Lenovo ThinkPad T61p user reviews
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User reviews9
robotex 19 June 2009
Good: Trackpoint, fingerprint login, erm that's it.
Bad: Build quality, screen, performance, heat, bloatware, demise of the thinkpad.
Comment: I have loved thinkpads, a year and a half ago when I got a top of the range £2k T61P I didn't consider anything else. It makes me mad that Lenovo have stuffed up the best laptop brand there was. OK, now for the fault list:
Screen- very uneven back light, dead pixels, dim
Bloatware- Loads of it, screws computer, BSOD out of the box. I joke not.
Speed- Slower than my last (Z60M) would expect better from a £300 laptop
Graphic Processor- 512MB is not enough to play many games now.
Design- corners dig into wrists!
Construction- creaky and weak (compared to older thinkpads)
Cost- way too much, a Sony would be half the price.
Heat- gets too hot to have on your lap (if you want kids)
Anyway, I'm very sad. I will not buy another thinkpad. I have bought 10+ for home and work over the years. Any advice on getting a replacement with a trackpoint controller? Or should I go the whole ways and get Mac with a SpaceNavigator?
DrewTheBeard 26 February 2009
Good: Excellent performance and rich features set
Bad: Weight and battery life
Comment: It is addition to my opinion posted on 26/03/2008.
I did not change my opinion on the machine - it is almost the best.
Eventually I threw away Windows and installed Linux openSUSE 10.3 an then 11.0 and received almost perfect business machine. To run Windows applications that have no exact equivalents under Linux I installed Sun's VirtualBox and guest Windows inside it. Due to superpower of T61p I run Linux and Windows simultaneously with no problems!
However, two essential drawbacks are weight (it is too heavy for biz travellers) and short battery runtime...
So, I am now considering to buy either ThinkPad X301 or a new aluminium MacBook as a travelling companion.
zippy 18 November 2008
Good: It's a serious machine with no silly gimmicks
Bad: Can't think of anything I dislike about it!
Comment: Ok so you don't get the T61 in lots of different colours but who cares?! I love this machine - it means business and is packed full of technology as standard without it all being optional extras as you have with some companies.
I wanted a laptop for work and home and this is great.
Aviator 3 November 2008
Good: NOT A THING!
Bad: EVERYTHING!
Comment: This is the worst laptop I have ever used / bought! The horror starts at the opening of the box. I purchased the T61P Maxed out, every option, 4G plus the Intel turbo 1g card. Yes, that is a total of 5g’s of memory! I bought laptop to replace a 6 year old IBM T41p that has gone through 3 wars, and every type of field environment you can think of and carried in a field ruck across the world. In July, the video card finely started to go and I thought I would replace it with a new Lenovo. What a mistake!
The “FIRST” of the new T61P (yes, I said the first) open of the box did not work at all. I had to reload the operating software (good thing I had my own) right from the start. After getting the computer booted up, there is the continuo “dinging” of components installing, being uninstalled. This happens at EVERY START UP! The average boot time is about 10 minutes from a fresh start until the time you can use the system. When I open more than one application (IE outlook and word) you have to manually refresh the screen. Then, we have all heard of the “Blue Screen of death” but the T61P now gives you the “White Screen of death” OH this one is GREAT! There you are, using your computer and all of a sudden the screen goes white. They system locks up and you cannot do anything; to include, manually holding the on/off button to turn it off. You have to wait for the system to DIE! The last time it did it I lost EVERY E MAIL AND CONTACT in Outlook.
Processing time – My T41p is a 1.3, 1G mem system. The T61p is a dual 2.5, 4G plus 1G turbo men. Simple processing of a Word document the T41 has the T61 beat hands down on EVERY doc. There is not one process the T61 can even come close to side by side to the T41; reguardless of the application being used.
The video card is less than … well... Let’s say the only thing you could say about it is that on the T61, it will show an image on the screen. Again, the T41, out performs the T61 HANDS DOWN!
Wireless connection – The ultra high band and all the rest, the best I can connect to the T61 to the wireless router, in the same room is 30-47%; however, the T41, 100%. Yes, checking the transfer rate, again, the T61 is slower than the T41. The list of problems just continuo with Lenovo and the T61.
Lenovo Support – Worst support I have ever used! After spending countless hours of updating drives, software, etc (we all know how long that takes) none of the problems were corrected. When I finely contacted Support I was online for 6 hours trying to get the system to work correctly. When the tech told he had reached the max time he could support me I would have to call back the next day or he was switch me to sale. Remember this is a NEW LAPTOP! I was told, I could send it in for repairs; because it had not been sent in to me fixed yet! I would not accept that as a answer to my problem when I was transfer to the next guy. Four people down the line I get sent to the Complaint Department where they are willing to “LET ME SEND THE COMPUTER BACK FOR REPAIR AT A 15% RESTOCKING FEE” and send me a “REBUILT” computer. Two months of not agreeing to this solution the “complaint person” refused to talk to me. It wasn’t until I filed a complaint with the BBB and started calling every number on the HQ phone roster did I get someone to return my call. They did agree to send me a NEW laptop to replace the one that was defective.
