Thinkpads Forum

Hi,

I had a 380, more later a T21 and actually a R50 and now I will change and prefer T for their small size and weight.

So, I am surprised by GPU, hot and noise problem on the T4X series.

T60 seem have hot and noise problem also ?

1- Would you indicate me defaults of T61 ?

I thought Thinkpad was very good machines and was supporter but I am not so sure now.
These problems are important things.
Solid body is cool but If components don't assum, it sucks...

2 - Some of you know other manufacturer that have solid and long life notebooks ?

Thanks by advance.

The T6X series does not have cooling problems. If that is your next model upgrade, cooling performance should not be a major worry.

And no know problem on the T61 ?

None. There is an occasional overheat reported due to a major dust bunny in the cooling fan. Nothing a once a year shot with canned air can't handle.

ludox wrote:I will change and prefer T for their small size and weight.

Have you considered the Z61t? It is about as capable as the T series but has several additional features and is even lighter and smaller (especially with the 4-cell battery). See this thread for some reviews. I'm holding one in my hands right now. It's marvelous.

The Z61t came in many configurations. I think the two most important features to pay attention to are the processor (Celeron M, Core Duo or Core 2 Duo) and display resolution (1280x800 or 1440x900). The 1440x900 models are somewhat difficult to find.

You can't tell about T6x in a global way. I have T60p, T61 and T61p. Only the T61p is deadly silent and very powerfull. T60 heats much and is noiser. T61 is as noisy as the T60p and not really more powerfull. Battery life of the T61 is only 2 hours.

I take a look on it but tests tell that Z61 are warm after a time of use.

And I had this problem with 380 and less with T21. It is not cumfortable cause I have it on legs.

T61 seems have resolved this problem of heat.

A T42 or T43 were in my budget but seems too risky and uncomfortables.

T61 cost at least 850$ in US and much more here in France.

So I look at other manufacturer also even if I thought only buy Thinkpad but prices for good solid model make me think.

Pascal_TTH wrote:You can't tell about T6x in a global way. I have T60p, T61 and T61p. Only the T61p is deadly silent and very powerfull. T60 heats much and is noiser. T61 is as noisy as the T60p and not really more powerfull. Battery life of the T61 is only 2 hours.

Really? I mean is the T61p more silent than the T61. I was contemplating buying a new 4:3 T61 maybe with integrated graphics, but you say T61p is quieter than T61, maybe compared to the NVS, I think the fans are the same. Where would be the difference, maybe in the size of the laptop. 15.4" will tend to be quieter than 14.1 counterparts.

I've had many models of T60's, T61's, R60's, R61's, including 'P' models. I don't notice any difference in fan noise, or heat.

T60p fan runs all the time while it only run from time to time inT61p. T61p have lower fan speeds than the T60p and T61.

The T61 (T7300 Quadro NVS140m) fan runs much more often than the T61p witch is far more powerfull (T9300 Quadro FX570m).

Interesting, maybe the T61p sports a newer heatsink than the T61.

Pascal, is your T61p quieter than your retired T41p.

I got a T61p with the T9300 CPU and find it to be very quiet so i'm very happy with this computer. My previous T60 i found to be too noisy and a T43p i had before that is completely useless because of the noise unless using NHC/Fancontrol Utility or a similar tool.

I'm not sure the reason why the T61p are that quiet, but i guess one of the reasons is the T9300 CPU that is supposed to run cooler and have a lower voltage. Another reason i guess is that the fan speed are lower compared to the T61 which i didn't know about before reading the post from pascal.

For those that have bad experience with the Thinkpads because of the noise and find that to be important i would recommend the T61p with the T9300 CPU. Most of the time the harddisk are causing more noise then the fan on my computer and the harddisk isn't very noisy.

Hey Wiz, do you also own a 15.4" T61p?

As I stated previously, I want a standard 4:3 laptop, GPU is not that important to me, as I could then buy a new motherboard here with the Quadro FX350M in the future, price matters to me.

But Im now in a dilemma:
My T42p display is abrassed and scratched not quite badly, but you can clearly see the buffed area (Which I stupidly scratched with a knife, don't ask me why )

Thing is I was on my way to order a new SXGA+ display for my laptop which is a T42p (T41p motherboard, Dothan, noisy T43 series heatsink fan, weird combination, huh)

Yesterday I took a look at a T61 WideScreen, the palmrest definitely feels much more sturdier than my T42p. and generally the laptop feels more solid.

But now that I found out the T61p is a very cool laptop, I wonder if instead of replacing the LCD & palmrest on my machine (which will cost around 200 bucks), why don't save, sell my T42p and get a T61/T61p

I don't have lots of money to spend, I'm an engineering student, and this T42p has served me well for the past 2 years since I got it, however even though it has been running great I'm just not motivated enough to spend 200+ bucks on a machine technology that is 4-5+ years old, considering newer machines run much more cooler. I tend to use my laptop on my legs, and even though I modded it with better thermal grease still the bottom gets hot, and when using shorts it gets quite uncomfortable.

