My new R61: Experience and Questions

[MikesR61]

A couple weeks ago I finally bit the bullet. My Acer was a POS, and was giving me enough trouble that I decided to get a Thinkpad. This is not my first Thinkpad, as I had one before the Acer (and regret selling it to this day).

Anyways, I am so far pretty happy with my R61. I think I got a good deal on it, and besides needing more ram, it is running fine. I love having a good keyboard again, as opposed to the mushy keyboard on the acer, and I do not know how I lived without the trackpoint all of this time.

Specs:
Lenovo Thinkpad R61 (7732CTO)
14 inch widescreen display
Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 (1.8ghz)
1gb RAM
80gb 5400rpm HD
Intel Graphics
4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

I do have a couple of questions/concerns, though.

First, how much longer battery life should I expect from the add-in 3 cell battery for the cdrom bay?

Secondly, my laptop makes a buzzing noise. It is hard to describe, I know it is not the fan or the hard drive. It is sort of a high pitched electrical whine or buzz. It seems to be coming from the left side of the computer, and is not always on. It does it when I am running on battery and when I am plugged in. It also seems to change in pitch when I move the mouse. Is this normal, or is something wrong with my laptop?

Oh, and this is my first post, thanks for the great forum!

[MikesR61]

Just a quick update:

The noise seems to have gone away. I have not changed anything that I know of, but it is gone. I am a happy camper.

I did go ahead and upgrade my memory to 2gb and got the extra 3 cell ultrabay battery. The difference is night and day. The computer is alot faster, and I can get ~5 hours of battery life if I use a low power profile. The R61 is now one of the best purchases I have made. I am still configuring Vista to how I like it, but I am getting used to it slowly.

[ymemuser]

Just a quick update:

The noise seems to have gone away. I have not changed anything that I know of, but it is gone. I am a happy camper.

I did go ahead and upgrade my memory to 2gb and got the extra 3 cell ultrabay battery. The difference is night and day. The computer is alot faster, and I can get ~5 hours of battery life if I use a low power profile. The R61 is now one of the best purchases I have made. I am still configuring Vista to how I like it, but I am getting used to it slowly.

Thank you for update.
I also got R61 recently but even haven't had open box yet. What can you say about screen quality or maybe you can name who made it? Thanks

[Ychocky]

My R61 just shipped.

What type and brand of Ram did you purchase?

I may very well perform the Battery upgrade, seems logical to do so...

[ymemuser]

Just a quick update:

The noise seems to have gone away. I have not changed anything that I know of, but it is gone. I am a happy camper.

I did go ahead and upgrade my memory to 2gb and got the extra 3 cell ultrabay battery. The difference is night and day. The computer is alot faster, and I can get ~5 hours of battery life if I use a low power profile. The R61 is now one of the best purchases I have made. I am still configuring Vista to how I like it, but I am getting used to it slowly.

Where you got your 3 cell battery and for how much? Is it genuine or not? thanks

[ymemuser]

Just a quick update:

The noise seems to have gone away. I have not changed anything that I know of, but it is gone. I am a happy camper.

I did go ahead and upgrade my memory to 2gb and got the extra 3 cell ultrabay battery. The difference is night and day. The computer is alot faster, and I can get ~5 hours of battery life if I use a low power profile. The R61 is now one of the best purchases I have made. I am still configuring Vista to how I like it, but I am getting used to it slowly.

Can you say couple of words about the memory upgrade. Did you fill out 1 or 2 slots? Thanks

[ymemuser]

My R61 just shipped.

What type and brand of Ram did you purchase?

I may very well perform the Battery upgrade, seems logical to do so...

What is the configuration and how much for that? Thanks

[MikesR61]

I upgraded the memory with a stick of Kingston 200 pin DDR2 667 I bought from newegg. Seems to be working just fine, and I have always had good luck with Kingston memory. I configured the system so that it only had a 1gb stick of memory when I ordered it, so I had an open slot to add the additional stick in, so I am now running 2 x 1gb sticks. It was about $50 shipped.

I bought the battery from newegg also, it is a genuine Lenovo/IBM product. The battery is part number 40Y6789, and as far as I can tell is the same thing that Lenovo sells on there website, just cheaper. The additional battery ran me about $100.

As far as the screen quality, it looks good to me. It is only the 1280x800 but it is fine for what I use the laptop for. I have no idea who made it, is there a way to check?

[ymemuser]

I upgraded the memory with a stick of Kingston 200 pin DDR2 667 I bought from newegg. Seems to be working just fine, and I have always had good luck with Kingston memory. I configured the system so that it only had a 1gb stick of memory when I ordered it, so I had an open slot to add the additional stick in, so I am now running 2 x 1gb sticks. It was about $50 shipped.

I bought the battery from newegg also, it is a genuine Lenovo/IBM product. The battery is part number 40Y6789, and as far as I can tell is the same thing that Lenovo sells on there website, just cheaper. The additional battery ran me about $100.

As far as the screen quality, it looks good to me. It is only the 1280x800 but it is fine for what I use the laptop for. I have no idea who made it, is there a way to check?

Thanks for answering all my questions. I think you can find the brand of your screen by FRU # in Lenovo web-site. I think it is some diagnostic soft for that too.

[csloth]

In case the buzzing noise comes back, check out the ac adapter. My AC makes a strange high pitch buzzing noise from time to time. At first I thought it was the lap.

Except for one stuck/dead pixel, I'm very satisfied with my r61. Definately a step forward from the noisy and heavy Medion I used to bring along.

[Ychocky]

My R61 just shipped.

What type and brand of Ram did you purchase?

I may very well perform the Battery upgrade, seems logical to do so...

What is the configuration and how much for that? Thanks

773811U

"TP R61 2GHZ 1GB 120GB VBE"

http://caipsgws001.can.ibm.com/store/de ... ku=773811U

$1480.86 CAD shipped, used visaperks.ca to save $500, lovely.

[puget93]

Just a quick update:

The noise seems to have gone away. I have not changed anything that I know of, but it is gone. I am a happy camper.

I did go ahead and upgrade my memory to 2gb and got the extra 3 cell ultrabay battery. The difference is night and day. The computer is alot faster, and I can get ~5 hours of battery life if I use a low power profile. The R61 is now one of the best purchases I have made. I am still configuring Vista to how I like it, but I am getting used to it slowly.

I bought an R-60 preconfigured with 512MB RAM knowing I would need to upgrade and have purchased a new 1GB SODIMM. I previously have added RAM to a desktop but never a laptop. The diagrams and instructions in my Service and Troubleshooting Guide indicate I'll need to remove 4 screws from the bottom side of the TP, pry the palm rest up and detach the touch pad cable to get to the slots. If this was the same basic procedure you used, how "challenging" a job was it to add the RAM yourself? I'm wondering if I should have the installation done by a service pro? Thanks for you insights!

[BeeJayEmm]

This page has links to movies of R60 hardware removal and installation, as well as instructions.