Looking to purchase a T60, what to look out for?

[synchromesh]

I have a friend who wants to replace her Toshiba clunker and I suggested a Thinkpad. I mostly looked at T43s with Intel chipset as I'm quite familiar with those but after realizing how small the difference between the machines pricewise I figured a T60 would work. I don't have much experience with these and have been reading the forum a bit to catch up. Just to set things straight, she doesn't know that much about fixing computers so I need to make sure her machine is as reliable as possible. Since she is not a power user and needs portability I'm thinking a 14.1in with Core Duo CPU and WinXP.

Quick questions:

1. there is no loose GPU failure issue on all T60s, no matter if ATI or Intel, correct?
2. I found there are some noise/cooling issues. How bad are they altogether and how hard are they to deal with in general?
3. Is it possible to stick any SATA hard disk in those or do they give out T43-type errors?

Any other advice/help is appreciated.

[ajkula66]

You can use any SATA 2.5" laptop drive, no issues, no errors.

T60/p generally don't have detachment issues like T4x machines, but ATi GPUs will fail on occasion. Nothing to be overly concerned about.

Fans are ill-designed for stronger CPU/GPU combinations, but are easily replaced and readily available from various sources.

If your friend is not a power user, an Intel-based board will also provide longer battery life, along with being slightly more reliable. These machines also command less $$$ in general.

[synchromesh]

Thanks. The machine I was looking at has an ATI X1300 card. What are the chances of that failing and will I need a new GPU fan for it?

[Troels]

1) Correct. I have never heard of any failing GPUs on the T60/p series. The GPU has been relocated a good deal more in direction north compared to T4x, and it has an internal magnesium roll-cage to add further stiffness.
The only recent thinkpad series which -may- fail are T61/p with Nvidia GPUs, but you might be able to find a new motherboard without a GPU that may potentially fail.

2) My T60p runs just as hot as my T42 with 1.7 Ghz and Mobility Radeon 9600, so nothing out of the ordinary. At full load with very heavy graphics at high resolutions, it reaches 97-98 degress C on the GPU on both laptops. Idle temp is in the low 70ies for both, but this is when power management is disabled, so that it always runs at full clock speed.
If you want as low noise as possible, get the x1300 radeon. The V5200 or v5250 firegl runs hotter (but are a good deal faster).

3) It's possible to use any SATA HDD (2.5", 9.5mm).

[dorronto]

Thanks. The machine I was looking at has an ATI X1300 card. What are the chances of that failing and will I need a new GPU fan for it?

Intel graphics is the way to go..........

Ron

[ajkula66]

Troels wrote:

I have never heard of any failing GPUs on the T60/p series.

I've had several T60/p planars swapped by Ez Serv for GPU issues, most notably ones with V5200 GPU. We're not talking about detachment, but about VRAM corruption, at least that's what I got from one of the techs I actually spoke to.

Having said that, T60/p is likely the safest pick from a recent ThinkPad generation, and by far the safest pick in 4:3 format apart from Intel-based T61. There is no such thing as an infailable machine of any kind, and ThinkPads are no exception.

They're still great laptops, though, and T60/p would get my vote any day of the week...