Notebook review with new article on Santa Rosa for T60

[stylinexpat]

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3657

[gt5l]

I think they are talking about the T61 and it is an interesting article and a good find. Thank you, I feel better now that I did not wait for the T61 as I believe my current T60p is a better fit for me after reading the article you pointed out.

[perry_78]

So aside from the platform change, the biggest difference is the shift from ATI to nvidia. This really isn't helping AMD with their current cash flow


1280*800 on a 14.1" is not much

*edit* found the 1440*900

[pianowizard]

I am disappointed by the weight, which is about the same as the current 14.1" T60. Even though I still believe that the WSXGA+ models will appear later, the weight factor alone has discouraged me from getting a T61. So, I am now praying for an X61s with SXGA+ resolution.

[Troels]

Thanks for the heads-up.

Well, i appreciate the shift to nVidia, but fear this will mean absurdly higher idle temperatures like always.
I also like the other smaller improvements made like the LCD roll-cage.

What i'm really disgusted about is what looks to be a webcam, and card readers featuring a plethora of different interfaces few people ever use.
This is a business laptop for god's sake.
Also, they have ditched the IBM logo. Not that I hate Lenovo and just digs IBM, but the the logo is very boring compared to the colorful old logo.

Also, what kind of engineering suggest you have a mic and headphone ports and inputs right under your right palm.
A larger keyboard would also be nice - the space is there.

Sorry, too much multimedia notebook there for me, and like gt5l i'm glad the T60 existed, and it fits me better - even with IPS.
This is a point where i think the transformation of the Z and T series is done, but the outcome does not fit the old target group at all.

[andyP]

There are 2 things that disturb me;
1. in the example model links, there is no mention of EMEA or the USA

Country/Region Announced

ASEAN* Yes
India/South Asia** Yes
Australia Yes
People's Republic of China Yes
Taiwan Yes
Korea Yes
Japan Yes
New Zealand Yes

2. Where are the examples of the 4:3 "normal" format machines? Am I going to have to wait even longer?

[lophiomys]

Not one word on improved battery live time/energy efficiency
No 4:3 Flexview
Barely a word on LINUX
No LINUX keyboard without the Winodws keys (SCNR )


I'm curious about the ergonomics of the new T61,
i.e. case temperatures, hot spots and noise emissions.

[lophiomys]

no SSD ?

[grimmster]

Is the nvidia chips going to be the NVS versions only? I certainly hope the have the geforce go versions also, otherwise I think it's a step backwords.

[darrenf]

Well, i appreciate the shift to nVidia, but fear this will mean absurdly higher idle temperatures like always.

In the past this would be my reaction as well but the latest ATI chips (v52x0) are real hogs. I used to think that ATI really had a good laptop video chip, but I no longer give them the benefit of the doubt. I would like to see what numbers (performance and heat) that the new nVidia chips put up.

-darren

[Troels]

That is true Darren.
Lenovo/IBM has done the right time everytime of avoiding the heat beasts from ATi - i.e. Radeon 9800 mobility, X700, X1700/X1800. From the threads i've here the 5200 doesn't seem bad considering the relatively low fan noise and the small heatsink. Relatively comparing it to the form factor it comes in.

I'd like to give nVidia the benefit of the doubt too since the G86 is hardly out yet. But generally you'd never see anything above 7600GS in sub 15.4" notebooks. Or it might be just over here. I'm suspecting this might be due to a larger fan/dual fans and a larger heatsink.

[Oaklodge]

What about the external display resolution it seems to say that it is limited to 1600 x 1200 ????

I hope I have got this wrong....

[Daniel]

Did you guys catch the part where the NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M had 128MB memory?

[stylinexpat]

128mb of memory is a bit on the weak side these days especially since they say that Vista requires 256mb of memory..

[Temetka]

Excuse me, but nowhere does Microsoft state that Vista requires 256MB of VRAM.

[pianowizard]

Excuse me, but nowhere does Microsoft state that Vista requires 256MB of VRAM.

Lenovo's site does, for "resolutions higher than 2,304,000 pixels", i.e. WUXGA; see this page.

[NovaxX]

I think it is safe to use this new specifications as an insight for things to come.

The things that I think are good improvements are the use of Hybrid drives (flash and disk combination, with full disk encryption) and the Intel Robson technology.

The Nvidia Quadro NV 140M seems to be well suited for business applications based on the tech specifications listed for the 120M and the 300M (assuming the 140M falls between the two models in specifications and performance). http://www.nvidia.com/page/pg_20060203980805.html

These changes are definitely a push in the right direction for the move to Windows Vista as they are bound to fit what Vista needs. It does also seem to be a move towards a 64-bit platform with Windows Vista Business 64-bit being offered. I believe this is due to the use of the UEFI standard in Santa Rosa (the 32-bit version of Windows Vista does not support UEFI and relies on the age old BIOS instead).

I do feel that they should have included the standard 4:3 monitors and shift the headphone jacks to the sides rather than to the front (it will be a pain if you connect your laptop to speakers).

But looking at the list of products as their initial release, I am sure they will reveal more interesting configurations as time passes. The standard 4:3 LCDs for example (as hinted in the Lenovo Blogs). http://www.lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=77

Do not worry about the Europe and USA models, I am sure they will be better. You just need patience for such release information.

Another thing to note is that the better spec'ed products will only arrive after July. By the coompany's norm, it will take them around another 6 months before the ThinkPads with decent specifications come out, that will be just in time for the holiday shopping season.

[Temetka]

Excuse me, but nowhere does Microsoft state that Vista requires 256MB of VRAM.

Lenovo's site does, for "resolutions higher than 2,304,000 pixels", i.e. WUXGA; see this page.

Color me corrected. However according to the side panel of my Vista Ultimate retail box:

Support for DirectX 9:
WDDM Driver
128MB of graphics memory (minimum)
Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
32-bits per pixel

So I was basing what I said off that. To support Aero, you need 128MB of Memory. I thought resolution was mainly dependent on the RAMDAC and frame buffer size. I could have sworn that 128MB of VRAM was plenty to support almost any LCD at native resolution upto around 20 inches or so at 1900x1200 or something like that. Display tech terms such as WUXGA+ and various resolutions of different types (XGA, SXGA+, etc.) were never my strong point.

[Dead1nside]

Now I see why the placing of the mic/headphone jacks is bad.

I too hope that they have some mid-range Go 8600 or something similar.

It is a business notebook, but I think integrated webcams are becoming ubiquitous, they need one to compete.

Edit: Is the card reader available on T models or just the R models, same for the webcam.

[dsalyers]

128MB it self is plenty for just the frame buffer of a WUXGA as a single frame buffer only consumes 6.6MB (assuming 24bit color). However, you will likely have double or triple buffering. Plus, significant memory is needed by the graphics card to perform different rotations and other matrix opertaions to get all of those neat eye-candy effects. So, really it isn't the size of one frame buffer, but the size of the memory it takes to generate the frame being displayed.