New ThinkPads Announced Today
Today is a momentous day for ThinkPad. Now that Intel has finally announced its Santa Rosa platform, we also announce the first of many ThinkPads carrying this technology: our 14.1″ widescreen T61 and 14.1″ widescreen R61. Additional ThinkPads will dribble out over the next few weeks. Admittedly, this has been one of the worst kept secrets in the industry as many of you all have known the basic specifications of our systems for a few weeks now. The difference is that now I can publicly comment.
There is much more to this announcement from us than will show up on the spec sheets. Most of the early write ups and reviews for the industry announcements will concentrate on the basic configurations and focus on a hot new feature that may show up (such as BluRay or HDMI ports). They’ll get their press, but I’m convinced that most of the industry will have ho-hum announcements since most of our competitors will be taking their existing form factors and adding Santa Rosa technology to them. That isn’t exciting.
Here’s what is new on our ThinkPads that you WON’T find on the spec sheets:
- Our R61 14.1″ Widescreen (R61 14.1″W) is SIGNIFICANTLY improved. Yes, it is widescreen, but the real significance is that even side-by-side with the T series, it is virtually indistinguishable from the T61. It is now almost the same size and weight as the T.
- We’ve changed the surface treatment of the R61 14.1″W to the same soft touch paint as the T. The R has been criticized as looking and feeling “plasticky.” No more. (at least on the 14.1″ wide)
- Both the T61 and the R61 are our coolest running systems EVER. Santa Rosa, while faster, also puts out more heat no matter whose system it runs on. We’ve seen the total amount of heat generated by Santa Rosa vs. a Napa system increase by over 20%. We expect our competition to run hotter on your lap. In contrast, our ThinkPads will actually drop their average surface temperatures by several degrees.
- At the same time, these will also be our quietest running systems EVER. We’re not running the fan faster to remove more heat. We’ve redesigned it to be more silent than ever before. We’ve also added additional cooling vents on the bottom of the system to allow more airflow.
- These are the most protected ThinkPads EVER. We’ve had a Roll Cage protecting the bottom of the system, but that only protected half of the notebook. We’re adding a Roll Cage to the display on our T61s and our 14.1″W R61. This will serve multiple purposes. It will make our systems more impact resistant to pressure on the top of the display and more resistant to the airline seat pushing back on top of your display syndrome. It will also improve our wireless performance significantly. The neatest part is that adding the Display Roll Cage is essentially weight-neutral. Here’s a composite photo of our T61 14.1″ showing what the inside of a system looks like.
- These are going to be the most secure ThinkPads ever. We’ll introduce full data encrypting hard disk drives as an option. Also, we’re adding the ability to turn off individual ports in BIOS so that IT has more control for locking down the system.
- We’re introducing Battery Stretch technology. The idea behind this is that there are times when your battery only shows 1:32 left, and you really need 2:05 to watch that movie. Battery Stretch will add additional capabilities onto our ThinkPad Power Manager to allow you to shut down individual subsystems that you are not using in order to get that extra battery boost you need. I’ll be honest, you’re not going to go from a battery that has 15 minutes left to suddenly having 3:05, but depending on how it’s configured, you may be able to gain those extra few minutes of productivity (or movie watching).
- These will be the best performing ThinkPads ever. We’ll have Intel’s Turbo Memory available as an option on some systems. This is flash memory located inside the system which will definitely help with performance and will also give you a few minutes extra battery life per charge. For now we won’t be using hybrid hard disk drive technology. We’re underwhelmed with the performance available currently with hybrid HDDs and didn’t see any real performance boost.
Today was just a teaser post. I plan to cover many of these topics in more depth over the next few weeks. They’re worth exploring in more detail.
Looking at us and our competitors’ announcements, please tell us what you think. Am I excited about nothing? Did our competition get something (or a lot) right that we didn’t? What are we still doing wrong? Please keep comments to product offerings, design, and features. Please save the supply issues for this thread.
Lenovo Meet the Modder Dean Liou
Lenovo Meet the modder- Chris Blarsky Dairy 2
Lenovo Meet the modder- Chris Blarsky Dairy 1
Lenovo H320 desktop
May 9th, 2007 9:18 am
Congratulations on the new release!
I really like the fact that all the new features are really great and useful. I especially like the Battery Stretch technology and the option for the use of Intel Turbo Memory. They would probably level the playeing field in terms of performance after the use of Windows Vista.
Will there still be releases for the standard 4:3 SXGA+ LCD monitors?
I would just like to add that on top of all the new and beneficial features, I think that the microphone and headphone sockets are simply placed in a very bad location.
A side-based location may have been better. I actually use my laptop with a slight tilt so as to facilitate passive cooling. Due to the placement of the ports in the front, the tilt don’t really facilitate my use of a speaker.
