4 August 2008
In our part of the world we cannot custom build a machine, however the 6459A12 comes close to what I want.
T7500, 2 Gb memory (2 * 1GB SODIMM), 15.4 WSXGA+, 160 Gb 7200 HDD, DVD recordable, Intel 4965AGN, Bluetooth 2 + EDR, Intel Pro/1000 Gigabit Ethernet, 256 Mb NVidia Quadro FX 570 M (hmmm....) Fingerprint, 9 cell battery.
This is going to be my "production" machine and the Z61m is going to be my "development / test" machine. Has had a hard life, am on the second keyboard but it has worked flawlessy to-date bar for one little nagging problem - double clicking on the "safely remove hardware" icon in the system tray will give me an error where just highlighting the item I want to safely remove works fine.
I fully expect it to be the last Thinkpad I'll buy. I have been closely watching the resolution of the GPU / overheating problem on the T61 series and the length of time it took. It reminds me of the days I was stationed in Hong Kong and having a team of developers working for me. Enough said.
On top of this I looked at the new SL series and the overall direction where Lenovo is heading. It seems that these days it has become all "just in time" manufacturing (I think Dell started off with this). Drives the total cost of ownership up for me - now I need to "anticipate" when I will repalce the machine rather than just waiting until the present one stops and then rushing out, ordering a new one and having it arrive a day or two later.
Don't know what I'll eventually will switch too, used to have Toshiba Tecra's before switching to IBM Thinkpads over 10 years ago. Never looked back.
Although delighted on one hand to be getting a T-series laptop again I am sad at the same time. It's like saying goodbye to a dying friend.
7 August 2008
Spoke with post sales support and machine should be shipped on the 18th of August. Delay in getting some parts ( perhaps the Bluetooth? ) no information yet on serial number (need it to get the downgrade XP media).
11 August 2008
Got an email today dated 10th August 2008 telling me that the computer has been shipped via DHL. Did not say where it was shipped from, am expecting 5 - 7 business days until delivery.
Important part is that now I have the serial number so I will tomorrow morning order the XP downgrade (extra expense ,

) and then hopefully it will arrive not too much later.
Had a question out on the memory but no replies as yet. Have decided that I will swap the T61p's two 1 Gb memory modules with the single 2 Gb memory module that is sitting in the Z61m. Unlikely that I'll swap to Vista - perhaps I'll go to the successor of Vista but there may be just as big a likelyhood that I keep XP going as long as I can and just put a more intelligent firewall between the XP and the internet (may get a cheap Linux machine running for that)
12 August 2008 (just after midnight) Yippee! I just discovered in the parts lookup that the machine has the 44C3931 planar in it. No worries, this is the business. Lenovo you rock!
13 August 2008.
09:00 AM - TP61p arrived from Shenzen.
10:05 AM - XPP recovery media arrived from Australia, was ordered yesterday at 3:30 pm. Don't know how that was done, very impressive.
Machine is very impressive and I would order another T61p in heartbeat if I needed another machine. Now need to install XPP but am first cloning the HDD to an external HDD, will then make the Vista Ultimate media before wiping the disk and putting XPP on.
Marinus