Regretting T61 Impulse Buy? (Review)

[revolutionary_one]

So I needed something to replace my beloved T42.
So here's what I ended up buying on impulse....

C2D T7500 @ 2.2Ghz
14.1 Wide Screen @ 1400x900
2GB DDR2-667 PC 5300
Intel GM965 X3100 (uncharacteristic decision there)
120GB 5400RPM
6-cell battery (very bootylicious)
3 Year Thinkpad Protection with Depot

Grand Total: 1080 Dollars. (700 dollars cheaper than my previous T42!)
Did I overpay?? Maybe...

Overall Performance. Fast (enough). Coming from the T42 in the sig this is definitely a step up. And adequate for development, photoshop, reading, etc. The Integrated Graphics is pretty snappy. I paid a dear premium ($$) for the ATi Dedicated Graphics in my T42 and I've had to deal with higher temperatures and considerably less battery life. I'm not so sure this downgrade was necessary. But I enjoy up to an hour more battery and my lap is 10C happier.

The Screen. Disappointing but not unexpected. Thinkpads have always had TERRIBLE screens. Unless you were willing to pay an outrageous premium for Flexview (no thanks). The horizontal lines will take some getting used to though

Build and weight. OK, so we sacrificed .1 inches and a couple of ounces for a sturdier Thinkpad.
We all might all look back 2 years from now and realize that despite buzz words like: rollcage, airbag, magnesium, etc that we sacrificed for Lenovo sub par engineering. Maybe. We'll see how our own torture tests play out.

I definitely could've done WITHOUT the bootylicious 6-cell!

Inputs. Fine. Can't live without my nipple...erm UltraNav. Keyboard is on par though.

So basically. I bought a Thinkpad, ON SALE for 1100.
Where as I could've purchased a similar Dell Latitude D630 For about 100 dollars more. With better screen, dedicated GPU, lesser build quality, same 6-cell flaw BUT with a 9-cell, lesser inputs, but with a nipple! (and ceteris paribus: all else equal, INCLUDING Lenovo / Solectron service....eww).

So. Let me know. Did I overpay? Are you happy with your similar config?
Should I have gone with the D630.

Should I have splurged on a Dell Latitude XT Tablet or a Mac Book Pro?



*broke nerd salivating*

Note from Admin: I'm not in a very good mood about vulgarity in the forum these days. Watch it.

[Estrogen Kid]

who buys a new laptop "on impulse"? are you that rich?

anyways spec-wise your laptop looks okay. what you lose in graphics performance you make up for in battery life (nvidia quadros really suck power). 5400 rpm may make your laptop "feel" slower because the disk I/O is a bit limited, but again you make up for it in battery life since the platter spins slower. 6-cell sticks out, if you didn't want that you should have bought it with a 4-cell.

i believe lenovo sells similarly configured T61s at significantly lower prices if you don't buy a windows license with it.

[gator]

I think you made the right choice going with the T61. I hate widescreens and personally think that widescreens are ugly, but hey, reliatibility and performance come before looks. 4 years from now you'll still be on the T61 looking at the next model then and making *another* impluse purchase

Maybe you overpaid a little, Lenovo has these deals and coupons going around , and at the right time you might have had a T61 for less. But then, if you need a machine now, you pay whatever you can afford and just get over it. Electronic items start depreciating the moment you buy them, and laptops (even thinkpads) are no exclusion. However, rest assured that your thinkpad will retain much better value over the years than a dell (even latitude models).

I fairly agree with you on all points except the one below:

Build and weight. OK, so we sacrificed .1 inches and a couple of ounces for a sturdier Thinkpad.
We all might all look back 2 years from now and realize that despite buzz words like: rollcage, airbag, magnesium, etc that we sacrificed for Lenovo sub par engineering. Maybe. We'll see how our own torture tests play out.