May 9th, 2007 9:30 am
whats important for me as mobile warrior is the weight ! so i cant belive that your additional roll cage wont add weight (for sure it means additional 200grs), which means for the T61 14inch in the end 2,4 kg with battery and ODD.
looking at other vendors, the offer a 1,7kg tavelmachine with HSUPA 7,2 mbit/s a 3-D hard disk shocksensor. http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com.....s6410.html
regarding the design, hmmmmmm sorry to say but thinkpads still looking old fashioned….. vs eg. sony systems http://www.presence-pc.com/act.....osa-23107/ or the new HP Tablet !! http://www.engadget.com/2007/0.....tablet-pc/
May 9th, 2007 9:31 am
Will there be a 15-inch widescreen version of the T61, and if so, roughly when?
May 9th, 2007 9:36 am
I’ve been waiting for this release like no other! It’s great that you’ve blogged about it too, since the lenovo sales site didn’t provide much information while one configured the system.
While I love the features being offered, one disappointment right now for me is that Robson is not available if one chooses XP Professional. Unfortunately, for those of us whose companies still have to use XP Pro for business reasons, we can’t take advantage of Intel turbo memory. I’d really like to be able to have turbo memory added to my config, since eventually most ppl will upgrade to Vista.
Also would like to agree with earlier commenter on location of headphone/mic jacks. That said, I saw photos of the vents that help the T61 run cooler, so perhaps this reduced real-estate for where the jacks would go? Anyhow, I’m looking fwd to a cooler laptop!
Incidentally, a cool blog post would be your ideal specs on one of these T61s!
May 9th, 2007 9:48 am
This is all fantastic news. I have a few comments and questions that I know you probably can not reply to, but I just want to throw them out there:
We need a wide screen X series. Everyone is going wide and I’m convinced that you could probably make the best 10 inch laptop on the market. I miss the S Series that never made it to America: http://aglet.net/s30/
I remember the Houdini video that was posted a long time ago: http://www.lenovoblogs.com/designmatters/?p=120
Why not make a laptop that can have a screen swivel into portrait mode? To me that would be the most handiest thing ever and actually bring benefits to having a wide screen display.
One more thing: The Z61p is sorely missed, it isn’t on your website anymore. I think a 15 inch full HD (1920×1200) T or Z series notebook should be available again.
May 9th, 2007 9:48 am
Am I excited ? I have mixed feelings … The new internal construction looks promising and I hope it will solve most of current fan and heat problems. The design is a bit behind T60 professional look but I would wait for more detailed pictures.
1. The location of audio connectors is very bad for such notebook class. Please change it for T62
2. No DVI port, no 14″ W/SXGA+ ?
3. Do we get classic “business” 4:3 screen size option as well (14″ and 15″ SXGA+ and better) ?
4. Do we get W/UXGA display resolution ?
5. Do we get English version of preinstalled Windows as an option (at first boot or so) ?
6. Since IPS displays are over, do we get option to order a model with exact screen type (manufacturer) to prevent a need to speculate with serial numbers to get better screen (typical LG versus Samsung lottery) ?
7. How long will T60 15″ SXGA+ be available on the market ?
Thanks.
May 9th, 2007 9:53 am
Yea I wanted to add one more thing, puppy hit the nail on the head, we need higher resolution screens.
May 9th, 2007 10:05 am
Cool. Glad to see they run cooler/quieter. My T43 doesn’t get that hot, but it’s one of the models that’s rather loud. To bad it took so long to quiet these things.
May 9th, 2007 10:11 am
I really love to see that the R Series improved that much.
And all the new features are very nice but I still miss a DVI connector ?
What is the idea behind that ?
Congratulations.
May 9th, 2007 10:23 am
Comparing screen resolution with classic 4:3 screens might be tricky. If you are comparing lets say 15″ SXGA+ with 15.4″ WSXGA+ the pixel size of widescreen display is actually smaller. There is nice table http://www.prismo.ch/comparisons/notebook.php showing various resolutions and its pixel size. That’s why probably WXGA+ only is offered for 14″ model. Yet another reason to prefer normal 4:3 size :-/
I’d also like to express one more thing. Don’t get me wrong but announcements of some competitors looked a bit more … professional. They already have exact specifications for new models on thier web site. I haven’t found anything like that on Lenovo website right now but I might have overlooked it.
May 9th, 2007 10:24 am
http://direct2dell.com/one2one.....14223.aspx
new Dells:
- SSD
- 3G
- SmartCard slot
- magnesium frame
- turbo memory
- Hardware-level data encryption
- Wifi N
look pretty similar to the Thinkpads!!
