 (2.0GHz 800MHz 4MBL2)[1] 1]

better screen & graphic card
T60p 14.1 SXGA+ TFT
ATI Mobility Fire GL V5250 256MB
T61 14.1 XGA TFT
Intel GMA X3100 GM965

does not have this
T61 System expansion slots PC Card Slot & Express Card Slot
Card Reader 4 in 1 Media Card Reader

T60p also has verizon WAN which I don't plan to use for now.
or should I pay another $77 to upgrade to NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M (128MB) for T61?

With respect to the screen, you're comparing apples and oranges. Which screen resolution you choose is extremely important. For me personally, no matter what the price difference, I couldn't be happy with a machine that had XGA resolution. Imo, the first thing you need to determine is what screen resolution you would prefer and don't compromise on that feature. Then you should decide how much graphic processing power you need, i.e., whether integrated graphics would be enough or whether you need the added graphics capability of discrete graphics. After you figure those things out, I think you should then compare a similarly spec'ed out T60 and T61 and then decide if the higher cost of the T61 is worth it to you.

I think I will go with T60p since I get better graphic card in T60p, it should balance the different speed between the 2 processors.

The CPU is only part of the performance picture. Hard drive speed and memory will also play a role in overall peppyness. The Core Duo is still a very good CPU. Most everyday tasks like Office, Internet, Music, burning discs, etc. aren't very CPU intensive.

Apples and oranges indeed...You can upgrade a T60p to a maximum of 3GB of RAM, and the ceiling for the CPU is a Core 2 Duo T7600 (2.33GHz).

It all depends on how important certain features are to you. Without trying to, I've become somewhat of a screen "expert" (only to the extent of what acronyms and features to look for), so read this thread about the, comparatively speaking and in my opinion, crappy screen quality on the T61/p's, compared to T60p's (SXGA+/UXGA only):

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=54547

I agree with pae77. Once I got my first SXGA+ resolution screen, there was no going back to XGA. And now the same is true for UXGA, although sometimes text will be quite small, but you can play around with the font size, etc. My biggest disappointment is that there are no more IPS screens on the T61p's (see the above link for definitions, comparisons, etc.).

And don't be fooled by things like "Turbo Memory". The couple of seconds (I tried on a buddy's T61p 15.4 WSXGA+) who had already said something to the effect of "there is nothing "turbo" about this "memory" lol...Sales gimmick, and not a bad one, but ultimate quite useless, at least for for now.

You mentioned you're on a budget, so a T60p will also be cheaper. What kind of apps will you be running, if I may ask?

Happy New Year, everybody!