In my opinion, Lenovo has done a great job with the T6x series. They have made thinkpads better (which you don't seem to agree with) - there were so many issues with the T4x that the T6x does not have. Just look over at the T4x forum, so many people have had the loose GPU problem that plagued T40-T42. Agreed that there have been some minot QA issues with T61/61 (lid not closing properly/screen sparkle on flexviews/poor TN panels on XGA/SXGA+/WXGA models) but none of them are deal breakers for most people. I am yet to see any report of drastic and consistent cases of motherboard failure - not a single one.

Looks are very subjective, and I do think that older thinkpads looked classier, but again, the most important thing to me is a solid, reliable and working computer. Thinkpads still are the best (now pricewise too) but I will agree that other manufacturers have caught up in build quality, esp. Dell with thier latitude series. Most issues with thinkpads have been due to vista/drivers and not cheap build quality by any means.

I have personally used a D630 and a D830 and trust me, they still don't equal the thinkpads. You made the right choice.

Reg. Macbook/pro, it is a whole different ballagame. OSX seems superior in some ways, but for getting my job done, windows is adequate. Atleast pricewise, thinkpads win here ... I will refrain comparing Vista to OSX or a thinkpad to a macbook, it is like comparing oranges to apples (pun intended!).

Enjoy your T61.

[LIVE4SPD]

I have a T61 myself and I supply our worker's with T61's or D630s.

I don't think there's much of a difference between the 2. I do like the T61 better, but they are both fine. I think the T61 is slightly faster, and definately lighter.

the dell has a serial port which is nice, but their batteries suck. They all are dead after a year. That's irritating since they charge so much.

anyway nothing wrong with what you got, enjoy it!

[SHoTTa35]

that system is basically exactly what i'm looking for. I'm not allowed to yet (girlfriend says so... LOL ) but when i was pricing one out i was looking at those specs too. Granted i'm not crazy about widescreens but i checked a X300 at MicroCenter and the resolution wasn't as bad (low) as i thought it would be. There was still amount of usable space.

I think it's a sweet price for systems like that. Compared to the other junk out there that costs lots more you got a good deal.

If you don't mind though, you have any pictures you could email me? I want to compare the T42 14" in size. That plus what battery life do you get with your setup using the 6 cell. I have a T60 non-wide and a 6 cell and i used to get 3hrs 30mins maxa battery. With the T61 being newer and all that plus the Intel chip instead of ATI. I'd love ot see what's possible with that configuration. I'll probably get that same setup (maybe a 160GB HDD instead) in a while from now.

[Pascal_TTH]

Where as I could've purchased a similar Dell Latitude D630 For about 100 dollars more. With better screen, dedicated GPU, lesser build quality, same 6-cell flaw BUT with a 9-cell, lesser inputs, but with a nipple! (and ceteris paribus: all else equal, INCLUDING Lenovo / Solectron service....eww).

Really NOT sure Dell have better panels than other manufacturer. You can read any laptop forum, according to the panel supplier, quality change a lot.

T61 14.1" WXGA+ is a nice working laptop.

[revolutionary_one]

Regarding price...
I did pay a premium of 250 bucks for a 3 Year Warranty and Thinkpad Protection...Heck, the warranty cost nearly 1/3 of the actual laptop itself.

Without the warranty it would've ended up being about 800 bucks.
That being said. I don't recommend anyone skimp on the warranty. My 3 year warranty with the T42 more than paid for itself, and then some.

Also, does Lenovo price match the difference if they have a sale up to a certain amount of days after purchase like IBM did when I bought my T42?

Regarding Impluse....
I'd be surprised if many people here weren't intimately aware of what laptops were out on the market and their respective price points. Impluse just meant I bought it without drawing out the process and letting a sale or two go by.

[wswartzendruber]

We had a bunch of T4x's out in Iraq and those things SUCK compared to the T60. Granted, I've only gotten five minutes on a T61 (had a BRIGHT display), but the T61 I used had the same durable feel to it that my T60 has.

[Oraklini]

Just waiting for the delivery of a T61 (765912G) to eventually
replace the T42.