May 9th, 2007 10:29 am
oh one comment was removed by lenovo, because of a link to competition products, which looked very good, hmmmmmmmm
May 9th, 2007 10:42 am
I for one was holding off on a new laptop till Santa Rosa came out. A few issues I have though:
1) What is it with laptops that have the key in the bottom left corner being the FN key and not Ctrl? That is the easiest key to hit (similar to how the corners of the screen are the easiest to click) and I’m much more likely to hit a ctrl key shortcut then an fn key shortcut. (the pic I see of the R61 has the fn in that corner) I mistype too much on laptops with that arrangement and hate not getting a laptop that I like in all other ways because I can’t stand the keyboard
2) I’m going with everyone else in wanting SXGA resolution, I don’t care about the proportions if its WSXGA or SXGA but I would like the increase in vertical resolution.
3) I thought I remember a previous blog post here where you said Robinson wasn’t much of an improvement. Should I take it the newer version have improved greatly since then? Can’t wait for benchmarks to come out.
4) Graphics. Is the NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M a DX10 part? The graphics chipsets are too new to compare the new mobile ATI and the nVidia chipsets
5) Will the power utility allow switching between aero and non-aero UI? This is on the thinking that using aero takes more battery life so can extend the battery by not using it.
6) Why can’t there be a full powered laptop (i.e. like the T61, not really wanting a desktop replacement) with Tablet functionality? Why does it seem like adding tablet functionality means putting up with other lower speed parts like integrated video and smaller screen. Sure if you want a tablet to be primarily a tablet the smaller/lighter form factor is much better, but I want my laptop to be a higher speed laptop first (vs.net development and the like) and tablet functionality some of the time (OneNote to take notes in).
7) Does full data encrypting of the HDD effect speed in anyway?
9) So when are LED backlit LCD panels coming?
Thanks
btw I’m I the only one having problems with the web site (http://shop.lenovo.com/us/notebooks/) asking me to save when I click on the link to view the new notebooks?
May 9th, 2007 11:09 am
Everything is looking good so far! I think Puppy has some good ideas about the DVI port and the placement of the headphone/mic jacks though.
Oh, and how long until we see LED backlighting : P
May 9th, 2007 11:09 am
Perhaps not as frantic as the posts above:
I’m not necessarily interested in the “latest” LED backlit panels. I just want a reliable platform, which your machines do really, really well.
So when is a good time to buy your notebooks? I purchased a T40 in March of 2003; got a solid 4 years of usage out of it since Intel didn’t have too many new product releases. I just purchased a T60 in December of 2006.
What about these new models? How long are your product release cycles, typically? And do you have guidelines that dictate how much change/redesign is done on a minor revision? (ie. T60 to T61)
None of this retracts from the quality of these machines – which I love – I just want to maximize my return on investment. When do YOU replace your machines?
May 9th, 2007 11:47 am
Wow, quite a lot of improvements in the engineering design of the new Thinkpads T & R!
Cooler, quieter, and tougher
Would love to know more about the performance improvement with Turbo memory
If I have to pick just two components to worship in a Thinkpad, I would say that’s the high quality screens (IPS & MVA) and the keyboard. So please keep these two up, and please give us some good news about the availability of high quality screen options in the future
Some questions:
Why stress on the R61 in the development?
Is Lenovo planning to abandon the T series like how it did to the Z series?
Overall, I love 4:3 aspect ratio screens more:
- they looks more professional (and this set apart Thinkpads with mainstreams)
- they are more compact for commuting with
- they are more comfortable (larger pixel size) for reading & working on portrait documents
Agree with Stefan: a Thinkpad screen that can swivel to portrait mode will be amazing!
Will 4:3 still be offered in other future Thinkpad series?
The placement of the audio connections (their colors) make the whole T61 Thinkpad quite … unpleasant to look at. I would suggest the team to work on it to move them to the sides in the coming releases (T62?) Please treat the front view of the Thinkpad as the front view of designer car
By the way, if Lenovo is going to make their Thinkpad tough and reliable, let’s follow Panasonic to product a high-priced and limited series of laptop computers that comply to the MIL-STD-810? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIL-STD-810)
Building all those limited series / limited editions are going to cost more and earn little (if ever), but in the long run that is going to help the Thinkpad / Lenovo brand to continue to build its reputation
May 9th, 2007 12:01 pm
[...] Lenovo just announced that they have updated their popular T60 and R60 line of ThinkPads with Santa Rosa, as well as introducing some new features. [...]
May 9th, 2007 12:03 pm
[...] Lenovo just announced that they have updated the popular T60 and R60 line of ThinkPads with Santa Rosa, as well as introducing some new features. [...]
May 9th, 2007 12:04 pm
If the sidebar in Vista catches on wide screen will become much more useful then it is now. (the sidebar will take up the extra width leaving you with a 4:3 screen for everything else) I still want the increased vertical resolution of SXGA though so hoping for WSXGA.
