Thinkpads Forum

I ordered from Ebay an X61s with L7700 1.8Ghz CPU and XP Pro.
The supplier offers me X61 with T7300 2.0 Ghz CPU and either Vista business or XP Pro for the same price.
All other specs are the same.
Which one is preferred?

Also, I read in the forums the L7700 are automatically supplied with an ultralight screen. I asked the seller about this and he said that if it's not in the specs (and it wasn't), then it does not have an ultralight screen.
What do you think?

not all X61s models have the ultralight display.   what you read on other forums was only in regards to purchasing a CTO model on lenovo.com.   currently this does not seem to be automatically selected on the L7700 models.

regarding the X61s versus X61 for the same price, it all depends on the specs of each machine.   if the X61s does not have the ultralight display then it's less desirable in my opinion.

erik wrote:
regarding the X61s versus X61 for the same price, it all depends on the specs of each machine. if the X61s does not have the ultralight display then it's less desirable in my opinion.

I would argue the opposite. I find that coolness (as in temperature, not the Fonzy way of coolness ) and low fan noise is very important to me. If I was presented with the same choice my reasoning would be the following:

With the exception of being able to get Vista Business, both systems have identical specs besides the CPU's. The X61 has an 11,1% faster CPU which means that under a normal usage scenario, you would not be able to tell which machine is faster (performance differentials usually need to be approx 20% for a person being able to tell without resorting to measurements and benchmarks).

However, the T7300 has a TDP of 35W while the L7700 has a TDP of 17W. So, unless I really wanted Vista Business, I would go with the X61s, since the specs imply that it will be a cooler running computer and thus less noisy, while performance is about equal between the two machines.

jketzetera wrote: I would argue the opposite. I find that coolness (as in temperature, not the Fonzy way of coolness ) and low fan noise is very important to me. If I was presented with the same choice my reasoning would be the following:

With the exception of being able to get Vista Business, both systems have identical specs besides the CPU's. The X61 has an 11,1% faster CPU which means that under a normal usage scenario, you would not be able to tell which machine is faster (performance differentials usually need to be approx 20% for a person being able to tell without resorting to measurements and benchmarks).

However, the T7300 has a TDP of 35W while the L7700 has a TDP of 17W. So, unless I really wanted Vista Business, I would go with the X61s, since the specs imply that it will be a cooler running computer and thus less noisy, while performance is about equal between the two machines.

good call.
This is precisely the same reasoning I took when deciding between the x61 and x61s. Furthermore, if you were to buy on ebay, you might end up getting lower prices for the x61s than the x61 for a similar specced (or even better specced) machine just because of lower demand for the "under-powered" x61s.

erik wrote:
However, the T7300 has a TDP of 35W while the L7700 has a TDP of 17W. So, unless I really wanted Vista Business, I would go with the X61s, since the specs imply that it will be a cooler running computer and thus less noisy, while performance is about equal between the two machines.

I have heard that the x61s uses a higher (first level) fan speed when the fan actually turns on, something like 3800 rpm, compared to 3200 rpm for the normal x61. So some people have complained that the x61s is actually very noisy once the fan kicks in. The fan on the x61s is also a little smaller (smaller = more noisy).

Someone want to have a say on this?

Mack wrote:

erik wrote:
However, the T7300 has a TDP of 35W while the L7700 has a TDP of 17W. So, unless I really wanted Vista Business, I would go with the X61s, since the specs imply that it will be a cooler running computer and thus less noisy, while performance is about equal between the two machines.

I have heard that the x61s uses a higher (first level) fan speed when the fan actually turns on, something like 3800 rpm, compared to 3200 rpm for the normal x61. So some people have complained that the x61s is actually very noisy once the fan kicks in. The fan on the x61s is also a little smaller (smaller = more noisy).

Someone want to have a say on this?

The latest version of Tpfancontrol reports the first level of fanspeed (when under BIOS control) to a smidgen under 3000 rpm on a X60s. I will see if I can get a reading on a X61/X61s as well.