Z61p Review

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{ISV-K}SVX · #1 Post by **{ISV-K}SVX** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 4:12 pm

I had my first professional review published today on an IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad Z61p Laptop. Please hop on over and take a look:

Article: http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle. ... icleid=885

Help a friend in need and Digg:

Digg it: http://digg.com/hardware/Review_IBM_Len ... nkPad_Z61p

Please let me know if you have any recommendations or advice for this or future articles.

-SVX

Habskilla · #2 Post by **Habskilla** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:57 pm

Very nice review, except I did find an error. On the conclusions page, this paragraph contains an error.

The Z61p scored pretty much in the middle of the pack on many of our tests when compared to equivalent machines. In our business benchmarks, the Z61p took the crown in Nero and in Office XP application performance, albeit by only a small margin. Multimedia and Photoshop tests landed the Z61p in the middle of the pack. Battery life on the included 6-cell was not as good as it could have been placing it in the lower tier of tested systems. Fortunately, Lenovo provides a 9-cell battery as an option which should increased battery life substantially. System boot time tests once again placed the Z61p in the middle of the pack, but the system was very fast coming out of hibernation.

That should be from stand by.

pianowizard · #3 Post by **pianowizard** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:13 pm

Habskilla wrote:That should be from stand by.

I didn't read the review yet, but how did you know it refers to standby rather than hibernation?

{ISV-K}SVX · #4 Post by **{ISV-K}SVX** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:14 pm

Fixed...TY very much

{ISV-K}SVX · #5 Post by **{ISV-K}SVX** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:41 pm

pianowizard, habskilla was correct. The system performed at the bottom of the pack in coming out of hibernation. I tested it 3 times just to make sure my numbers were right b/c it surprised me. The system continuously came out of standby at 2-4 sec each time when I tested that portion. The only thing I could contribute to this delay in hibernatrion was possible "disk lag" when waking up, but I could not be sure without further testing. This could be contributed to the algoithms IBM uses when hibernating or even the Active Protection System. If anyone has some input here it would be appreciated. When the test was performed all settings on the load were default, so such services as Active Protection were running. I do know that during meda playback, the slightest jolt to the system with AP enabled will cause brief pauses. If anyone is interested I can retest with AP disabled just to rule that out. Just shout.

SuperNova+ · #6 Post by **SuperNova+** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 7:52 pm

Thanks for bringing the review up!!! I've been waiting this for a long time!!

I have a question though, I keep hearing on the forum that the Firegl v5200 is horrible for OPENGL games. The Q4 test in the review is also OPENGL games, so it's kinda expected that its performance is even lower than the Nvidia Go6600, which scores much less in 3dMark2005 than the Firegl V5200.

The question is what kind of games are OPENGL based? Does the Firelg card perform much better in the Non-opengl games? I am planning to buy a T60p very soon, but all the things I have been reading about the v5200 simply confuse me more and more. It seems each person has very distinctive opinion on this subject. And I don't think I am the only one that is totally confused.

christopher_wolf · #7 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 7:56 pm

Well, the BIOS should support resume times of 1-3 seconds from hibernation and, from that point on, Windows really takes it over.

There are no IBM algorithms, in the BIOS proper as that is ~90% firmware from Phoenix BIOS, that are directly involved in any rate dependant process during such a resume and HDAPS shouldn't cause a lag unless the system undergoes a sudden acceleration.

#8 Post by **K. Eng** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 8:59 pm

Nice review!

It's good to see a thorough examination of the Z61p.

pianowizard · #9 Post by **pianowizard** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 9:48 pm

I'm looking at the specs. Is anyone besides me surprised that with such a powerful graphics card, the Z61p can only drive up to 2048x1536 (QXGA) externally?

pianowizard · #10 Post by **pianowizard** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:03 pm

{ISV-K}SVX, do you find the text on the WUXGA display too small to see? I am using normal DPI and the small text on my Dell Inspiron 6000's 15.4" WUXGA display does strain my eyes a little bit. I guess WUXGA works much better on a 17" display.