May 9th, 2007 12:06 pm
I tried configuring a T61, and that’s very economical!
Some more questions:
Turbo Memory hard drive cache is incompatible with wireless WAN?
Express Card Slot & Media Card Slot & Smart Card Slot are mutually exclusive options?
The physical height of WSXGA+ 15.4″ just matches that of a SXGA+ 14.1″. In order to match the physical height for better vertical reading, will Lenovo consider working on a 17″ WSXGA+ or even WUXGA to match the SXGA+/UXGA 15.1″?
May 9th, 2007 1:48 pm
A cooler and quieter thinkpad is a significant and welcome addition.
The roll cage in the screen is nice but I’m not overly excited about this since I generally treat my thinkpad with the utmost care.
The full disk encryption is great – so long as it is a hardware solution that can work outside of MS Vista – for those of us that want to run Linux.
I am not all sure I understand the strategy for making the R series virtually indistinguishable from the T series. Seems to me that this simply promotes more confusion than anything else.
The screen is what troubles me most about the Thinkpad. Besides wanting a higher resolution, as is echoed in the above comments, I would really like to hear more about what Lenovo is doing to make their displays brighter and have better viewing angles. The new D630 coming out has specifically mentioned that they have made their displays brighter (from sub 200 nits to 220 nits). In my perfect world, Lenovo would do what it takes to ensure that the most heavily “used” parts of the machine are the best they can be. To me that means a top-notch screen and keyboard. Performance, heat and noise are also important but are of little consolation to those of us that use the LCD all the time.
May 9th, 2007 1:51 pm
All i want is *soon* a 15.4 T61p with a WUXGA screen (decent quality), and a (field-upgradeable, not soldered to the mobo) high end mobile (512M or bettter VRAM) Nvidia Quadro gfx card. Add to that DVI and HDMI, and i’m in heaven. Also nice would be space to a (16/32GB) internal 1.8 SSD hardisk along with the stock 2.5 SATA one. Release something like this, and i’ll buy one. Otherwise, i’ll be forced – as i am now – to stick with the competition (i had a T41p in the past… now i have a dell m90)
(ability to support the soon to be out Core 2 duo extreme edition mobile CPUs would be a plus)
May 9th, 2007 1:54 pm
You can add me to the growing list of people asking for 4:3. Widescreens are nice, but they don’t give much boost when watching films (ie. not widescreen enough!), so I rather have 4:3 for comfortable web browsing than pseudo-widescreen LCD.
May 9th, 2007 1:56 pm
Looks good. Improved rollcage, temperatures and lower noise sounds like really massive and valid improvements. And the specs.. well.. they speak for themselves. Great.
However, I’m not all too happy about the mic/headset jacks. Why in front? This may be practical if you’re using a headset. But if you use your T61 as the only computer like I do, it’s a pain having a wire lying around in front of you when the laptop is connected to your stereo.
WSXGA is a must.
May 9th, 2007 2:12 pm
One more thing I was expecting more of with this new line of notebooks, a SideShow secondary display.
Nicolo Menuhin, I’m guessing Turbo Memory uses the same pci express slot as the wireless card. Kind of annoying since its hard to live without wireless and pccard slot cards are annoying with how they stick out. Not helped by how they are maxing out at 100gigs for the HDD if you want 7200rpm (I’m guessing the 7k100 drive from hitachi which came out 2 years ago now) while seagate has 160gig 7200rpm laptop drives (~2 months old) So hard to get high end HDD performance.
hmm, seems like Dell allows both going by their web site so maybe(hopefully) its a bug in the lenovo site?
May 9th, 2007 2:20 pm
This is exciting! I can’t wait to see the next 12″ ThinkPad! Perhaps it is finally time to upgrade my X40…
May 9th, 2007 2:36 pm
things I’m disappointed the T61 didn’t have:
- WSXGA+
- WSXGA+
- WSXGA+ (even in a 15″ option would be nice for developers)
- DVI/HDMI port
- sideshow display
- firewire port
BTW, the NVS 140M is a DX10 part based on a G86 core, so thanks for that. I’m sure we’ll see performance numbers on it soon…
May 9th, 2007 2:55 pm
How about some Linux loving?
Selecting Windows XP so I can do the whole Windows refund thing means I can’t pick the turbo memory/disk cache. How about being able to pick no operating system, freedos like Compaq/HP have or Ubuntu?
The T60 with 15″ 4:3 Flexview/IPS screen also re-appeared. However you insist on selling it with ATI graphics which is a no-no for Linux users.
The full disk encryption doesn’t make it clear if it is operating system independent (ie pure/hardware bios functionality) and would work under dos, OS/2, linux etc
And I’d be overjoyed if the CTO website would give actual resolutions instead of or in addition to the acronyms. I have to have a page open on wikipedia to keep working out what SXWXGA+ etc all mean!
