Thinkpads Forum

Managed to get one of the last (new) T61's with 14" SXGA+ and with 3-yr IWS!

A few questions though:

1. According to the specs (8892-02U) there should be a 128MB nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M, but PC Doctor is seeing 512MB?

2. Can I use my old ultrabay IDE HDD adapter from my T43 (FRU 62P4553) in the T61? If not, is it worth going for the SATA HDD ultrabay adapter for the T61 with regards to speed?

3. How do I find out who manufactured the LCD? The T61 display, although still low on contrast, looks a lot brighter than my warmer display on my T43.

4. The T61 came with a 100GB 7200 rpm drive. I am considering (with point 2 above) an upgrade for a larger 250 or 320GB drive - the logic being that 2 HDD's gulp more battery power than 1. Only thing is, I can find only 5400rpm ones. Is there a significant performance hit with those 5400 rpm drives or do the PMR platters' higher density make up for it?

1. Your unit "sees" shared system memory. The first 128MB is dedicated video memory, the rest is shared with the system.
2. Yes, you can use your T43's HDD ultrabay HDD adapter in your T61. I do this all the time - it's very handy.
3. Use Parts Lookup (from the FAQ)
4. You will notice a significant performance difference between 5400 and 7200 RPM drives. The whole system feels snappier with 7200rpm. Still, I think I'd rather have one large 5400 RPM drive than two 7200's, but only if I absolutely had to have the extra storage space.

JPH wrote:4. The T61 came with a 100GB 7200 rpm drive. I am considering (with point 2 above) an upgrade for a larger 250 or 320GB drive - the logic being that 2 HDD's gulp more battery power than 1. Only thing is, I can find only 5400rpm ones. Is there a significant performance hit with those 5400 rpm drives or do the PMR platters' higher density make up for it?

According to the thread Hitachi website - 7K100, 100 GB PATA HD is unavailable newer 5400 rpm HDD's are having approx. the same "all-round" performance in T42's compared to (older) 7200 rpm (PATA) HDD's, which is claimed to be owing to the higher platter density of new 5400 rpm HDD's. But the situation for T61's is diferent from T42's, because T61's uses SATA HDD's which are now available with up to 320 GB capacity in 7200 rpm versions - see for yourself e.g. Newegg or the most recently introduced Seagate Momentus 7200.3 family (also available wity up to 320 GB capacity) --> here. Seagate HDD's comes with a 5-year warranty.

NB: Also Hitachi has a 320 Gb 7200 rpm SATA HDD (the HTS723232L9A360)... check it out here. Seems to be a bit more pricy than WD's and Seagate's? Probably only a question about time?

PS: A suggestion: Study power consumption and noise emissions of 5400 rpm HDD's versus the 7200 rpm ones... 5400 uses less power (longer batery times!), and makes slightly less noise, at least for the older versions. Check user/consumer reviews and/or Google for tests of the few 320 GB 7200 rpm SATA HDD's so far only available. Please share your experience here!

Johan

I don't know about Mauritius, but in the US 320GB 7200RPM drives are available right now. I think I saw somewhere Seagate is coming with a 500GB model somewhere in the near future.

Guys, many thanks for your valuable feedback.

One thing about the Quadro though: it has 128MB dedicated VRAM and shares from my system memory? My system RAM is showing the full 3GB I have installed on the machine? I am totally baffled. Could it be that occasionally Lenovo has slip-ups and gives us a freebie in the form of a 512MB video card ?

Yeah I am trying to find the right balance between performance and battery life (always a difficult juggling act) but 100GB these days tend to be a bit just for just. I guess I'll just use my old T43 ultrabay for now until the 320/500GB SATA 7200 become more affordable, which in any case will have to be bought in USA or elsewhere as such parts are fairly expensive here in MU if you can find them!

I have looked up the display (42T0368) but I cannot find it in the HMM book which only lists Samsung, Hydis and TMD with different FRU's. Any idea where I can find this info?

JPH wrote:I have looked up the display (42T0368) but I cannot find it in the HMM book which only lists Samsung, Hydis and TMD with different FRU's. Any idea where I can find this info?

As always, Google and the Search-function on this forum are your friends!

To see what parts are in your ThinkPad, do as explained in the thread How hard is DIY replace a LCD screen on T42p.. (see the port of Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:08 pm) - I guess this was how you found out that your LCD is 42T0368? Next, to find out who is the manufacturer of that part (if not specified in any of the above references) either Google a bit... or use the Search-function on this forum. Google may give different/confusing results such as New T60 some questions! but if searching the archives here you may easily find the thread Which brand 14.1 sxga+ screen is the best? (see the post of Sun May 25, 2008 5:36 pm) which will give you the answer. Also, the same thread - the post of Sun May 25, 2008 6:09 pm contain useful information.

Johan