T60p review and questions

[A2 Thinkpad]

This forum has been a great resource for me, so now that I've had my T60p for about a week - after a 6 week wait - and figured I would give back.

Specs:
2613 CTO T60p
14.1" SXGA+
2.16 Ghz processor
2MB Ram
DVD writer
ATI FireGL 256mb video card
100GB 7200rpm HD
Intel Pro Wireless card
Windows XP Pro
Advanced Mini Dock
Monitor stand

1. Build quality - seems very strong. A little heavier than I expected, but great form factor. Since I bring my laptop home every night I am very happy I went with the 14.1" form factor. Don't notice any flex, except right above the keyboard and right below it and to the left (above the Secure Card slot). No big deal.

2. Screen - at first a bit of a disappointment. There is a fair amount of light leak at the bottom edge and the viewing angle is pretty unforgiving. Definitely too blue, but I will work on that with a calibration device. The resolution is very crisp, text is a little small at this high resolution, but not a problem for me at this point. The screen is growing on me.

3. Keyboard - very nice, though a little nosier than I expected. Good feel. Though I am trying out the pointing stick I am a touchpad user and this one is great. Though small, it is very responsive. The mouse buttons are also a little on the small side, and the left one has a bit of a squeak. Not sure what I can do about that. Any suggestions?

4. Temp/fan noise - This thing is extremely quiet and runs much cooler than my old Dell C400. No complaints at all.

5. Installed software - I know lots of people clean out their system when they first get it, but I'm not one of them. I learned long ago to leave well enough alone so long as it works. Not too much junk installed here, but I could do without Google all over the place. NAV looked to be the corporate version when it started up, but I can't tell. I got MS Office pre-installed.

6. Fingerprint reader - I'm torn on this one. I really like the idea, but the execution leaves a bit to be desired, particularly if you use your TP docked. What I would like the security system to do is let me use the password when docked and the finger print reader when not - but I can't figure out how to do this. Anyone have any recommended settings for this. Am I correct that no matter what happens I can Ctl. Alt. Del. my way to a password screen?

7. Advanced Mini Dock - Seems to work great. I had no trouble docking as described by some. My only problem is that when using the mini doc with the monitor stand the mini doc does not sit very securely onto th monitor stand base. Could have been better designed.

Additional Questions:

1. Stupid question but for some reason no matter what I do my Homepage on both IE and Firefox resets to Lenovo every time. Any ideas on how to prevent this?

2. I have only undocked one time with the computer on. When I did, my screen resolution stayed at the external monitor setting. Shouldn't it automatically change to the TP's resolution?

3. Backups - for the first time today I got a message that my T60 wanted to do a scheduled backup. I recall reading somewhere that there was a problem with these backups taking a lot of space. There does not seem to be any ability to specify what is backed up. Does anyone know how much space an initial backup takes and/or the subsequent incremental ones? Do new incremental backups overwrite old ones?

Thanks.

[heyzeus123]

Additional Questions:

1. Stupid question but for some reason no matter what I do my Homepage on both IE and Firefox resets to Lenovo every time. Any ideas on how to prevent this?
....

In regards to your homepage being reset, I think that the ThinkVantage Connection Manager is resetting your homepage. If I remember correctly (I don't use the Connection Manager that much), there are settings for the following on a per-connection-bases (this is from my memory):

1. Homepage
2. Printer
3. other stuff that changes depend on which network connection you selected.

So, I recommend you go to the Connection Manager (the icon in the systray in the lower right of the taskbar), and set the preference for your connection to "NOT save your homepage with the Connection".

Good Luck,
Michael

[z_24]

What did you use to calibrate your screen?

[A2 Thinkpad]

What did you use to calibrate your screen?

I haven't done it yet, but I have a Colorvision Spyder that I use on my Dell 24". Works really well.