Please make it easy for me to give you my Linux money
May 9th, 2007 3:05 pm
I really dislike the way some of the things are going. I agree that there are lots of improvements, but resolution has suffered in way, especially the vertical one. I’ve never really been a fan of widescreens, too, and I would have prefered a model with 1400×1050.
As far as the outer design goes, I really preferred the older shapes of t2x generation and even earlier.
However, my key concern – apart from the form factor – is that just about every review I’ve read reports abysmal battery life.
May 9th, 2007 3:10 pm
I’ve been reading with interest all of your comments. The first thing I want to say, is that we haven’t announced everything yet. Some of what you all are asking for is coming. Unfortunately I have to be vague for now.
I agree with all of the posters on the location of the audio jacks. I hate the placement too. Our product team would tell you that there was no room anywhere else to put them.
Don’t look for DVI. It is a physically large, expensive port to add. Thus we only put it on our Advanced Port Replicators and Docks. Display Port will be the solution instead of DVI, maybe starting in 2008.
Robson/Turbo Memory has improved very much since I last wrote about it. In some cases (your mileage may vary), we’re seeing up to a 45% performance boost vs. a system without it.
Full disk encryption is completely contained in the drive and doesn’t require extra drivers. It should work under Linux without any drivers.
“Turbo Memory hard drive cache is incompatible with wireless WAN?” — Yes, but not because of why you would think. Both Turbo Memory and WWAN require an internal mini PCIe slot. There isn’t enough room to add a 4th slot (1 for Bluetooth/Modem, 1 for Wi-Fi, and one for either WWAN or Robson)
May 9th, 2007 3:24 pm
One question to those asking for DVI/HDMI port:
There is a 24 pin DVI-D port in the advanced dock / advanced mini-dock, and will getting one of these docks solve your problem?
VGA can satisfy me most of the time though: for projectors, and for various external monitors
May 9th, 2007 3:30 pm
I love the addition of the LCD roll cage. It was quite an engineering feat to add that without increasing the system weight, so kudos. I’d also point out that this is exactly the kind of thing that sets ThinkPads apart from other brands, and adds real long-term value.
My biggest disappointment is the apparent decrease in battery life. It appears that there is a substantial difference between a T60 with ATI discrete graphics and the T61 with nVIDIA discrete graphics with both models using a 6-cell battery. The models with integrated graphics appear to be very similar, with a slight edge to the T61, so I can only conclude that the culprit is the nVIDIA part.
Matt, can you comment on the transition from ATI to nVIDIA, and why this appears to have such a negative impact on battery life?
May 9th, 2007 4:06 pm
I miss digital video output, too. If DVI is to large, the HDMI would be a good solution (like the competitors, you mention
).
@Nicolo a dock is not a mobile solution and the VGA output is no backup, because of the worse signal quality (in all laptops).
May 9th, 2007 4:37 pm
Display Port is definitely better solution because DVI has limited throughput for todays resolutions. But it should have come eariler. BTW DVI port has squeezed even into 12″ Fujitsu-Siemens V3205
Ok, I’ll wait for more information. Anyway, is there any hope for 4:3 (SXGA+) or not ? The competitors indicates – yes
May 9th, 2007 4:57 pm
I am looking forward to the release of the 15.4inch widescreen T61.
For some reason I’ve never been particularly comfortable with 14.1inch widescreens. They just don’t have the necessary vertical screen real estate to make for comfortable reading of webpages and office documents.
May 9th, 2007 4:58 pm
Congrats on ther T61 release, always nice to see another workhorse in the stable!
Some points to ponder:
1. I understand that the magnesium case is out of contention in the 14″ models. I guess it is CFRP now. I have a 15″ T60 and I notice that the plastics (palmrest, keyboard bezel etc) are much thinner than what I have in the T4x. I presume that you don’t need thicker plastics because of the rollcage (and to save some weight). Is this true with the LCD lid also? Is it thinner than previous models?
2. The media card reader is not really a ’solution’, is it? You have to sacrifice the express card slot to get one. I hope this is not so in the future models.
3. Why is turbocache/robson not offered with windows XP? Did your testing not show any improvements using an on-board nand flash with the XP?
4. Looking at your comments on the R61, I am confused. Are the R series and the T series merging? What exactly is the difference (apart from R61 being a wee bit bigger) between the T and the R series now? What is going to happen with the Z series – will it continue with glossy screen offerings?
5. All reviews to date report reduce battery life with the T61/R61. I understand that these reviews might have been done only with a 4-cell, but since you mention that Santa Rosa generates atleast 20% more heat than the current centrino platform, does it significantly downgrade the battery life? Will you offer a 9 cell battery?
