Recently obtained Z61t - tips? *LARGE PIC (255KB)*

[Medessec]

Hello, I recently picked up a Z61t that was parting out, and I'm planning on restoring it to working order and seeing if I can put Windows 7 on it. I've just received the laptop, and at a glance it's got a silver lid, apparently a titanium lid after looking on here. Is this rare/special in any way? Some of it seems to have been worn off though, which doesn't surprise me considering this came from a recycler. The laptop was a bit of a dusty, mucky mess, and after taking it apart and wiping down some of the panels, it seems to be in pretty fair condition, although I wouldn't call it new.

The "IBM Thinkpad" badge is also all silver, this is intentional, right? Want to make sure it wasn't worn off or something. The laptop is currently missing a Hard Drive, battery and AC adapter, all are coming in the mail right now. Some more RAM is coming in the mail too-because the laptop came with some off-brand 512 MB of RAM, which I don't really deem enough for Windows 7, which tends to misbehave a lot with anything under 1 GB of RAM. Due to me having no power supply (I have a T21, 770X, and an X32 that all can use the same power adapter, this just HAS to have a weird power port) or battery, I'm unable to power the machine on at the moment to ensure that it is in working order. The people I bought it from said that it powered on to the BIOS screen when they tested it. Oh, and the laptop is missing a Trackpoint cap and A-key.

I'm posting this primarily because I had a lot of hassle getting a T21 I have to work, and I was going to ask if there are any common issues or problems with the Z6x series before I dive in head-first, as I have never worked with Thinkpads this new before. In taking it apart, I noticed the construction is extremely different from pre-Lenovo Thinkpads. This is my first Thinkpad I've received that has Lenovo badging on it by the way.

I may take pictures and post them if I deem it necessary.

[RealBlackStuff]

The Z61t is part of the T60/R60 family (NOT the T61/R61 as the number suggests!).
Hence it is (chipset) limited to 3GB usable RAM, although you can put 2x2GB in it.
The lid is indeed Titanium.
To get an idea of what it COULD look like, here's one that TuuS recently sold on this forum: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=103432

[Medessec]

Oh wow. That lid does really look nice-mine has numerous flaws, and the... paint? I guess, is wearing off on the left side. I suppose the IBM Thinkpad badge on the lid does indeed come in silver, so that's good.

I only managed to find a kit for 2 1GB sticks, so that's good. There were 4 GB kits, but for the type of RAM that it is, (it's like, 667MHz DDR2 or something) 4GB, let alone 3GB, won't do you much good over 2GB.

I've got the power adapter in today, the battery likely won't come in until after this weekend. But I've been able to power it on, it thankfully doesn't have any BIOS passwords or registered fingerprints securing the BIOS, and I was able to jump right in and install Windows 7. I have a spare Seagate Barracuda 250GB to pop in it, which will be more than enough space. The laptop appears to run just fine with little issues(no fan noises, random shutdowns) so again, this is one of those recycled laptops that I think turned out fantastic. Unfortunately it was a lot more pricey than the other Thinkpads I usually get, but in the end I'm sure it'll be that much more better than the T20s and 770s I usually end up with. Also-it still seems to feature the ThinkLight, which is a quirk I kinda like about the older Thinkpads.

Cosmetically though... after looking at a lot of pictures of other Z61s with the Titanium lid, I am a bit disappointed with mine. Even the bezel around the touchpad and keyboard looks like it's seen better days. After wiping it down it looks a lot better than it did, but I think this laptop either: doesn't share the incredible threshold of abuse older Thinkpads have, or has seen quite a bit of abuse in it's lifetime.

[TuuS]

I love these models, have a few titanium and some black lid units here, and by the way, that one my good friend RBS linked is for sale again if anyone is interested.

As for yours, I think I saw it listed on feebay, it looked really bad but had some nice options.

I have anything you might need for it, shoot me a PM with your list and I'll see what I can do. I even had a really nice titanium lid, but it went on one of my black lid units and now belongs to one of our forum members, but the one for sale now is an original titanium and has core2 cpu.

Also, if I'm not mistaken about the one you got, I believe it has a webcam that is a rare option on this model.

