Pleased with new Z61t

[Zak Smith]

I recently picked up a new Z61t for personal use, which comprises: on and offline email, web browsing, code development, and writing. I had it configured with the following and the price was over a grand less than the comparable MacBook.

. 2 GHz Core Duo
. 1440x900 WXGA+
. 100GB 7200rpm
. 2GB ram
. DVD-RAM drive
. normal 4-cell battery

I am very pleased with this setup-- fast and compact, good screen real-estate. My current "work" laptop is a hp nx6125, and the Z61t is much smaller and lighter, with about the same usable screen area. (Before the hp, I was issued a T42p, which was another behemoth.)

The OS is Linux (Ubuntu). I am an old-school unix guy, so mucking around isn't a problem-- just tiresome and time consuming. I expected major hardware components to work, with some rough edges. This is pretty much what I found, with the major hang-ups being suspend/hibernate and the power-mode management. laptop-mode works more or less, but has bugs. Suspend and hibernate have worked at least once, but the system is generally flaky and can't be trusted. There are a lot of parameters for tuning, so I am hopeful to get it working soon.

With my current setup, battery life is estimated at around 2 hours by the battery applet. Once I am done messing with OS junk, I'm dropping an Ultrabay battery in to replace the DVD drive, which should help out on unplugged lifetime.

I am pleased with the physical design of the Z61t. My only complaints/suggestions would be a slightly more rigid chassis (I can feel flex in the main box 1/3rd the way from the near edge) and to move the [censored] Fn key from where control should be (emacs keystrokes die hard).

Anyway, pictures of the Z61t here
http://demigod.org/~zak/DigiCam/Z61t/