Two days ago the NEW replacement laptop (T61P) arrived. Again, out of the box, trying to boot the system up, I encounter SIX… SIX “Blue Screens of death (BSOD)” This was RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX.. AGAIN! After spend some time with the NEW NEW T61P, I notice it was missing four of the upgrades I paid for. Finger print reader errors, BSOD, DVD not working, I had enough. Lenovo refuses to refund my money, yet, I don’t have a working computer (except the 6 yr old T41) after dealing with this issue for over five months!
What’s different between the T41 and
grizlyb 8 July 2008
Good: I like the way it makes me feel when I throw it in the dumpster!
Bad: All of it, the looks, the unstable graphic card, the weight, the shaky screen
Comment: My company bought around 120 of these and never before have we had that many complaints about simple errors like sudden blue screeens, errors, hardware failures etc.
It works quite good for the first couple of weeks but then the horror breaks loose.
If you place the PC in the docking station it breaks down because of 'hardware tampering attempt'. The screens becomes increasing loose in the fittings. The graphic card can performe at all.
Just DON'T DO IT!
We have had to replace 120 new and expensive laptops... I hate this machine. It's not even a beta test!
Andrew Fomychov 26 March 2008
Good: Excellent performance and rich features set
Bad: Weight and battery life
Comment: I bought it to replace my previous IBM ThinkPad T42, which was really perfect machine. However, I needed more performace.
I chose T61p with usual (not wide) 14" screen and plus extra 2GB of memory.
Yes, T61p is powerful, I would say, the best one in relation to performance.
But I spent about a week to tune it up for me.
First, I wiped the hard drive removing pre-installed Windows Vista Ultimiate. Then I installed good and stable Windows 2000 SP4 and downloaded all required drivers and installed my favourable software.
Now it works perefect!
As for me there are only two real drawbacks after using T42 - T61p is heavier and its even 9-cell battery
gives not too much runtime...
So, I will definitely buy the second battery to be installed in Ultrabay.
By the way, this laptop is perefctly run under Linux! But you should spent extra time to install it :)
So, it is definitely an excellent machine for business users.
Sandra Brill 21 March 2008
Good: The Bull SXXX advertising!
Bad: The bundled software does not work properly. Poor cousin at a top price.
Comment: This lenovo just does not do the things that it says it does! Most annoying is a message that you get regularly that says lenovo tech support are there for you...24/7...What they don't say is that they will charge you $199 for the privilege of speaking to someone about something that should have worked in the first place!
Warranty...HAHA..No sir, we provide all the software on the machine FREE including "lenovo thinkvantage" , so if it does not work, we will not provide support or cover it under warranty, or fix it...but you can pay us $199 to ask a question!
Oh...and the rubber coating rubs off....That looks good!
johnsor 28 December 2007
Good: Build quality & keyboard
Bad: Cost Vs similar specs
Comment: Well built laptop with great keyboard. If Lenovo can get the best bits of the Thinkpad range into their cheaper range then that would solve the price issue (though it was much less than the £1800 quoted in the review!).
ess bee 14 December 2007
Good: the keyboard
Bad: Support is the worst, poor documentation, unreliability. Poor screen quality, poor sound level and quality. Poor value for money, bad quality.
Comment: I have switched from a Sony SZ4 to this Lenovo t61p and i bought the most fully loaded version. I expected something at least as good as the Sony but with legendary IBM support and reliability. On first look i found that there was little if any paperwork to explain any of the machine's features....so i looked on board!..Here there was some information but all over the place, realy difficult to find and in no logical order!
Then came the set up..no problem except picture quality not great and impossible to see on a bright day out doors ( My Sony has a gloss screen and that is even better!). The machine then went through it's normal update of on board software...Turns out that it needs an update allmost everywhere....so 3 hours of downloading on a highspeed line later, it satrts to install ...and crashes...Start again...and no it did not keep the downloads anywhere clever and needs to down load again....3 hours...Crash...3rd time lucky.....3 hours later it starts instaling and crashes again!..I call Lenovo...This is where it gets really bad ..i waste nearly two hours being passed from person to person and get no where...I am told that basicly the software is not guaranteed and for any assisstance i need to buy a support ticket...but the machine is brand spanking new ...i have not done anything...the supplied software is crashing...Tough...I call sales and ask for a refund...someone helps...i uninstall all the updates and manualy download and re- install....so far so good...but more than 12 hours wasted and 4 of them on the telephone.......That was actually the good bit really...the worst was arguing for over two hours and being told that no help was available...thank heavens...I finally found someone with a brain.
The next day i start a fresh and use the built in backup software ...the reason i bought this machine....It does not work ...i call lenovo again.........another nightmare ...even worse than before..i got a supervisor called Jim Jansen and a manger called Phil Conrad...If you get either of these two, hang up and call in again!...Beyond exasperating and the worst i had found at Lenovo........Another 45 minutes after being passed around again, i get Andre Hardy....Not only does he have a brain, he knows how to use it!...He finds the problem and sets me right in 3 minutes. Uninstall and reinstall..should have figured that one myself really but was a bit reluctant to do anything drastic with the lenovo software for fear of wrecking the warranty!
I will post again if things get better, but i doubt it. In the meantime i am giving this top of the range pile of junk to my eleven year old. The extra weight is not worth the bigger screen, the sound level is too low, screen quality low too...but most of all i do not trust it, and do not feel comfortable....I will not be buying a Lenovo again...shame...i had such high hopes....and thanks again Andre!