Thinkpads Forum

Hi, I'm going to get a spare T61 for my wife, and know something about the Nvidia GPU problem. Here's is a T61 8897-03U so it's the Intel WMA.

I'm pretty much set on getting the spare with the same graphics. She's not a gamer or anything like that so I don't need the hyped up grahpics. Just would like to know what you all think. I'm usually lost in the T20 / T30 forum since my machines are all these old relics, but i try to keer her in better hardware.

Stick with intel - if she has no need for the greater power of the nvidia, then save yourself from the extra heat, battery life loss and potential failures, and if she needed greater performance I would reccomend a T400 or later system.

Another advantage to sticking with the intel GMA is you could potentially swap the hard drives between the two if the need arose.

The Nvidia Quadro NVS 140M in the 14" Thinkpads is not very powerful by modern standards. It's equivalent to an 8400M GS. You can play older games (like Counter Strike Source) with it, but don't expect to play Crysis or anything.

I'd stick with the Intel as well. Better battery life and lower failure rate.

Intel it is.

Her current T61 has the nice SXGA+ screen, so i'll try to find one with that or the WSXGA+ screen. She doesn't play computer cames with the t61 so that's a non-issue.

cadillacmike68 wrote:Her current T61 has the nice SXGA+ screen, so i'll try to find one with that or the WSXGA+ screen. She doesn't play computer cames with the t61 so that's a non-issue.

Keep in mind that WSXGA+ is only available on 15.4" T61, whereas 14" wide have WXGA+ and 14.1" standard have up to SXGA+.

Also, getting a high resolution screen on an Intel GPU machine may be tricky. There were very few such preconfigured models (your 8897-03U is one of these rare ones). You'll be looking at custom configured machines and off-lease special order units.

Also, getting a high resolution screen on an Intel GPU machine may be tricky. There were very few such preconfigured models (your 8897-03U is one of these rare ones). You'll be looking at custom configured machines and off-lease special order units.

In addition, most of the Intel graphic units ship with the lowest cpu, ram and harddrive. I've seen some 14.1" intel units with nice options, but every 15.4 I've seen is a base unit, 1.8ghz cpu, 1gb ram, 80gb harddrive, but I've used several of these to do intel conversions on T61 and T61p units.

The Ram and Harddrive is an easy uprade, the CPU can be tricky. Some system boards will only support a CPU in the Meron family, unless you use a modified bios, but the 1.8GHZ core2 isn't a bad chip for a budget machine.

I will be looking for an off lease, that's for sure.

Her's was a nice one (still is) CPU is the only thing that's not top shelf on it.

I just got a really sweet 15.4 intel model in. I normaly use them to do conversons, but this one looks like it was rarely used, even the original battery has <20 cycle count. I might upgrade it and keep it, I have an extra 2.4meron cpu and some ram I can drop in. I might upgrade the display too, but the 1280x800 screen is beautiful, looks brand new.


ps. be careful on the "off-lease" market. There are some bargains, but these units are seldom cared for, and man are abused.

I'll be careful. I've had good luck with off lease thinkpads in the past. The nice ones usually cost a bit more, but you don't get the worn off keys, and scratched screens, etc.

IBM is selling some, as is tiger direct (PC connection has no T61s at present) plus there are some other sites.

Most of them don't list the machine type & model - making it a real pain to sort out the Nvidia from Intel based graphics... So it's phone calls. then i get to compare apples and oranges. I'm going to lean more on CPU speed rather than screen - she uses an external IBM monitor at home so there's no need for a WSXGA+ screen. Heck, i don't think she even notices the current T61s SXGA+ screen when she does travel.

And as far as HDD is concerned, she has 2 Hitachi 100GB 7200RPM disks, and i bought her an Hitachi 500GB 7200RPM, and now I just saw an Hitachi 750GB TravelStar!!!

I just bought three of the 750GB hatachi 7200rpm drives. I've had good experience with hatachi. Seagate, western digital and toshiba have all failed me at least once in the last couple years, but I have ten year old hatchi drives that still work.

I have a 8897-02U that came with an XGA screen. I upgraded it to SXGA+ just by swapping in a higher resolution lcd. No difficulties were encountered.