6. Why the shift from ATI to nVidia? Linux users will certainly be more happy with nVidia, no doubt, but I thought that the rational behind using ATI chips in the past was that they generated less heat and were more power efficient, though many consider them to be slightly inferior to nVidia. Any comments on the shift?
7. Just out of curiosity, Is the new rollcage design better than the one on the T60? Now that it is the “2nd generation” rolcage, did you guys re-engineer the rollcage for the T61?
8. Are the current docking solutions for the T60 compatible with the T61?
May 9th, 2007 5:06 pm
Teddy: but I found MacBook folks all having troubles from time to time connecting to projectors and they have to use adaptors too; in contrary, I can accept getting a dock next to my primary work place / home if need. Just my personal opinion
Matt: the placement of audio jacks is likely to ruin the whole Thinkpad design (I’m sure the design team won’t want it too… yet waiting for David to start a post on the new T61). Please ask the product design team to put having a nice/stylish/pleasant frontal view of Thinkpad in a high priority in the coming series. The new Sony VAIO FZ has lots of ports, but its front edge is still clean and pleasant: with mainly some functional LEDs
IMHO, only nicely designed handy switches can be placed on the front edge (e.g. on/off switch for WiFi / Bluetooth, and on/off/buttons for e-paper Sideshow), and jacks / connection ports should all be put on the sides or at the rear edge (including the audio jacks & the IEEE 1394)
Also, I’m sure a lot of people want both Robson/Turbo memory and WWAN in the future, so need to work on some innovation to get a 4th mini PCIe slot (if mini PCIe slot is the only solution)
My other major concern apart from the display is the battery life:
For how long can the battery last on the new T61?
Why 9 cell battery is not available for T/R61?
Has nVIDIA worked on some power saving scheme (like how we can adjust the CPU) so that we can tune down the GPU to achieve better battery life?
May 9th, 2007 5:09 pm
There are some real pictures http://gizmodo.com/photogallery/thinkpadt61 First impression – I have to say it looks much better than on those two “promo” pictures. Just move those audio jacks and it is nice machine
May 9th, 2007 5:26 pm
ok…I take the DX10 comment back. Looks like it’s actually just a DX9 part w/ a confusing numbering scheme
Here’s more info on it:
http://www.anandtech.com/video.....84&p=4
Next question of course is, will there be a Quadro NVS 320M option in the future? What puzzles me is the linked article said nVidia worked on powering down the graphics chip unless it’s really needed, so I suspect Vista’s graphical UI junk is keeping it powered on and eating the batteries. Anyone know how long the 6 or 7 cell batteries last in normal usage?
and I missed that the T61 has a mini-firewire connector so it’s not on my wishlist any more
Having Robson w/ WWAN probably isn’t that big a deal as long as the WWAN adapter can plug into the external PCI-Express slot. And why is the PCI-Express slot still a slow 34 slot? Where’s my external PCI-Express 16x slot?
May 9th, 2007 5:40 pm
Further to comments made by Nicolo Menuhin and others on lack of a DVI output, use of a docking station is a solution but I’m concerned that the specs for the NVS 140M state that 1600 x 1200 is the maximum digital resolution. What options do we have if we wish to drive an external 1920 x 1200 monitor? I think this is possible on the T60/ATI-1400 with a dock now.
May 9th, 2007 6:25 pm
Just a question from someone who got himself a T60 just a few months ago, and who is quite happy with it (not planning to upgrade in quite some time): This Battery Stretch technology, is it somehow hardware-related, or will it be possible also on older computers with updated Power Manager software? I’m about to upgrade to Vista soon and guess it could be nice with such a feature in some cases.
May 9th, 2007 8:21 pm
Jeff: I speculate that 140M should be able to drive 1920×1200 through DVI with some tweaks, although it is not official, as it happens in some earlier ATI drivers
http://thinkwiki.org/wiki/Prob.....throughput
http://www.omegadrivers.net/nvidia.php
Caveat: I don’t know how well those tweaked drivers work in Vista as I use the old school VGA despite that my monitors do have DVI in
Also, “Very high resolution displays like the Apple 30″ Cinema Display, with a 2560×1600 resolution, requires what is known as Dual-Link DVI…”
May 9th, 2007 8:25 pm
[...] Lenovo just announced that they have updated the popular T60 and R60 line of ThinkPads with Santa Rosa, as well as introducing some new features. [...]
May 9th, 2007 8:58 pm
I agree with most of the comments here. also, no DVI is slightly disappointing, but not the end of the world.
It looks like the card reader just slides into the expresscard slot, will there be an option for a card reader expresscard for use with existing T60 models?
Will the new battery management features be available on existing models with a software update?
Also, an something I have not seen mentioned yet, the Kensington lock slot has been relocated to the back, a big improvement from on the side i think, its current location on my T60WS can be somewhat of a hastle at times, and can interfere with the two usb ports next to it.