Thing is, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the T42, it is mint,
2Ghz, 2Gb, 72K ... I just feel the time is right to move on, I can afford it, otherwise I wouldn't bother.

Ok, I paid £365 for the T61, I wonder what I should realistically
expect to get for the T42?

I could always add it to the collection though

[mtbiac]

so is the current 25% off deal the best that Lenovo will have to offer for the summer? I also saw a 10% off coupon floating around (exp 6/9 though). I'm looking to upgrade my 2ghz T61 to the 2.5ghz model and I configured a nice machine for around 1100 (2.5ghz, 160 7200rpm, 2gb, 4695agn, integrated graphics, 14.1 wxga+, bluetooth, 6 cell, fingerprint, 2yr warranty). what do you all think? should I hold off till end of summer?

thanks

[revolutionary_one]

Well it looks like I didnt really overpay...
The warranty is what ended up killing me...but well worth it imho.

The config above ended up being 775 Dollars with the standard.

About par for retail.
I guess I should be happy with it.

[awolfe63]

Dell nipples (I mean control sticks) just don't feel right to me. No matter how good the rest of the machine is - it ruins the experience.

Note from Admin: I'm not in a very good mood about vulgarity in the forum these days. Watch it.

[awolfe63]

so is the current 25% off deal the best that Lenovo will have to offer for the summer? I also saw a 10% off coupon floating around (exp 6/9 though). I'm looking to upgrade my 2ghz T61 to the 2.5ghz model and I configured a nice machine for around 1100 (2.5ghz, 160 7200rpm, 2gb, 4695agn, integrated graphics, 14.1 wxga+, bluetooth, 6 cell, fingerprint, 2yr warranty). what do you all think? should I hold off till end of summer?

thanks

In my mind - the big advantages of the new machines will be:

Digital video output without a dock (panellink)
Switchable graphics
Wi-Max option
GPS

If none of those are important to you - buy now. The new machines won't be noticeably faster at launch.

BTW - if you just want a faster CPU - why not just upgrade the CPU? I've done it at least 3-4 times on my Thinkpads.

[awolfe63]

Dell nipples (I mean control sticks) just don't feel right to me. No matter how good the rest of the machine is - it ruins the experience.

Note from Admin: I'm not in a very good mood about vulgarity in the forum these days. Watch it.

Sorry - not trying to be offensive. I worked in the laptop industry for several years and this is what everybody (including most of the IBM engineers I worked with) called them. I think it's just standard industry jargon.

[mtbiac]

so is the current 25% off deal the best that Lenovo will have to offer for the summer? I also saw a 10% off coupon floating around (exp 6/9 though). I'm looking to upgrade my 2ghz T61 to the 2.5ghz model and I configured a nice machine for around 1100 (2.5ghz, 160 7200rpm, 2gb, 4695agn, integrated graphics, 14.1 wxga+, bluetooth, 6 cell, fingerprint, 2yr warranty). what do you all think? should I hold off till end of summer?

thanks

In my mind - the big advantages of the new machines will be:

Digital video output without a dock (panellink)
Switchable graphics
Wi-Max option
GPS

If none of those are important to you - buy now. The new machines won't be noticeably faster at launch.

BTW - if you just want a faster CPU - why not just upgrade the CPU? I've done it at least 3-4 times on my Thinkpads.

thanks for the heads up. I'm also looking for a graphics downgrade to integrated since I never take advantage of the discrete, and I'd rather have an xtra hour+ on battery life.

[awolfe63]

I tend to agree. I've been using an X61s for travel and the integrated graphics is fine and the battery life is great. I use a T-series in the office because I need DVI on a big monitor to be at my most efficient.

I do like the faster 3D graphics once in a while for goofing off with some mid-range games and I'm not on a tight budget for computing equipment - so I decided to wait for my next T-series. I've been agonizing over the graphics choice and the ability to have discrete when plugged in and integrated on the road is ideal for me. If I wanted integrated graphics I would buy now at a good price or wait for the next X400 (expensive but cool).