z60t first impressions

[Teerex]

For a number of years I've worked on Thinkpads. Now I've bought a z60t myself for personal use.

I received it yesterday with much anticipation and I must say that I'm not all that impressed with the keyboard. It's much more 'clicky' than those on the T-models.

Apart from the keyboard, the machine seems fine; but if I should choose again, I would definitely have gone with a T43.

Note that I'm not an IT-wiz and have no clue about the technical specs.


Rgds.

Rex

[plumix]

I too bought an z60t for my personal use.

ordered on oct 24th -->its shipped now.

so waiting for my first impressions.

Thanks

[K. Eng]

I went to Office Depot today, and sure enough there was a Z60t and a 15" T43 on display

I came away pretty impressed with the Z60t.

Keyboard - generally very solid on the Z60t, though there is very minor flexing on the left hand side. Key travel and feedback were far superior to the T43 and the various Compaqs and Toshibas in the store.

Display - A bit brighter than the T43, and more vibrant colors, but I think it needs to be at least 50 nits brighter.

Titanium Lid - REALLY sturdy. I think it looks a bit odd because the rest of the notebook is black, but I think it will hold up well. It feels much more substantial than ABS plastic and even more sturdy than magnesium lids.

I should add two quibbles - The price is too darn high. The machine cost $1700 after rebate ($2000 normally). That's laughable considering it has middling specifications (1.83 GHz PM, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD, integrated GMA900 graphics). The warranty period is too short. 1-year for a $1700 machine? No thanks.

If the machine sold for $1500 with a 3-year warranty, it would be a no brainer.

[smek]

Ive been playing with mine for a few days now, ive had thinkpads in the past t20 and t42. Thw z60t did not dissapoint me, the keyboard might not be as great as the t42s if compared side by side, but its defently far better than any other keyboard on the market. The screeen is better trhat what i expected, some of the reviews posted dark pictures of the screen but this shouldnt dissapoint anyone. Ive got a 4 cell battery and unfortunatly it last only 1.5 hours with wi-fi on, its defently worth it to upgrade it to a 7-cell. The speakers have a good and clear quality, in my opinion a defenit improvement over the t42.

I miss the blue keyboard light, perswoanlly that illuminted the keyboard better than what they have now. The battery feels a bit loose and there are noticible gaps on some areas of the case. Overall i would give this laptop a 9.2/10.

[amitra]

I orderend mine on 18th november and it shipped on 21st December. Laid my hands on it on 3rd Jan.

This thing looks elegant. The designs' changed a lot when compared to the T42 / 43. But i saw that T60 uses the same keyboard and ultranav layouts including the touchpad buttons.

The keyboard is a tad noisy, nevertheless excellent.

The screen is reasonably bright (anything brighter would waste battery power) Because it's a Twisted nematic Film type screen the brightness varies according to one's vertical orientation vis-a-vis the screen.

Ok i bought a Celeron 1.4 Gig. dont find any lack in performance as far as most applications are concerned (office, browsing, simulations) winzip or winrar seemed to be slower though than my pentium 4 3.4 Gig.
On a four cell battery and Display Brightness on 2 and aggressive power mgmt, I manage to put on slightly more than 1.5 hours (1 hours 45 minutes). Applications used are web browser, MS office. I dont know how long do pentium M based z60t last on the 4 cell battery? I continuously monitor the current accross the battery using the power manager and it hovers around 0.9 - 1.0 Amp at 14.9V. It rises to 1.3 Amp when the processor is being used heaviliy.
An ultrabay battery is strongly suggested for extended mobility. When i dont use the ultrabay battery i keep it refrigerated to preserve the capacity.

I have also set an option using rightmark cpu clock utility for C3->C4 transition (C4 is the deeper sleep alert state(C4) in case of inactivity, instead of hovering in C3 state.

the power manager is awesome, with lots of controls. When connected to the power supply i have set the battery to stop charging at 50%. This I believe would help in decreasing the decay rate (loss in capacity) of the Li-ion.
Whenever I want portability I set the counter to 100% and wait for it to charge.