May 9th, 2007 9:00 pm
Let me get this straight. This has “battery stretch technology”, yet it gets worse battery life. Ok! Picking up the phone now to place an order …
May 9th, 2007 9:11 pm
As another long time fan, I find the sheer elegence and efficiency of the overall Thinkpad design incomparable. I hope Lenovo will keep it that way for years to come without sacrificing the tradition for some shortterm margins. Appreciate you guys blogging. Opens a whole new dimension of possibility for user centered design.
Now something that I didn’t see covered here. I am just about to buy a tablet PC, and extremely curious to know when and how Santa Rosa would find its way in to the X platform. Lenovo should know that there are quite a few of us waiting for an X61t. So what is the story on that front?
May 9th, 2007 9:33 pm
WWAN is relativly slow, right? So why not run it over USB internally along with the modem and bluetooth.
So what is the difference between:
ThinkPad 11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter
and
ThinkPad 11b/g Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter II [New]
Looks like the 2nd should be better as its New and “II” but then it is only b/g so don’t see how its better.
BTW I personally think that while the audio jacks may be better on the side or back thats a very minor issue. Much rather have the ctrl key in the bottom right corner (i.e. swap the fn key and the ctrl key)
May 9th, 2007 10:07 pm
Why are the USB ports all vertical now? I thought the T60’s two horizontal and one vertical arrangement was a really nice design decision, so that USB devices with different thicknesses and orientations could all fit properly without using an extension cable or lifting the base. Maybe Lenovo could design an Ultrabay USB hub with more ports.
May 9th, 2007 10:26 pm
[...] Initial reviews of the Santa Rosa platform have been mixed. Performance gains from the higher FSB is minimal in most applications and Turbo Memory has sort of fallen flat. (It remains to be seen whether the performance of lack thereof is just a problem with the sample that was reviewed.) On the other hand, power consumption seems to be down compared to Napa. Meanwhile, Lenovo has said that Santa Rosa actually puts out about 20% more heat than Napa, so the power consumption numbers may be a little iffy. [...]
May 9th, 2007 11:05 pm
Thanks for continuing to produce 4:3 screen models, and I hope they will be available when the Montevina platform arrives. As much as I may drool over the T61s, I figure the real revolution in notebooks will be the arrival of WiMAX.
I currently use a WWAN PCMCIA card in my T41, and while I like the true roaming ability, the speed is ultimately a factor of 10 slower than what WiFi provides. I await WiMAX.
May 9th, 2007 11:15 pm
I want to avoid rehashing what other people have said but battery life does concern me, not even that, I wouldn’t mind reduced battery life as long as you offer a larger battery to compensate, is that hard? I don’t see the logic in the 4-6-7 cell batteries planned, would look forward to a much larger battery, 9+ cell.
Why do the T61s use 667Mhz over 800Mhz RAM, apart from cost? Could the additional speed RAM be an option?
Can you get ExpressCard + Memory Card Reader?
Would appreciate the answers. Great product otherwise. Really like the little touches. Shame about the IBM Stickers
May 10th, 2007 2:03 am
While I really do like *most* of the changes for the T61, I am somewhat not happy with the front jacks. Why is there a FireWire port in the front? Most business users would not even use that port. That is mainly for multimedia/enthusiast use. The card reader that is in the front on the R61 should be carried over in the design for the T61 instead of occupying the ExpressCard slot.
I really would like to see more details about this improved cooling solution.
May 10th, 2007 2:09 am
I understand that you can not comment on unreleased products. I’m currently in the situation that I have to buy a new laptop. The X series is pretty high on my list. The only thing That I’m missing with the X series is a DVI output on the docking station.
Is there something planned for an upcoming X61? Will there be a new dock featuring DVI out? It would be enough if you could give me some hint like “If I were you I’d (not) wait.”
Can you give an estimation when we will see new X series models?
Some comment on the DVI issue would help me a lot!
Thanks,
Thomas
May 10th, 2007 2:14 am
Dell gets it: Direct2Dell blog enhances their press release…
Before I began covering Nokia and getting enthralled in the mobile telecommunications industry I was and still am a computer geek. Today Intel launched their latest mobile platform called Santa Rosa and every company that builds notebooks published the…
May 10th, 2007 5:11 am
At first congratulation on the release of the T61 & R61
My first empresions are:
love the 14.1 widescreen, a webcam and memory card reader is a great new feature
extra roll cage is excellent for protection; however the lack of S-Video is a big disappointment and please keep the IBM sticker ThinkPad sticker is SOO ugly or i will use the one on my T60
May 10th, 2007 5:45 am
That’s great, but I’m pining for an X series for my next purchase. Any news on what’s to come with the X series?
