Thinkpads Forum

Well, my daughters T41 has finally fallen foul of the Radeon BGA death! So I'm looking to replace it with either a T61 or T61P. The Quadro 140M graphics chipset in the T61 looks pretty marginal while the Quadro 570M in the T61p would appear a better long term solution. Any downside to the 570M graphics? Any other differences between the two?

The 570m will have less battery life. If she doesn't need it, it's probably best to go with the integrated solution.

I am more than happy with my FX 570M, especially because it is highly overclockable. And overclocked, only the 8700M SLI and upper are better!

I'd love to have my father getting me the best T61p... Will your daughter appreciate the true power of the laptop?

I'm big on battery life. Thats why with upgrades and such I try to save as much power with cpu and hd's etc. I don't think you should settle for the integrated .. at least get the quadro 140.. thats what I have on my T61.

I got mine with the Quadro140, Core2duo 2.5, 2gb ram, 160 7200rpm drive and I am more than happy with it..

I mean I Don't think your daughter needs a top of line workstation/overclockable/gaming card. Unless she does that stuff? =P

Thanks for the responses so far. Yes, I agree that the 570M is more power hungry. It also knocks the socks of most other notebook graphics chips out there at the moment:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Gra ... 844.0.html

I was a great fan of the Radeon M9600 GPU and the Centrino/Dothan CPUs but I guess time has marched on (as has the technology).

Given my recent experience with my T4x computers (both the T42 and the T41 had the BGA death and the T40 had the bad backlight problem), I'm a little leery of Thinkpads right now.

Some reassurance, please?

sktn77a wrote:Thanks for the responses so far. Yes, I agree that the 570M is more power hungry. It also knocks the socks of most other notebook graphics chips out there at the moment:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Gra ... 844.0.html

I was a great fan of the Radeon M9600 GPU and the Centrino/Dothan CPUs but I guess time has marched on (as has the technology).

Given my recent experience with my T4x computers (both the T42 and the T41 had the BGA death and the T40 had the bad backlight problem), I'm a little leery of Thinkpads right now.

Some reassurance, please?

Yeah If she doesn't need some power hungry gfx card then don't bother. My T61 in all its glory is just using the nvidia 140 and a 14.1 screen. I buy what I need.. not more you know? If i need more, I'll get a ram/harddrive upgrade. I bought a CPU that will last too. Get her another used T4x to save money if you want. I mean I am sorry if you had bad experiences but I got my T41 in 2/2004 and It was worked to death. Its ram went from 512 to 1024, to 2gb over the years and now recently its poor little 40gb hd is now a 160. That machine was worked to death and its still going strong for me.. I love them still

You will not have issues that your past T4x machines have troubled you with if you get any T6x. Period.

They are way uglier (my opinion) but far better built than any of the T4x units. And this is coming from someone who actually likes T4x series.

Speaking from probably a completely different perspective than your own, if I were buying a new T6x today, I'd go with the top-of-the-line unit in the size that would fit, and right now that's T61p, for one reason alone: they hold their value better IMHO, at least that has historically been the case.

Just my $0.02...

Best of luck with your intended purchase.

When deciding, you need to ask what you want a laptop for.

If you want a lightweight, less portable laptop...in the sense that you will need to spend more time "plugged-in", the T61P is a great choice bkz of its graphics card.

It you want a T61 with the most portability...go integrated bkz it has the best battery life.

A resonable compromise is the T61 with the disctrete 140m card.

As a student, most of "your" time will be spent in Office and the internet. Unless you are an engineer doing 3D work... other "imperatives" for trading battery life for higher graphics performance are not "academic"...

Well, portability is not paramount - she does take it to school with her regularly but usually plugs it in. The reason I'm interestd in the T61p is not for gameplaying - rather "futureproofing" I figure if a laptop can last 5 years (not making that with my T4x series right now) you've got your money's worth. Also, the T61p is only $75 more than a similarly configured T61 with the 140 GPU.

I've seen some negative comments on Nvidia GPUs (specifically the 570M from the T61P) on this forum. Have these been sorted out now with the current drivers?

Still debating the two. I need to make a decision by April 7 (when the e-coupons extra 10% savings ends)! I see now that even the 6 cell battery pokes out the back of the computer (who dreamed this up for the thinkpad?) and it appears that this is the smallest battery that can be ordered with the T61/p.

Anybody know what the battery life for the 6 cell battery would be in the T61 (T9300, 140m, 2Gb, 160/7200, ABGN), vs the T61p with the same configuration (except for the graphics chip). The only reviews I've read have been on the 9 cell battery (cut those times by 1/3)? And the 4 cell would be a further 1/3 reduction?

I just got my 15.4 widescreen T61, and the 6-cell it came with, 42T4504, doesn't stick out at all, sits nice and flush (which is why I didn't order the 9-cell).

Out of curiosity, how much more battery life would one expect to gain with choosing the 140M over the 570? I have a 14.1" T61p, and find that with two batteries (a 9 cell and ultrabay battery), I'm only getting about 4.5-5 hours tops.

The Quadro FX 570M does have a pretty hefty maximum power consumption at 35 Watts (vs 10 for the NVS 140M)... but I've never seen the power meter report over about 30W total consumption for the entire machine (T61p 15.4" WSXGA+) while on battery power. Usually around 20W.

NVIDIA describes (http://www.nvidia.com/object/feature_powermizer.html) some pretty sophisticated power management capabilities. I wouldn't be too surprised if the power signatures of a NVS 140M and Quadra FX 570M were pretty much the same when you're just reading email or typing a paper.

Well, I pulled the trigger today on the T61p:

2.5GHz T9300
NV 570M (128Mb)
14.1 SXGA+ 4x3
2Gb RAM (1 stick!)
Windows Vista Business (so that I can get the XP downgrade recovery CDs)
160Gb 7200RPM HDD
Fingerprint reader
Intel ABGN wireless

I got a little worried about the T61p 3D issues with 2 sticks of RAM so I got the single 2Gb stick. Wish me (her) luck!