{ISV-K}SVX · #11 Post by **{ISV-K}SVX** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:27 pm

Christopher_wolf...I was not sure what caused the delay. I was using the default load to do all testing so not to be biased. If what you say is true, then it had to be a service slowing it down. Again, due to time we were not able to go too in depth to the cause. I would be glad to investigate futher if you all want to know.

pianowizard - "visual" text/graphic size is relative to the viewer. I use default 1900x1220 resolution on the 15.4" WUXGA and I can see it fine. I also use the ClearType tuning utility by MS which also helps sharpen the fonts. I do not have any vision imparments (ie wear glasses, etc), so for me the text is fine. That may differ for others. Remember too, 1900x1220 on a 15.4 lcd going to be MUCH smaller than that on a 17" so you cannot compare the two especially if you factor in other variables such as mentioned.

pianowizard · #12 Post by **pianowizard** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:38 pm

{ISV-K}SVX wrote:I do not have any vision imparments (ie wear glasses, etc), so for me the text is fine.

I do wear glasses and even with glasses I don't see as well as a "normal" person can. So that explains it.

{ISV-K}SVX wrote:Remember too, 1900x1220 on a 15.4 lcd going to be MUCH smaller than that on a 17"

That's exactly what I was saying. Since a 17" display is bigger than a 15.4" display, 1920x1200 would give bigger text on the former, so it should be easier to read. Both the Z61p that you reviewed and the Dell Inspiron 6000 that I own are 15.4", for which the WSXGA+ resolution (1680×1050) might be ideal.

{ISV-K}SVX · #13 Post by **{ISV-K}SVX** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:58 pm

I do appologise if I was insulting. Was not meant to be. I only meant to imply that for me it is ok, whereas, others may have some difficulty. In your situation, I would stay away from the 1900x1220 WUXGA screen only if you plan on using native resolution on 15.4". Remember, just because the screen can do 1900x1220, it does not mean you need to use it. When plugged up to the Advanced Dock, I use 1680x1050 on my 20" widescreen Dell. IMO, buying the Z61p with the WUXGA should not be limited by the panel size only because you can always use a lower resolution at a whim. It should only be a reason it you are concerned about cost!

SuperNova+ · #14 Post by **SuperNova+** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 5:18 am

{ISV-K}SVX, please check your PM. Thank you!!!

hawkbox · #15 Post by **hawkbox** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 9:41 am

Is lowering the res on one of these asking for blocky screwed up looking letters like on my dell? If I run at lower res it makes everything look all weird, though the laptop is 2 years old so they might have fixed that.

pianowizard · #16 Post by **pianowizard** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 12:55 pm

{ISV-K}SVX wrote:In your situation, I would stay away from the 1900x1220 WUXGA screen only if you plan on using native resolution on 15.4". Remember, just because the screen can do 1900x1220, it does not mean you need to use it. When plugged up to the Advanced Dock, I use 1680x1050 on my 20" widescreen Dell.

I replaced my Thinkpad A31p (1600x1200) with the Dell Inspiron 6000 (1920x1200) because of its resolution. So, I am definitely going to stick to 1920x1200 on this machine. Like I said, it strains my eyes just a little bit, but not too much. Also, lowering the resolution makes the screen look unacceptably fuzzy.

seeplus · #17 Post by **seeplus** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 12:38 am

ISV- Thanks for the review! I've been waiting almost a month for delivery of my z61p; this was a nice hold-over :)

maximus_ · #18 Post by **maximus_** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 11:15 am

since the Z61P is not an IPS display how do you comapre the screen quailty to the other machines? How is the brightness, color, clearity of the screen compare. I'd really like to know how it compares to the IPS screens as well if you happen to have one to comapre it to.

thank you

BTW Great review I've been waiting for one on the Z61P

{ISV-K}SVX · #19 Post by **{ISV-K}SVX** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 8:50 pm

I for one have never seen the IPS screens that Lenovo uses so truth be told I cannot speak to that. When compared side by wide with a T42p I have it was noticably less bright. Clarity and color where on par with the other systems. In retrospect I should have dinged IBM/Lenovo on the brightness issue in comparison to other systems, but again it was a minute issue considering NONE of the other systems reviewed could handle 1900x1220 at 15.4". The added pixels IMO negated the brightness issue. It all really depends on what you want. If brightness is your concern, then you can opt for the lower resolution IPS panel based systems. However, if you want resolution with slightly lower brightness, then I would opt for the WUXGA. Remember, the WUXGA is only 180nit which is about 120-140 lower than the IPS.

maximus_ · #20 Post by **maximus_** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:00 pm

{ISV-K}SVX wrote:I for one have never seen the IPS screens that Lenovo uses so truth be told I cannot speak to that. When compared side by wide with a T42p I have it was noticably less bright. Clarity and color where on par with the other systems. In retrospect I should have dinged IBM/Lenovo on the brightness issue in comparison to other systems, but again it was a minute issue considering NONE of the other systems reviewed could handle 1900x1220 at 15.4". The added pixels IMO negated the brightness issue. It all really depends on what you want. If brightness is your concern, then you can opt for the lower resolution IPS panel based systems. However, if you want resolution with slightly lower brightness, then I would opt for the WUXGA. Remember, the WUXGA is only 180nit which is about 120-140 lower than the IPS.

