Thinkpads Forum

Help! I'd like to take advantage of the current sale and eCoupon discount, and don't know whether to buy a new T61 or new T500. This is for, yes, a goddaughter, as always, whose A31 has failed. This sale is too good to pass up, so rather than spend time getting another old A31 running for her I'm going to buy new. I'd appreciate opinions of the differences between the two models from those of you who have been able to use both the T500 and the T61. I'm looking at the WXGA screen, and pretty much the cheapest options on both models except for a HDD upgrade. Please don't tell me to get a screen with higher resolution, she doesn't like them.

Reviews I'm reading aren't very favorable regarding the new keyboard feel and the new backlit screen on the T500. I'd appreciate hearing from you if you have any advice for me. The price difference is only about $50 so that's not the issue. Quality is. This will be used for e-mail/internet, for school, for music/MP3 player, and for viewing videos. Thanks for any assistance you can offer.

Deb Suran wrote:Help! I'd like to take advantage of the current sale and eCoupon discount, and don't know whether to buy a new T61 or new T500. This is for, yes, a goddaughter, as always, whose A31 has failed. This sale is too good to pass up, so rather than spend time getting another old A31 running for her I'm going to buy new. I'd appreciate opinions of the differences between the two models from those of you who have been able to use both the T500 and the T61. I'm looking at the WXGA screen, and pretty much the cheapest options on both models except for a HDD upgrade. Please don't tell me to get a screen with higher resolution, she doesn't like them.

Reviews I'm reading aren't very favorable regarding the new keyboard feel and the new backlit screen on the T500. I'd appreciate hearing from you if you have any advice for me. The price difference is only about $50 so that's not the issue. Quality is. This will be used for e-mail/internet, for school, for music/MP3 player, and for viewing videos. Thanks for any assistance you can offer.

If the configuration's almost the same and the price difference is just 50$ - buy T500, really.
Just choose webcam (camera) and bluetooth - it's something that your goddaughter will probably use (connecting cellphones, talking to friends on MSN using webcam, etc.).
That's a pity she doesn't lixe WSXGA - that's one of the biggest advantages of Thinkpads.
If I were you I'd think about T400 for her (the difference between T61 14,a" and T400 is huge and the difference between T61 15,4" and T500 you would probably not note ...).
You know, so many hours on the battery, LED backlight - this is something extraordinarious.
Oh, don't forget about DVD recorder (don't buy it with just DVD/CDRW combo!)

Thanks for the advice. I'm either going to buy a new T500, or a much cheaper used T60 that can also serve as a backup unit for my systems. Have to make up my mind today!

T61 has a Thinkpad Keyboard the T400-T500 have inferior keyboards.

No big difference in keyboards. I have all T60, T61 and T500. For a portable machine I would suggest T61 with 14.1" 2.1kg because T500 is 15.4" 2.7kg considering it goes to a female user I think weight is important. T500 of course has better performance but depends if it's important to the user and worht the extra money.

nxman wrote:T61 has a Thinkpad Keyboard the T400-T500 have inferior keyboards.

That's strange since I checked out a T61 at a local store last night and its keyboard has MORE flex than my T400.

lew2 wrote:

nxman wrote:T61 has a Thinkpad Keyboard the T400-T500 have inferior keyboards.

That's strange since I checked out a T61 at a local store last night and its keyboard has MORE flex than my T400.

Now that's just bizarre. The keyboard that came with my T400 SUCKED. I put a T61 NMB keyboard in it and it was awesome.