Wifi is very nice, good signal compared to dell 600m.

SD card reader is a nice thought (i use a kodak digicam ) and foud it a very nice feature.

The thinklight is yellow/amber (hate that color). Need to change the angle of the lcd to 90 degrees or so to make full use of the thinklight

The overall fit and finish is a hit and miss. The underside has the best finish. The display assembly has the worst. The keyboard areas (speaker sections) etc have some loose edges. The display cover is very uneven (compared to T42 standards) I guess the lower price 999$ of this model is due to these defeciencies in the new designs.

Heat is a non issue. I use the laptop mostly on my bed. But it still doesnt get anythying near Warm, let alone hot. Dells on the other hand seether under under these situations.

Fingerprint reader is awesome! really love it! no more passwords to type.

Overall the Z60t laptop seems to follow the genealogy of the thinkpad family.

[amitra]

Few more points

The Z60t is really light and portable too. Due to its thinness it's a pleasure to carry it around. Seems like a notepad in my hand.

Since I use the laptop both in my univ and at home, i have used IBM access connections to manage the wireless. It;s a very efficient tool compared to Windows Zero Config menu.

The sound from the speakers are crisp, though the volume is nothing great to write home about. The built in microphone works as intended

I used the windows key quite often since I come from a desktop / workstation bakcground. The windows + R is my most frequently used shortcut, coming close second is Windows + D.

The buttons on the touchpad are not placed at the best locations. sometimes they get depressed when i use the laptop closer my waist.

The wireless disable switch is a nice touch. Very good when wireless needs to be disabled in a jiffy. It's a sliding type switch so no accidental disabling of wireless.

After 2 weeks my 4 cell battery has 8 cycle counts on it with an available capacity of 37.24 Ah out of a design capacity of 37.44Ah.

The lithium polymer cell which fits in the ultrabay slim retains the design capacity after 3 charge discharge cycles.

[a31pguy]

Wife is thinking about upgrading the 60t because it's widescreen. Would you buy it again?

[amitra]

Z60t is an excellent buy these days.

[SpaRood]

I think putting the battery in a fridge is not a good thing. Personally, I wouldn't treat the battery any different than any other part of the laptop. You can argue whether 'not using' the battery when you are plugged on power would be a good thing to extend or preserve the battery life. There are different ideas and even myths about using the battery though.

[amitra]

I think putting the battery in a fridge is not a good thing. Personally, I wouldn't treat the battery any different than any other part of the laptop. You can argue whether 'not using' the battery when you are plugged on power would be a good thing to extend or preserve the battery life. There are different ideas and even myths about using the battery though.

In the past my 43Wh battery deteriorated to 30Ah in two years. The number of C-D cycles were at 22. The battery was mostly kept at 100%charged level insinde my thinkpad and the temperature was around 30 - 35C.
i feel that this was detrimental to the long life capacity retention.
The two options to retain Li-Ion capacity is 1) keep battery at high temperature (35-40C) but charged at 40% or
2) storage at lower temperatures, with a 90 - 100% charge
Because I keep the ultra-bay batt at 90 - 100 % charge, I would not want its' capacity to deteriorate without putting it to good use (hence the refrigeration).
Whenever I need that ultrabay batt (for e.g. field trip / presentation) I have it ready!.

[amitra]

For those interested about li-ion battery capacity loss I would like to refer this paper from (journal of electrochemical society).

http://www.che.sc.edu/faculty/white/200 ... lished.pdf

[amitra]

The z60t fans seems to be always running at a speed which makes it audible. The thinkpad t43 fan utility can help correct the problem. I set it to speed 1, 1700rpm and things are much better.

[smek]

The fan on my z60t only kicks in at 50C or above, and so far i have not reached those temps except for running a game and right after it the fan drops the rpms immidiatly. The fan is silent when below 50C, most of the time its between 30C and 40C, even if i listen carefully i can only hear the HD and the combo drive.