Thanks alot for that information. I need a UXGA or a WUXGA screen and I currently have a A31P with UXGA and IPS. So both are a pretty important to me. This was my main concern but I'd still like to see one first hand. Is there anyway that you could take a side by side picture of the Z61p and the t42?

Thank you!

{ISV-K}SVX · #21 Post by **{ISV-K}SVX** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:12 pm

Supernova+, I appologise for the delay and apparently missed your first post. We tested in 3 catagories - 3D Mark '05, '06, and Quake 4. Before going further, understand two things, the Z61p is NOT a deticated gaming machine nor is the FireGL v5200 solution designed for gaming. That being said (as stated in the review) it CAN be optimized and the drivers can be modded to give you much better performance. The v5200 is nothing more than an underclocked Mobility X1600. As a result, when compared to X1600 based systems you see a slight drop in scores. In our testing we tried other driver sets by Omega, etc, but just left at default settings. Those did not produce noticable differences worth quoting. Quake 4 is an OpenGL game, but IMO OpenGL is a dying programming scheme for gaming. Most games today are Direct 3D based. I did test and tweak the default drivers some independent of the review to play games simply b/c I wanted to see for my own eyes whether or not the scores reflected what one would see in actual gameplay. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised at the results of both OpenGL and D3D games. Games such as FEAR, Battlefield 2, Half Life 2, Guild Wars, Call of Duty 2, played extremelly well at 1024x768 with medium to high graphic settings. Our Q4 test is brutal and was performed with max settings. Even the best cards stumble on it from time to time!

Now, if you are looking to buy a strictly gaming laptop, then stay away from this. However, if you want to buy a laptop that is just rock solid in everything, then this is what you want. It all boils down to what you will use it for. I for one am a die hard gamer, but at the same time require a system that can work well on the road and in the office. I split my time at home between work, gaming, and multimedia. The Z61p handles all three well and has now become my default system.

Just so you all know, I went from a small form factor dual AMD Opteron 248 based system with 2GB RAM, ATI All In Wonder x800 XT 256MB, twin SATA 160GB drives in RAID 1, media reader, 16X DVD burner, and Auzentech XPlosion based gaming machine to the Z61p. I lost some power in graphics and CPU performance, but the added convienence in mobility is worth it.

I hope this helps.

{ISV-K}SVX · #22 Post by **{ISV-K}SVX** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:22 pm

maximus_, I would be glad to post a pic or two. It will prob be later tonight or early tomorrow.

pianowizard · #23 Post by **pianowizard** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:29 pm

maximus_ wrote:Thanks alot for that information. I need a UXGA or a WUXGA screen and I currently have a A31P with UXGA and IPS. So both are a pretty important to me. This was my main concern but I'd still like to see one first hand. Is there anyway that you could take a side by side picture of the Z61p and the t42?

Bad timing, had you requested that just 4 days ago, I would have been able to do it for you because I still had both my UXGA-IPS A31p and WUXGA non-IPS Dell Inspiron 6000. I can tell you that the A31p's screen is significantly more comfortable to view. Part of that is certainly due to the simple fact that the text on the Dell's 15.4" WUXGA screen is smaller, but the A31p's IPS might add to the difference between the two. As I said earlier, 15.4" WUXGA is probably too dense for most people. If you want to get a WUXGA laptop, you'd be better off getting a 17" machine. Unfortunately, they are all very expensive!

maximus_ · #24 Post by **maximus_** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:29 pm

{ISV-K}SVX wrote:maximus_, I would be glad to post a pic or two. It will prob be later tonight or early tomorrow.

Thank you very much I appreciate your help..