[Medessec]

Indeed I did pick this up on the ebay auction with GreenCitizen-I did spend a bit more than I wanted to, but it's turning out a whole lot better than most of my projects do. The 250GB Barracuda's in there and the laptop has 7 SP1 all the way updated, and now I'm doing my tests to see just what I can do with this thing, I also run these tests to ensure the fan doesn't make a lot of noise, or the laptop doesn't run too hot, due to dust or some failure in the cooling(even though I peeled it apart and dusted out the insides anyway). I run some older 3D games on it as well as install Photoshop and do some 100+ pixel brush stuff. The RAM also came in-and I popped that in and this thing flies now. It runs very smoothly.

Yeah-it was quite a mess when I got it, I think the biggest problem with this thing is the condition of the casing. Everything's kind of faded-but all the replacement parts are coming together, and making this laptop really nice to use overall. Indeed, this laptop does have the webcam, and I've tested the webcam and it works like a charm. Apparently this laptop also has a Verizion WWAN modem installed, for 3G or something. Kinda funky on a media-function laptop. But the missing A key and trackpoint is no big deal, as I have an old spare T60 keyboard and a couple of trackpoints.

I wasn't intent on keeping this laptop very long, just restore it to working order then pass it on, after using it a bit for college to see just how good it is. But it would be nice to get a new Ti lid for this guy, as the paint or coat wearing off on that left edge (I'll have to send you some pics) is probably one of the most noticeable issues with the laptop, cosmetically. Other than that, the rest of it cleaned up nicely. There is the panel behind where the battery goes... which has small cracks and looks like it's made of chalk, but I notice it a lot since this laptop doesn't have a battery yet.

I suppose after the battery is fitted, I'll take some pics and post it on here, and I'll consider your offer. And if I decide to sell it or post it for auction, I'll let you guys know first.

[ajkula66]

I suppose after the battery is fitted, I'll take some pics and post it on here, and I'll consider your offer. And if I decide to sell it or post it for auction, I'll let you guys know first.

Honestly, your best bet might be keeping it...Z series were never hot sellers, and the Ti models have to be exceptionally clean in order to get sold in the first place...

Your machine sports a fairly rare and desirable configuration, but will never be anywhere above "c" condition unless you flip the lid. Yes, I did see it on fleebay...

If you fancy the idea of highly unusual "on the go" machine, you own it right now...

My $0.02 only...

[Medessec]

Ok-to give ya'll a better idea of the condition, and it's operative capability, I've actually found the time to take some pictures. Thing is-I should probably get a better camera... because my current camera is my phone.

But anyways, here they are.


You can tell what I mean in the phone camera being horrible. However, this is the best shot I was able to pick out to show you the condition of the keyboard and front bezel, around the touchpad. And the laptop's camera, compared to the phone's camera, is rather excellent. Unlike my phone's camera, it's handling the rough lighting in here very well, and displaying "that guy there" pretty well, to where even my awful phone camera can get it pretty good.

http://www.medessec.info/tp/Z61t-2.jpg
A better look at that missing A-key. Yeay.

http://www.medessec.info/tp/Z61t-3.jpg
Shows the condition of the Ti lid. Worn off a bit on that side, and there's small bits worn here and there towards the middle.

http://www.medessec.info/tp/Z61t-4.jpg
Too bad the condition of the lid doesn't match that of this gorgeous X32. One of the nicer ones I've had... too bad i'm selling it. ergh.

http://www.medessec.info/tp/Z61t-5.jpg
The underside. Mostly okay, but there's a little gash across the fan that looks like a hair and plays heck on my OCD every time I turn the laptop over.

http://www.medessec.info/tp/Z61t-6.jpg
Me trying out some Halo CE on the thing. It's a bit tricky to play with no A-key. Graphics aren't half bad at all considering this has a power-saving GMA 950.

http://www.medessec.info/tp/Z61t-7.jpg
A glitch I kinda wanted to ask about, but couldn't until I could post pictures. I don't know if it's a result of the GPU wearing out due to age, or if it's just some driver issue.

As for your post ajkula... I kinda want to keep it actually. Granted, gaming isn't exactly it's forte, but it's just so unique and it has a neat flair to it. And the Ti lid is just one of those nerdy quirks that Thinkpads usually have. I may end up having to sell it or lend it though. Again, if it ever comes to that, I'll let you guys know. But I do have to wait for the A-key to come in, and the battery still. Other than that this thing is working beautifully. And I've not been let down. I've always wanted a Z61, and this thing really didn't disappoint.

