Thinkpads Forum

Hello,

I'm quite disapointed of my current MacBook's build quality even if Mac Os X is pleasant to use as a future student.

I'm planning to replace it with a light ultraportable and I'm still hesitating between the x61s and the x61 tablet.

Here is a list of what I'm planning to do with :

Office task
Presentations
Listening and stock 40 Go of music
Watch a lot of DVD (no DivX), with an external drive
Internet
Light Photoshop
Light movie editing (certainly with Adobe Premiere)
Skype (with an external webcam)
No game at all

The thing is that I still wonder if I will take notes with this laptop in classes. Indeed in France we never use our computers in classes and exams, only in librairies and it is very rare. In the United States it is a more trivial habit but I don't know in what extent. The thing is that If I plan to take notes, a tablet is preferable for drawing quick grids and diagrams. The drawback is that the x61t is heavier than the x61s and has a shorter battery life.

My other concern is that I watch a lot of movies (If I can be proud of one thing, it is my librairy of DVDs), so the better screen is preferable. The x61s screen is said to be quite bad. Besides in France we can't get the ultralight. The x61t screen (MT + MV here) is in this case a better option, but I don't know if the difference is dramatic or barely visible.

Anf the last point is that, as a previous MacBook owner, I like to have the quieter notebook possible. I wouldn't like to disturb other people in the librairy or in the lecture halls. It appears that the x61t is dead silent. Concerning the x61s, some people report quite annoying fan noises, and other affirm that it is a very quiet machine. I would like to know if it is as quiet as a Macbook.

To sum up :

X61s : Lighter, better battery life, and also a lot cheaper (in France)
but the drawbacks MAY be : fan noise, screen

X61t : better screen, and the possibility to take notes easier, silent
but the drawbacks are : heavier, shorter battery life.

In fact I prefer to stay on the X61s, even if the screen isn't really good, but If it isn't silent, and if you confirm me that in the United States taking notes is a lot easier on a tablet, and if the battery life of the tablet is enough, I will buy it.

Thank you for our answers.

The X61s and X61 tablet use the same processors, graphics chipsets and hard disks, so the heat produced will be pretty much identical.

My X61 (which does not have the low-voltage CPU, and has 3 GB of memory and a 7K200 disk, both of which use more power and produce more heat), is near-silent in normal use -- the fan at level 1 produces no more noise than the spinning of the hard disk. So the X61s should be at least as good. (I do recommend TPFanControl to manage the fan speeds, though.)

Taking notes with my X60s and engineering studies - it was nearly impossible, because there were so many schemes and diagrams etc... and very little text. Where there was text I would simply type as prof. was giving lecture, but that only occured a few times.

I can't give you a comparison between X61s and X61 Tablet as I haven't received the Tablet yet, however, I was in about the same situation as you are. In the end, reading Forums and the rest A LOT (and I mean A LOT) I opted for the heavier but more versatile X61 Tablet. I hope I will be able to get used to extra pound of weight.... If price isn't an issue, then I guess the only real drawback of the Tablet is an increase of weight/size.

Just to precise that I will follow international law or political science studies, if it can help. I think there is less diagrams to draw, isn't it ?

I guess so, yes. And if you type faster than write (ink) then I guess you're good to go with the non-tablet version. It's a hard decision, I hope I 'd made my choice right. Will see when the Tablet arrives as I'll have some time to compare them both one next to the other...