On Lenovo's outlet there are some T61 SXGA+ for around 750USD, no statement on which video card, I suppose is the X3100. The dilemma is that I want a machine for ocassional gaming, like San Andreas, but noise is an issue.

On my T42p I have the annoying pulsing fan, which according to the FRU is the M24 model used on T43's, that's what is fitted on my machine. I have to undervolt the CPU to the minimum and control the fan speed in order to get a 'silent' operational machine.
Under DOS or without the fan control activated the machine is very noisy, I'd say is a T43 even though I haven't used any of those.

---
So, I need opinions:

Should I:
1. Sell the T42p, and get a T61 with the X3100 GPU 14.1 SXGA+
2. Sell the T42p, get a T61p SXGA+
3. Sell the T42p, get a T61 with the NVS 140M

This leads me to 2 things:
1. Is T61p 15.4" cooler than the T61p 4:3 ?
2. Is T61p 15.4" GPU more powerful than the T61 4:3 ?
(Is 256MB vs 128MB respectively, but for how much is the GPU on the 15.4 incher powerful than in the 4:3)
--

Probably my budget would be at around 900USD, maybe topping 1000 dollars, not quite enough to get a T61p, but I just don't find any motivation to spend more money on an old machine.

And finally I have the problem that I don't have an US Address. Maybe someone living near Mexico-US borders (I can go to pickup locally the laptop at Laredo or McAllen, Texas).
Here in Mexico, a barely equipped T61 would cost around 1100USD.

Thanks for reading this long post

Hi agarza, i do own the 15.4" (1920x1200 LCD) T61p. The exact model is the 6460-EEG. If you search for that model on the Lenovo website you can find information about all the components. I posted in this forum before i bought this computer because i was worried about the noise after one noisy and one very noisy Thinkpad. Several people did recommend the Intel integrated Video adapter, but even if i did want a quiet computer i also like to have a nice GPU. So i went with the T61p i do not regret the decision. Also the T61p does not have that pulsing fan.

You say that GPU is not that important for you, but you also want to use the computer playing some games. In that case i would think that the GPU is somehow important.

The Company i work for at the moment use Thinkpads only and i have seen several Thinkpad T61/T61p in use. So far i have not noticed that any of them is very noisy, but i haven't really compared to my computer so don't know if they are less or more noisy then my T61p. I know they are nowhere close to the noisy T43p. We do not have any T61's with the X3100 though.

Based on my experience i would choose to either buy the T61 with the NVS 140M or a T61p. I have not yet seen a T61/T61p that is very noisy and the X3100 is pretty useless for games according to what other pepole say (i never tried it myself). If money is an issue i guess the T61p could be a bit expensive, but maybe you can get them pretty cheap in the close future because of the new T400/T500 models....don't know.

There is a lot of T61 models so it's hard to say in general how powerful they are, but i think any T61p have a better GPU then any T61 since the "p" models have the best GPU's as far as i know, but maybe you actualy meant to compare the T61p 15.4" vs T61p 4:3 and not T61p 15.4" vs T61 4:3? Maybe some games require a 256mb GPU, but i don't think you will notice much difference except from that. I don't know what kind of applications you use though.

For me i don't live anywhere close to the US border or even close to the US at all

I found a review of T60 where it is said that it is not hot and noisy, who has/had a T60 ?


"

Heat and Fan

The T60 is cool running, very cool running in fact. After playing Doom 3 and running 3D benchmark applications the T60 fans didn't even kick in. The back area where the fan and vents are got a bit warm as they pushed the heat out, but certainly not uncomfortably warm or anything. The fact that there's an extra heat vent now on the back where the parallel port used to be probably helps quite a bit to dissipate heat."

I have a T60 (specs below in my signature). When I first got it it was indeed a bit warm and a bit noisy. A quick keyboard/palmrest removal later revealed a bit of packing peanut in the fan. Removed packing peanut, took the heatsink/fan off and dusted it and put some arctic silver on it and temps and noise are near non-existent. Gets a little warm when I completely drain and then recharge the battery or when I am playing Counterstrike Source for an extended period of time but it is not uncomfortably so. I also think the original owner replaced the original heatsink and fan as I have two extras that are in working order that came with it. Noisiest part seems to be my hard drive now, which after hearing some good things about the Hitachi 200gb 7200 for around a $100 am going to be replacing next.

Also T60's with the T2*** processors are going to run generally cooler than those with the T5*** or T7***. T61's with the T9*** run cooler because as someone else mentioned they are on a smaller process (45nm) and use less voltage. I recently acquired a sun-toasted T61 and upon taking it apart found the heatsink/fan to be a little less beefy than the one in my T60 yet I have heard from multiple people that it runs generally cooler the the rest of the T6* series.