T61p or W500 - which should I take?

[leland]

A friend has a bunch of retired ThinkPads - T61ps and W500s. They seem pretty identical to me, but I wanted to check in here if there are significant differences between them that I'm not picking up.

I'll primarily use this at home so I don't care too much about the battery condition. I'll likely use Windows 8 Pro, so driver availability would matter to me. I have no problems using Windows 7 if W8 isn't available, but I've grown to like the fast startup and hotkeys.

Any thoughts here?

[RealBlackStuff]

Unless those T61p have a date of 08/08 or 08/09 (2008 August or September) after the Serial No. on the label, I'd pick the W500.
Any older T61p, and you will run the risk of a bad nVidia GPU.

[leland]

Thanks, I'll take a look.

[Cigarguy]

Unless you want/need the extra GPU power, I'd pick the W500. Next gen (from a T61p perspective) CPU support, DDR3 RAM and native SATA II support.

[precip9]

In reviews, and in my own experience, the W500 runs very cool. I see CPU temps around 90-95F.

8GB of DDR2 for the T61 costs $98. 8GB of DDR3 for the W500 costs around $38.

The W500 should have noticeably longer battery life.

As previously remarked, avoid boards of that era with Nvidia GPUs.

[Raceboy]

GPU on T61p has pretty much the same performance as on W500 but the latter does not have the risc of dead GPU.

If you don't care about possible IPS conversion (only viable with 14.1" T61p) then go for W500.

And no, they are not much cooler than T61p.

[J888www]

Take both, if not possible take the latter.

[leland]

Got one of each

The W500 has a better proc, but the T61p has a ridiculous 1920x1200 screen.

Why didn't they combine that?

[Medessec]

Wert...?

If possible I'd just swap the screens(if possible, I'd wait until another guy confirms this) and use the W500. Check the T61p's manufacturing date as RBS described below-if it's later than 08/08, both are keepers. But if the T61p's a lemon, I'd get all the good parts into the W500.

The W500 is more reliable, newer, and it'd be my preference. If you're going to have a widescreen Thinkpad, it might as well be a newer one.

[Cigarguy]

Hmmm...W500 build quality, NMB keyboard, that screen, Ivy Bridge and SSD. Wouldn't that be nice.

[ajkula66]

Got one of each

The W500 has a better proc, but the T61p has a ridiculous 1920x1200 screen.

Why didn't they combine that?

They did.

W500 was available with a 1920x1200 LCD, but not all of them shipped with it.

[crashnburn]

Got one of each

The W500 has a better proc, but the T61p has a ridiculous 1920x1200 screen.

Why didn't they combine that?

They did.

W500 was available with a 1920x1200 LCD, but not all of them shipped with it.

Any specific models? When we got a W series for dad I did not find that resolution.

[ajkula66]

Any specific models? When we got a W series for dad I did not find that resolution.

You'll have to look around. My (long since returned, obviously) Lenovo pre-production loaner had WUXGA...I wasn't happy with the screen in the least, while I absolutely loved the rest of the machine.

I believe that ratio of WSXGA+ vs. WUXGA production on W500 is about 60:40 from what I've seen...

[JeffCullen]

My April '08 T61p is still kicking, but if I had known about the NVidia stuff before I bought it, I wouldn't have... go for the W500...

...I'm really lucky--my W500 has the LG WUXGA (1920x1200) screen and T9900 proc It's my favourite laptop I've ever used... no clue how I'll move on when it is completely antiquated...

[ajkula66]

My April '08 T61p is still kicking, but if I had known about the NVidia stuff before I bought it, I wouldn't have... go for the W500...

Honestly, if you take basic precautions such as preventing the excessive heat cycling, it may very well keep on kicking for quite a few years to come...

...I'm really lucky--my W500 has the LG WUXGA (1920x1200) screen and T9900 proc It's my favourite laptop I've ever used... no clue how I'll move on when it is completely antiquated...

Yep, that's as good as these come. Honestly, unless one needs 16GB or more RAM to run VMs or what nots, these machines aren't getting outdated anytime soon.

Lenovo made a major ****-up in my opinion, when they went for 16:9 with the W510. I mean, your screen and 32GB RAM - I'm even completely disregarding the Core CPU aspect of the story - yes, my wife would be all over me until I got her one...

[JeffCullen]

I have TPFanControl keeping things at very reasonable temperatures, and since the T61p isn't my daily driver anymore, it'll probably last forever...!

Totally agree regarding 16:9... I absolutely hate it. I imagine the 510/520/530 mainboard is so much wider that even the most dedicated modder wouldn't have any success cramming one into a 500 chassis in order to enjoy 16:10...

Apple is the only one still doing 16:10 15" machines AFAIK... and they don't do 32GB of RAM, or WUXGA...

[TuuS]

The T/W500 was more of a step sideways then a step ahead of the T61p. It does have some advantages, but the main feature in these discrete models is the graphic system and the t61p nvidia graphics is better then the ATI system. I understand why Lenovo had to dump nVidia, even after the problem with the t61 series was fixed, it's reputation forced them to stop the series and putting a new series with nvidia was to risky. They did eventually revert back to nVidia with the T/W510 series.

Anyway, I own several T61p models with the best options and also a T500 and W500 both with the fastest CPU (one is actually for sale if anyone is interested), and they are all good systems, each has it's own strong points.

Additionally, All the T models offered 800x1200 and 1680x1050, and the p and W offered 1680x1050 and 1920x1200, but the latter was often poor quality. Some of the samsung screens are really nice and some are horrible. The LG philips is a happy medium, they have a warmer look and generally are all good, but I have seen some that drop pixels, so you need to inspect the screen carefully to see if you can live with any defects it may have. The 1680x1050 screens had much better quality control and were generally brighter.

[JeffCullen]

I will certainly say that if you're into some light gaming, the NVidia chip in the T61p is a lot less painful to beat into working well than the ATI chip in the W500, which is near impossible...