T43p and Z60m

[TPFanatic]

I present two ThinkPads both manufactured in the same year 2005 but uniquely from separate generations.

T43p
- 2.26 Ghz
- 1GB Ram
- 1400x1050

This machine was given to me in a semi-working state, powering on and immediately afterward losing the LCD, but the indicators stayed on and the drive kept spinning. Most peculiar. After digging into the machine and tightening the power jack screw, she fires up and stays up. I put my old Win XP environment inside and to my surprise it cooperated, booting on generic drivers. After installing the T43p drivers it runs and browses pretty decently, in fact.

Z60m
- 2.0 Ghz
- 2GB Ram
- 1680x1050

I bought this laptop to shove a T500 motherboard inside, and for a time it was a fully working Z60m-T500 Frankenpad, the world's fastest Z-series with a T9400 2.53 Ghz, a Radeon 3650, and 4GB of DDR3 running Windows 10. It's since been restored.

Now, onto the comparisons.

Ports and I/O:


Right
T43p: Drive, Ultrabay, VGA.
Z60m: S-Video, Ultrabay, 2x USB, Kensington.


Left
T43p: Kensington, 2x USB, S-Video, Modem, Ethernet, Headphone, Microphone, Vent, expansion.
Z60m: Vent, VGA, Modem, Ethernet, Microphone, Headphone, Firewire, expansion.


Front
T43p: IR, lid latch
Z60m: IR, Wireless switch, lid latch, Media slot

IR in action:
T43p: https://i.imgur.com/Nm9wZll.mp4
Z60m: https://i.imgur.com/3GbPun6.mp4


Rear
T43p: Battery, 16V, Parallel port
Z60m: 1x USB, Battery, 20V, vent

LCD:




Both TN panels.
Both decent.
124 DPI vs 128 DPI.
The 15.4" screen is slightly brighter and physically shorter.

Fun fact: At this time, the 15" T43p still offers the highest resolution of 1600x1200. The 15.4" Z60m is only offered up to 1680x1050, as the ATI driver does not display 1920x1200. I have tried, even with drivers from Dell laptops that used the ATI X600 and 1920x1200, but it does not work in Windows. Weirdly 1920x1200 Z60m does work in Ubuntu, and I give it props for that because I do not.

Miscellaneous:



The machines follow some different design languages. I thought this was interesting, how the Z60m's forward slope can encompass the reverse slant of the T. The T43p is the last T-series to feature this slant shared with the rest of the T40 and R50 line. Subsequent T-series and R-series returned to a flat faced lid. Only the Z-series have this forward sloping lid, until some modern ThinkPads.



The keyboard comparison is done to hell but here it is again. T43p has gray Function, unlabeled Media, no Windows and Menu, Access IBM, black Volume and Power. Z60m has black Function, labeled Media, Windows and Menu, ThinkVantage, gray Volume and Power.

These are both ALPs keyboards funnily enough, and there is a stark change in quality between them. The T43p ALPS is very sturdy feeling while the Z60m ALPS is clackety and bouncy, while NMB and Chicony quality remained consistent through this period of the regime change.



T43p's lid closure sensor is a physical button, while Z60m and all subsequent ThinkPads use magnets.



Practically mirror images...



This one is also interesting. The Z60m, although equipped with Bluetooth, does not have an outward Bluetooth LED despite the space dedicated for it on the lid.



The T43p is a thin laptop. The Z60m is not.




The ThinkLights are mostly outshone by the screens on these, unless they are dimmed. Note the different outlet shapes.




Both are equipped with fingerprint readers. They use the same driver.



16V vs 20V.



Titanium vs RGB.

Conclusion




They don't seem so very different now, do they? Both are equipped with all the relevant I/O for their time. Both have Trackpoints, Thinklights, and lid latches. Both have survived beyond their usable lives.

But the design language does differ between them. The T43p holds on to the older era as much as it can, based on the same case as 2003's T40. It uses an IDE connector for Legacy support. The Z60m quite literally leans forward. It uses SATA and the new 20V barrel. It's the first widescreen ThinkPad. It previews all the things that ThinkPads are to become, while also being itself.

It is the first silver ThinkPad, of the only series to feature the unpainted titanium lid, albeit with a plastic bezel. It is thick. It is heavy. Its thinner sister, the Z60t, exemplifies style and grace much better than the Z60m tries - and it does try. He offers no more ports or speed than the R61, but people still collect the Z60m Z61m for that 15.4" diagonal piece of titanium.

A silly reason, I know, but that is the only reason I have left for keeping it.

[Thinkpad4by3]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[dr_st]

Nice write-up and photo session, as usual.

Technically, hardware-wise, they are the same generation. Funnily, Lenovo bumped all T,R,X series to *60 at the same time for the same platform, to fix the confusion with IBM's naming, but since they already had a Z60, so they had to make it Z61, ultimately causing confusion when T,R,X 61 came out.

T43, R52, X41, Z60 - Sonoma (Last Pentium M, first DDR2 platform, 2005)
T60, R60, X60, Z61 - Napa (Core Duo, and first Core 2 Duo, 2006)
T61, R61, X61 - Santa Rosa (2007); Z-series was discontinued at this point, since all Thinkpads became widescreen, and this was no longer a a meaningful distinguishing feature

Z-series was of course the first Thinkpad series with a new Lenovo design. It's very unique and interesting. You are right that the Titanium lid is probably the biggest reason people keep them as collector's items. Too bad it does not age well, although the traditionally rubbery finish on T/X series, honestly, does not fare much better. Ironically, the A- and R-series with their "low-end" all-plastic lids almost don't degrade.

[Thinkpad4by3]

T43, R52, X41, Z60 - Sonoma (Last Pentium M, first DDR2 platform, 2005)
T60, R60, X60, Z61 - Napa (Core Duo, and first Core 2 Duo, 2006)
T61, R61, X61 - Santa Rosa (2007); Z-series was discontinued at this point, since all Thinkpads became widescreen, and this was no longer a a meaningful distinguishing feature

I thought they were called Dothan, Merom, and Penryn?

[TPFanatic]

Banias, Dothan, Merom, Penryn, etc. are the names of the CPUs. dr_st is referring to the chipset generations that those CPUs are part of.

[zod]

I bought this laptop to shove a T500 motherboard inside, and for a time it was a fully working Z60m-T500 Frankenpad, the world's fastest Z-series with a T9400 2.53 Ghz, a Radeon 3650, and 4GB of DDR3 running Windows 10. It's since been restored.

Is that really possible?

[TPFanatic]

I bought this laptop to shove a T500 motherboard inside, and for a time it was a fully working Z60m-T500 Frankenpad, the world's fastest Z-series with a T9400 2.53 Ghz, a Radeon 3650, and 4GB of DDR3 running Windows 10. It's since been restored.

Is that really possible?

It lived and breathed, but ultimately proved unfeasible due to the frame and case modification involved. I later tried it with an R500 motherboard, since that uses the same interface as the Z60m's original LCD cable. The frame actually broke in three pieces the last time I tried modding it though. I did epoxy it back together though. But it was never the same so I bought a new bottom case and 80% restored it to a Z60m...

For future reference, a 15.4" R61 motherboard would be a better swap. There's a lot less port differences.