Admin edit: Removed all large inline image except one and added PIC warning in subject line.. Please keep images <50KB.

[ajkula66]

As for your post ajkula... I kinda want to keep it actually. Granted, gaming isn't exactly it's forte, but it's just so unique and it has a neat flair to it. And the Ti lid is just one of those nerdy quirks that Thinkpads usually have. I may end up having to sell it or lend it though. Again, if it ever comes to that, I'll let you guys know. But I do have to wait for the A-key to come in, and the battery still. Other than that this thing is working beautifully. And I've not been let down. I've always wanted a Z61, and this thing really didn't disappoint.

Oh I understand the sentiment entirely...having been on a lookout for a hi-end Z61m for quite some time before I finally got one, and its Ti lid is quite worn as well. Other than that it's a fabulous machine - typing on it right now...

[TuuS]

Keyboards for these things are cheap, I have a couple dozen ranging from $5-20, so unless it's in exceptional condition there is little point in trying to repair the keyboard.

That system actually cleaned up very nice and the lid doesn't look nearly as bad as some I've seen.

[schen]

I don't know if you've done any more on your Z61t, but it looks like an interesting project. Very similar to my Z61m (ti lid) that I bought from another forum member. You lid doesn't look too bad at all in the pictures, but I'd be tempted to do something with it though. Mine is pretty nice, but I went ahead and bought another one when I came across it, so I will have something to put it back in original shape when I've finally decided what I want to try. I'd really like to anodize it, but haven't found a good way to get it off the plastic yet.

What I did do to mine so far has been to put 4Gb of RAM in it. I know it'll only read 3, but I'm a bit of a stickler for using matching sticks of RAM on machines and I had in on-hand. I picked up a T7200 for it, which I've now seen as low as $30. Then when the price of SSDs went south earlier this year, I put in a 1.8", 128Gb Samsung, OEM'd to Lenovo along with the adapters that they used for the T Series. It's pretty darned fast in this config. The other thing I did was to pick up a "N" WiFi adapter to replace the "G" one. I know all that adds up to, but now I have a very nice mobile workstation that can do some fairly heavy duty photo editing for me, so I think it's worth it.

To me, it's a bit like an update to the A31p that I loved so much. Of course, now I've got my wife using a T61 with a 240Gb SSD, I'm a little jealous!

[Radioguy]

There's a seller on eBay that sells replacement keycaps, and trackpoint caps are also easy to come by (even in different colors).

I still yearn for a Titanium Z61...someday.

[RealBlackStuff]

I'd really like to anodize it (the lid), but haven't found a good way to get it off the plastic yet.

Have you ever considered either to do a DIY job with a spray can of metallic paint?
Or rather: bring it to a professional car body shop, where they could do a much better job, with added protective layers of clear coating.

[schen]

Have you ever considered either to do a DIY job with a spray can of metallic paint?
Or rather: bring it to a professional car body shop, where they could do a much better job, with added protective layers of clear coating.

At the risk of Hi-jacking this thread, here's what I'm looking to do:

Actually, yes. I've considered exactly that very option, just haven't gotten around to going to body shops to chat them up about it yet. Unfortunately, one of the downsides of teaching is that I don't have the option of leaving the "office" when I want to run a few errands, or take a long lunch. Of course it hasn't helped that it's a low priority project either! Which is why I haven't sent it up to you to get the BIOS issue cleared up yet!

What I'm really after is for it to continue to look metallic, but be black or gunmetal with a satin finish. I started out thinking anodize, then I realized that I'd have get it off of the plastic, and my second option of powder coating would have the same issue. So, I'm down to what you described.

[Medessec]

Wow... that would actually look amazing on a Z61 now that I picture it. Makes me remember vaguely when a friend bought a Dell that was all messed up on the outside for $10, sanded it and painted it. He failed terribly at painting it.

I bought a whole new keyboard to replace that A key-as i'm also getting a T60p with missing keys-kill two birds with one keyboard. Anyways, I've FINALLY got the battery in(the first one was a DOA) and I've been using this thing for my classes the past couple of days, and I have to say, people express a lot of interest in it. What I personally like about it is despite it having a lot of consumer desired fad laptop features, such as the webcam, media card slot, widescreen, etc., it still preserves the Thinkpad design language, the edgy, razor-y simplistic design. I also got it a new trackpoint, which really adds to the touch. The old faded one really made it look ailing and junky. I think the new keyboard will really help too.

