Silver "Titanium" lid, is it really Titanium?

[whc]

I am a little confused, I am now thinking about getting a IBM laptop, I have decided between either Z61m or Z61p, but the new "Titanium" (silver) lid got me confused, is it really Titanium or is it just coloured like Titanium, and will it say the black lid is made of plastic?

The last ThinkPad I owned (when IBM was owned by IBM) was the X31, (the X24 before that, was even better made) the lid and the entire case was made of some kind of Titanium composite, and it was build like a tank, will the new series be like that, or have "IBM" gone to some cheaper plastic materials?

[dsalyers]

The last ThinkPad I owned (when IBM was owned by IBM) was the X31, (the X24 before that, was even better made) the lid and the entire case was made of some kind of Titanium composite, and it was build like a tank, will the new series be like that, or have "IBM" gone to some cheaper plastic materials?

for the z61t
The way I read the TABook is that the Titanium lid is a mixture of titanium, aluminum, and CFRP (Carbon Fiber reinforced plastic). If you don't get the titanium lid the case is all CFRP.

For the z61p
The case is made of ABS Plastic. CFRP is lighter and stronger then ABS. However, I own a z61p and I can say I think it is still a very sturdy laptop (although the ABS plastic is definitely thicker then my wifes T60p with CFRP). Both systems have the magnesium alloy roll cage.

Now, if you want CFRP with system specs similar to the z61p they do sell a T60p widescreeen which has a CFRP shell. The biggest differences between the T60p and z60p (what I can think of) is:

T60p
WSXGA+ instead of WUXGA
v5250 instead of v5200
No card reader

[zhaojk]

I am a little confused, I am now thinking about getting a IBM laptop, I have decided between either Z61m or Z61p, but the new "Titanium" (silver) lid got me confused, is it really Titanium or is it just coloured like Titanium, and will it say the black lid is made of plastic?

The last ThinkPad I owned (when IBM was owned by IBM) was the X31, (the X24 before that, was even better made) the lid and the entire case was made of some kind of Titanium composite, and it was build like a tank, will the new series be like that, or have "IBM" gone to some cheaper plastic materials?

Yes, it is only Titanium alloy with aluminium et al, pure titanium is
very expensive!

From the website we can see from normal lid case to titanium only need 20$

Another clue, it is said only 2% titanium was added.

[whc]

Thanks both, just ordered the Z61m with Titanium cover, anything but plastic, would I much more prefer the whole case being Titanium and pay extra for that. But one can’t get everything.

The T60p I think misses some important features, like firewire, card reader (like “dsalyers” wrote), and the price is about double than what I can get a Z61p for here in Denmark, with same spec, not worth that when I am primarily using it for a desktop replacement.

My current Toshibe M70 is also made of plastic, and I am not happy with the lid, it bends/flexes too much for my taste, and the middle of the lid is vary fragile.

I think it is sad the IBM (LENOVO) has gone away from the more quality based housing, if there was a all Titanium Z61p, I would be all over it …

[dsalyers]

I think it is sad the IBM (LENOVO) has gone away from the more quality based housing, if there was a all Titanium Z61p, I would be all over it …

Yeah, forgot about the firewire on the z-series. I do wish they had made the Z61p with CFRP. But, overall I really don't notice any difference between the CFRP and the ABS, other then the fact that the CFRP is lighter. They really do use a thick layer of ABS to protect the machine. Much more durable then Compaqs, Dells, or Gateways I have had experience with.

Now, I have heard that the titanium lid is very solid, so I am sure you'll be happy with it. Yes, an all titanium case would be cool, maybe someday....

[phoenix_one]

I have the Titanium lid. I LOVE IT!!!! Very, very solid and well built. Except for a toughbook, nothing else compares to a Titanium Z61.

[zhaojk]

Thanks both, just ordered the Z61m with Titanium cover, anything but plastic, would I much more prefer the whole case being Titanium and pay extra for that. But one can’t get everything.

The T60p I think misses some important features, like firewire, card reader (like “dsalyers” wrote), and the price is about double than what I can get a Z61p for here in Denmark, with same spec, not worth that when I am primarily using it for a desktop replacement.

My current Toshibe M70 is also made of plastic, and I am not happy with the lid, it bends/flexes too much for my taste, and the middle of the lid is vary fragile.

I think it is sad the IBM (LENOVO) has gone away from the more quality based housing, if there was a all Titanium Z61p, I would be all over it …

Yes, the same as you, I am also have the metal incline. I found the Titanium lid is much more sturdy and bottom of the case is somewhat less hard than the lid, especially the Optical Drives

[sapibobo]

When i bought Z61m with titanium lid, the sales person held a demo unit and scratch the surface with a dime. The lid is unscratchable at all.

I tried Z61 with regular lid, there is a bit flex in the middle of the lid if you press it. There is none with titanium lid.

[whc]

Just got my Z61m, I am glad that I did not go for the p series, the resolution on this m series is just on the edge of being to small, but just have to get used to it (came from 1280x800).

Damm I have missed the TracPoint mouse, installed the old style rubber cover, and it just is so much better to use than the TouchPad mouse.

The casing quality is better than expected, was expecting the worst, but it is build like a tank, much better than my Toshiba M70. And the nice dual core processor(s) is much welkomming, it really puts my Toshiba 2.0 GB Pentium M to shame.

Overall I am very happy with my new laptop, it is actually slimmer than my Toshiba M70 (just a small bit). Would though have bean nice with a UltraBay dummy, so one could save some weight removing the DVD-Drive, and replacing with a plastic dummy...

[rambot]

[quote="zhaojk"]
Yes, it is only Titanium alloy with aluminium et al, pure titanium is
very expensive!

From the website we can see from normal lid case to titanium only need 20$
[quote]

Titanium itself isn't *that* expensive. Wholesale prices for a lb of the stuff is less than a few dollars. It wouldn't at all surprise me if lenovo was using a really high grade of titanium in their laptops and still making a good profit on just that part.

Moreover commercially pure titanium is in fact significantly cheaper than alloyed titanium. The more expensive alloys of titanium are the 3 Al 2.5V and 6Al 4V (the numbers are percentages) which are used for high end bicycles and aircraft part manufacture.

That said, the z61m (which I own) is a really well made machine. The titanium lid stands out both in looks and in rigidity. The lid flex really is non existent and it is a pleasure each time to use a machine that is built so well.

[whc]

Now I have had my Z61m over a day, and must say the more I use it, the happier I am with my choice. Installed security software called SafeGuard Easy, which is a full hard drive encryption software, for maximum security, and it works perfect together with the build in fingerprint reader, much faster than before when I had to type in a long password in MBR.

It is nice and quite, not as quite as my ole Toshiba M70, you can hear the fan going very quite in the background, but for a 2.0 GHz T7200 Duel Core 2 CPU, I had expected to hear some more fan-noise, very pleased on this. And no intake on the bottom of the laptop, makes it good for well being a laptop (sitting with it in the lap).

The next thing I am going to get is either the Advanced Mini Dock, or just the Advanced Dock, though my concern is if that the Advanced Dock will make some noise with the build in PSU?, and not least use more electricity (I like to safe electricity as much as possible), it is more a step back to a desktop computer I think with the Advanced Dock, though it would be awesome with the room for media bay for extra hard drive or optical drive.