{ISV-K}SVX · #25 Post by **{ISV-K}SVX** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:38 pm

pianowizard, remember too that 17" lappy's can be quite large. Most business users such as myself need smaller units that can be, well, used to could be, used on planes. A 17" is nice, but the desktop real estate can be costly. With the 15.4", editors and graphics professionals who need increased space onscreen, but have limited desktop space, will appreciate it. Again, it is a matter of personal preference and what you will be using it for. I travel a lot, so having the smaller system with higher resolution works well for me.

pianowizard · #26 Post by **pianowizard** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:48 pm

{ISV-K}SVX wrote:pianowizard, remember too that 17" lappy's can be quite large. Most business users such as myself need smaller units that can be, well, used to could be, used on planes. A 17" is nice, but the desktop real estate can be costly. With the 15.4", editors and graphics professionals who need increased space onscreen, but have limited desktop space, will appreciate it. Again, it is a matter of personal preference and what you will be using it for. I travel a lot, so having the smaller system with higher resolution works well for me.

What, you travel with 15.4" laptops????? To me, both 15.4" and 17" laptops should only serve as desktop replacements. So, whether it's 7 lbs or 9 lbs doesn't matter. I travel with my 2.38-lb Toshiba Portege R100, and I think anything above 4.2 lbs (the weight of the Dell Inspiron 700m that I used to have and travel with) should stay home. When I travel, my whole backpack (with the R100 and its AC adapter, clothes, umbrella, shaver, deodorant, cell phone, etc. in it) weighs less than 7 lbs. A frequent traveler who needs a high-resolution laptop should get the 3.4-lb Panasonic Y series with SXGA+ screen and internal optical drive. The 3.77-lb X60 tablet with SXGA+ would be another option.

EDIT: It looks like someone is interested in buying the R100 from me. If I sell it successfully, I will be forced to travel with the much heavier X40 (2.76 lbs). Looks like I need to start going to the gym!

{ISV-K}SVX · #27 Post by **{ISV-K}SVX** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:06 pm

To which his own. Yes I do, and it works well for me with my briefcase (APC 1900cu in roller). If I wanted a smaller lappy I would go with a T60 or an X series IBM. I have no desire to have multiple lappy's for different scenerios. I require the screen real estate and added multimedia capabilities the Z61p offers. The weight is not a concern as the Z61p is not much more than the T42p I have here. I am not sure where your are coming from here, but this is not a confrontation or comparison. As I have said many times, it is a matter of preference. If you think a 15.4" or 17" should only be reserverd for a DTR, then that is your opinion and I can respect that. Please keep this thread on topic about the review and the system, and not about your opinions of what is acceptable for "x" situations vs mine. I think I have been clear on that.

pianowizard · #28 Post by **pianowizard** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:28 pm

{ISV-K}SVX wrote:I am not sure where your are coming from here, but this is not a confrontation or comparison.

No, there was no confrontation at all. If I appeared to be confrontative, my apologies -- that was not my intent at all. I truly was shocked that a freqeunt traveler would choose such a heavy laptop. I can understand why someone who travels only once a year would do it, but not someone who travels a lot like you.

{ISV-K}SVX · #29 Post by **{ISV-K}SVX** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:44 pm

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Trust me. It was not an easy decision. When I did the review I fell in love with the Z61p and in all honesty it just kicked the T42p's butt. Yes, there was the disadvantage of added weight and size, but for what I do in both my day and night jobs the Z61p seemed to meet all those needs, thus I was willing to forego the latter issues. I agree an X series would be better for travelling, but it has much less power than what I need. I was fortunate enough to pick up a good roller brief which cradles the system and is easy to move with which makes travel easy.

maximus_ · #30 Post by **maximus_** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 11:46 pm

I travel to client sites via plane every Monday and return home every Friday.. I take my laptop 2-5 blocks everyday from the hotel to the office. I believe that is a lot of travel

I'd love a lighter laptop but I need the screen size, RAM and processing power. I guess its a trade off but I can't skimp on performance... I'm an Infrastruture Architect and deal with lots of documents, large Visio diagrams, Enterprise scanning tools, design tools, and VMWare So nothing less then UXGA and 15" and 1GB of RAM will do. At this point 1GB on my machine is a total dog, and 2GB would be staidfactory once I go to Vista. I really want to go to 64bit Vista and 4GB of RAM to be happy.

I've done this for 4 years with a A31P UXGA and am about to go to the wide screen T60P or the Z61P... I'm sure I'm toting around 20lbs with all my acccessories and that does not bother me one bit.

I think the Z61P is a great machine for this and hope that the T60P if released in a WUXGA wide screen will be as well.

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