Tech Review

T61 T7300 160GB

You guys are a disgrace, with your shiny laptops emanating blue mood lighting and sporting Tinkerbell etchings. I bet you have an Anne Geddes mousepad. Or, maybe one of those furry mouse protectors.

Jane Goodall may have used a Mac, but John Wayne's only use for its high-gloss screen would have been to blind Imperial Japanese infantry right before stabbing them in the gut. Chuck Norris with a "seashell white" Sony? It would blue screen at the sight of him. Throw that junk away! You need a man's laptop. Yes, your inner cave-power user need not hide anymore for we have the ThinkPad, the dangerous notebook for men- so macho it has two capital letters in its own name!

What do we have here? You want to "think different," do you? Let's see how different you can think with my boot between your ears!

OK, seriously, the IBM ThinkPad is one sweet machine that's transformed itself into my favorite possession, a post occupied in the past by my Omega watch, Cooper fighter jacket, and a 67 Overhead-cam Firebird (OK, it was my brothers. But, I drove it).

The main attraction of the ThinkPad is its feel. The plastic is a substantial, rough black, much better than the Barbie-quality cover on the Dell consumer machines. Performing their duties near-silently and with confidence, the buttons are neither mushy nor clackety, The green lighting reminds me of Army hardware.

The T61 keyboard with ThinkVantage button

The strong metal hinges alone place the ThinkPad above the noobie bait at Best Buy. The fingerprint reader is as close to an erotic experience I've ever had with electronics and the keyboard...Oh! The keyboard! Zeus himself must type on a ThinkPad. It's so pleasurable to type on a ThinkPad that after a couple of paragraphs, I feel obligated to buy my wife flowers.

The Lenovo T61

Let's get into the innards. The T61 is based off of the new Santa Rosa which is supposed to have better power management, longer WiFi range with N networking, and a host of other stuff 90% of you don't even know exists but you'll want once you read this.

The graphics are discreet which means that it isn't built into the motherboard- not that it's shy. Most of the notebooks at Best Buy or Circuit City have more sluggish integrated graphics. Despite its slower performance, many people prefer integrated graphics for the longer battery life. If you don't game or prefer The Sims over Battlefield, then get the integrated Graphics. Besides, the integrated X3100 isn't exactly a slouch. It's far better than the Intel 950 it replaces.

Is the T61 Experienced?

The discreet card is the NVidia Quadro NVS 140M which should be equivalent to the formerly high-end ATI 1600 or Nvidia's own 8400GS. The chart has it scoring a respectable 2943, but when I ran the test-twice- I got a piddling 1140 (and 1619 in 3D Mark06). It might be a driver issue so I won't worry about it too much. Either way, it's still plenty.

T61 and its packaging.

The screen is NOT one of those awful shiny things. I much prefer Matte screens as they're easier on the eyes over extended periods and have less glare. As far as brightness: It's actually brighter than my Dell E1505 with Trueview. I'd still give the edge to my old HP X1000 in overall quality- the viewing angles on the t61 are poor and the computer is almost useless outside- but the ThinkPad screen is very nice.

As you can see, the screen on the T61 is brighter than the Dell E1505 "Truelife."

Touchpad is very good with the essential scrolling function. It's smaller than most, but it's still very good.

Wifi performance is excellent. The standard non-pre-n, non-Centrino pro card had one bar (very low) while my Centrino pro T61 had three (good). A cheap Toshiba had none.

Everything else is pretty standard- DVDRW, etc.

The system comes with Norton, an Office trial, Roxio basic, WinDVD, and the excellent Thinkcenter software which allows one to perform maintenance on, backup, and update your ThinkPad T61. It also provides a direct link to support options including Chat. Be aware that if your boss gives you a Centrino Pro T61, you may want to alter your viewing habits-as tempting as that five day trial is: IT types can filter internet traffic, remotely patch and upgrade your system, and probably babysit your kids.

The T61 has Turbo boost which probably does nothing. I suspect it's a scam like Red Bull and Snickers giving "energy boosts."

My experience operating the computer has been mostly positive. I had to "repair" the installation on the second day for some problem and it locks up at times with certain software like Verizon Access manager, but I blame the hoary Vista.

Which brings me to buying advice:

All of the options are very cheap. You're going to give up the chance to amaze your downscale friends with the fingerprint scanner for a measly $25.00? I would have liked the WXGA+ with its slightly higher 1440X900 resolution (You can fit more on the screen, but objects look smaller), but only the standard WXGA, 1280X800, resolution came with an integrated camera. I'm glad I got the camera as it's much more convenient than schlepping another USB thing. I'd get the T7300 with the extra 2MB of cache (Don't ask.) and 2GB of memory is a given.

The toughest decision for me was whether to get the SD flash card reader instead of the ExpressCard port. I didn't and, again, I'm happy with my choice. I know have an ExpressCard slot and the older PCMCIA PC card for full compatibility. I bought a PC card flash reader from Sandisk and it works a little slower than built-in ones, but it works.

SanDisk PC Card Adapter for Compact Memory Card

I'll review the R61 later, but the primary difference isn't price. Basically, it comes down to: Do you want the even more solid feel of the R61 or the noticeably thinner and lighter T61?

On the left, we have, at 5 pounds, the lightweight Lenovo ThinkPad T61. On the right, weighing in at 5.2 pounds, the Welterweight Lenovo R61.

So, there you have it, an excellent laptop.

**Update: Battery life with the 6-cell is about three hours. I also have a Bay battery that adds another hour and a half.