What should I know about Z61m

[ajkula66]

OK, here's the deal: I've made a "blind" swap, giving some of my stuff for a Z61m...at this point, all I know that it's supposed to be in excellent shape and that it has 1.66 Core Duo inside....running Vista Ultimate or whatever...I should get it sometime next week.

Apart from the obvious, anything in particular I should be looking for as a sign of trouble? I have absolutely Zero experience with Z series.

Any input will be highly appreciated.

[ryengineer]

Well maintained and healthy machine gives no trouble.

Being a former owner of Z series machine all I can complain is that the sound output could've been better. Also, if it has Intel's wireless card, immediately swap it with Atheros.

P.S. Titanium lid for a thinkpad is a rare offering too.

[ZaZ]

The thing is built like a tank, but is a bit heavy in my opinion if you need mobility. I really liked the one I had last summer.

I've had Vista on my R60 which has the Core Duo 1.66Ghz. It ran decently though not as fast as XP.

[barrywohl]

Some of the Z61 machines had a design flaw, I think. I had a Z61p that would freeze up when I plugged in the ac adapter. It never happened WHILE the ac adapter was plugged in or while running on battery, but just at the instant when plugging in the adapter to a machine running on battery power. Lenovo engineering was great to work with. They were able to improve the situation by swapping the ac port on my machine for a port designed for the T60 but they never got it back to where it should be. After four months, they gave me a full refund. I bought a T61p and I'm happy as a clam.

Most Z61p and Z61m machines DO NOT have this problem. Many users don't get in trouble because their pattern of use doesn't require plugging in while running on battery power. However, if you do stumble across this situation, contact someone here familiar with the situation. EasyServ usually tries to fix it by swapping planar boards but that doesn't work, or at least it didn't in May.

Since it's been six months since I returned my Z61p, I haven't been following the situation. Lenovo might have found a fix for this problem and sent the details down the line to manufacturing and to EasyServ.