Thing is though... I've run into the situation I kinda expected, I kinda need to sell the thing. It's been very rewarding giving it a new life, but I really need to focus more on paying next semester's tuition. Eek.

[schen]

Thing is though... I've run into the situation I kinda expected, I kinda need to sell the thing. It's been very rewarding giving it a new life, but I really need to focus more on paying next semester's tuition. Eek.

Yup, been down that road many 'a times (although in those days it was camera equipment and car stereos), and it's no fun. At least you have the experience and you can jump out there and do this with most any ThinkPad at any point in the future!

[emeraldgirl08]

Selling TPs for school tuition.

Sounds very familiar to me

I've not yet had the pleasure of handling a Z-series ThinkPad. I read through your post earlier this week and I really like how you nursed this one back to health! Before University I had lived in a very rural-area and when I had free time I would occasionally tinker with ThinkPads and would sell them when times got tough as well. Three years later I'm still in school and the tuition doesn't get any less expensive!

>.<

Just worse

Don't want to shoot off on another tangent also but I remember seeing a thread here where a forum member sanded his X-series or T-series TP down to its silver-colored base of some sort. I realize appearance is totally subjective but I found it refreshing and pretty...and blingy

I'm all for a new look with the lid and would love it if you all (schen or yourself) posted a picture of it on TPForums if you might ever get around to it! Have a great weekend!

[Medessec]

Heh. Yep, I'm pretty glad I got this thing, and fixed it up. It's been a pretty cool machine. And yeah, I've learned a whole lot about Thinkpads, the -60 Thinkpads in particular, they're fantastic.

I don't have the resources or the time to add that look to the lid-as much as I'd like to see that. As I mentioned earlier in the posts, I'd like to pass this thing on to you guys on here... I'm sure it'll find some good spot in someone's toybox.

[ajkula66]

Heh. Yep, I'm pretty glad I got this thing, and fixed it up. It's been a pretty cool machine. And yeah, I've learned a whole lot about Thinkpads, the -60 Thinkpads in particular, they're fantastic.

I'm afraid that you're about to learn one more thing which applies to "weird duck" ThinkPads, which include both your Z61t and G4x units...very, very rarely does one get back what they invested in them in the first place...

I wish you the best of luck with the upcoming sales. You'll need plenty of it.

[TuuS]

I just sold my spare Titanium unit. I still have one that is near mint with the webcam. I've considered selling it too, but not willing to put it on the proverbial "bargain bin" shelf. It would have to go to a serious collector, or to trade for something else my collection lacks.

To others interested in one of these great machines, I have a couple z61t units that are original T7200 machines that I'm going to be selling. These black lid versions are a better option for a daily driver as you don't need to be as paranoid about how you handle them as with a Ti unit.

[schen]

Have you ever considered either to do a DIY job with a spray can of metallic paint?
Or rather: bring it to a professional car body shop, where they could do a much better job, with added protective layers of clear coating.

Well, it's probably back to the DIY spray can concept now. I went by the local body shop that I've used a number of times and the guy quoted me $100 for satin or flat and $75 for gloss. I can probably afford that, but it represents lots of misc parts! I just spent not much more than that for a case, PSU, RAM, AND SSD for a HTPC build!

So, I guess, I'll spend the $10 or so for the Krylon (which is what I used with good results on my daughters lavender X31) to see if I can do something unique on that Z61's ti lid.

[Medessec]

I'm afraid that you're about to learn one more thing which applies to "weird duck" ThinkPads, which include both your Z61t and G4x units...very, very rarely does one get back what they invested in them in the first place...

I wish you the best of luck with the upcoming sales. You'll need plenty of it.

Thanks. I really don't expect to make money on them... I mostly bought them for the "meeting your heroes" sorta deal, I've just always looked at these Thinkpads while I was in High School working on 770s and 380s looking at pictures and specs of these. Not that I have money to spare, I would like to get back what I paid, but I don't completely expect it. I'd just rather see (at least my Z61t) sold to someone who can really take it that much further, or would just appreciate having it. I think there's not much more I can do with it with my current knowledge and experience, other than parade it around in my classes, which I kinda am not for anyway.

And i'd love to see pictures of that job done on the Ti lid if you ever get around to it-seeing it in my mind, I think it'd look very interesting.