May 10th, 2007 7:13 am
Two days ago I configured a t60 14.1 on lenovo.com and was about to order this laptop this week. However, today I wanted to check the website again for any updates on the new T61 and guess what.. the T60 14.1 has completely disappeared from lenovo’s website! Too bad..because now I have to wait until they finally release the t61 in 4:3 format.
Here’s a link showing the t61 in 4:3 with audio connectors on the left side!! http://digi.163.com/07/0509/16.....628BV.html
Matt, please provide a specific month for the release of T61 with 14.1inch 4:3 screen.
May 10th, 2007 8:42 am
Hallo.
The last days I was thinking about buying an Think Pad nootebook. I wasn’t sure if I should chose R60 (1,83 C2D, 120GB, 1024MB RAM) or Z61m (2,00C2D, 120GB, 1024MB RAM).
After finding this article I am not sure if I should wait and think about R61.
Can you give me a hint?
Thanks a lot.
May 10th, 2007 10:08 am
It is becoming harder to differentiate now between the R and the T with the 61 announcements. – the product specs look great and inside the box continues to improve – but outside the box is looking tired and it is time that more attention is given to the look of the ranges. Once upon a time it mattered less – now it is an image buy more often than not – the Lenovo Thinkpad is looking old. Sometimes old is good – in that it is respected, shows wisdom and is trustworthy – but even an oldie can benefit greatly with a new outfit!
May 10th, 2007 10:42 am
Matt,
Since you said that you were waiting for the ‘official’ announcement date of Santa Rosa to provide us with the info on the new laptops with this processor, why aren’t you filling us in on the X61 tablet with Santa Rosa and only on the t61 and r61?
Other sites have shown the x61 on web sites in China with photos of them on display, so the news that this model will come to market are already published and the Santa Rosa processor is now official and formally announced.
When is the x61 available for order in the US?
thanks for keeping us in the loop on this stuff. I’m ready to place my order now for this model.
May 10th, 2007 1:16 pm
Matt,
There are already a couple of reviews posted of the new T61 series. These seem to indicate that the battery life will be markedly inferior to that of the T60. At least part of this seems to be due to the fact that there is no longer a 9-cell battery option (only 7 cell)?
Given that battery life was one of the big upsides for the T60, why did Lenovo reduce the capacity for T61? Given all the other innovations that have occurred, why this change for the worse?
May 10th, 2007 2:01 pm
Congrats on the new releases! As I type this on my hot, slow, five-year old R-series, I can’t help but drool a bit.
I’d like to second a question: Why should one then buy a T-series if the R- and T-series are now so much closer in form?
What I’m more interested in, however, is whether Lenovo plans to update the Z-series with Santa Rosa and perhaps a DirectX 10 graphics solution. I don’t even play games on my laptop anymore, but at least having the option would be nice. Also, will recently announced larger 7200rpm drives be making their way to Lenovo systems too? I know that 100GB will fill up awfully quickly once lossless audio gets involved…
May 10th, 2007 2:53 pm
Matt could you respond to the issue of screen resolution and the abillity and performance of the new T Series screens to meet HD content standards?
Do you need WUXGA to view 1080i/p HD content in native resolution. If so will a WUXGA screen become available?
It seems to me these laptops may be capable of 720p but not true 1080i/p unless they have a WUXGA screen and appropriate graphics card. I am not completely certain on this, particularly when it comes to WSXGA which is just shy of 1080 at 1050. I assume anything less than WUXGA is going to have to interpolate 1080i/p content. Most likely my guess is you will be viewing it as 720p quality. What are the minimum requierments for A) true 720p and true 1080i/p?
Is there any information available that gets into the specs, ie. panel type and backlighting of the new T Series Thinkpads?
May 10th, 2007 3:05 pm
RE: Jon Pritchard -
“Why do the T61s use 667Mhz over 800Mhz RAM, apart from cost? Could the additional speed RAM be an option?”
Jon it is my understanding that this was a decision by Intel to preserve battery life over what they felt was an insignificant performance boost. At this point this is the only configuration availabe, and the only thing you will see in all Santa Rosa laptops for now.
May 10th, 2007 5:12 pm
The Z series is effectively dead, is the impresion I have got since the T series has been getting so close to the previous Z series.
I’m sure that larger perpendicular 7200RPM drives will be coming in, if not, you can always put one in yourself.
May 10th, 2007 7:12 pm
just want to say thanks again to the bloggers for giving us this forum to share ideas.
T61 looks amazing,
p
May 10th, 2007 11:26 pm
I’m happy to see that Lenovo is updating aggressively to the new Centrino, which is what I would expect for a Thinkpad. Better power management and a cooler system is especially nice.
Myself, I have allocated the money for an X61 tablet and want to purchase it in the June/July time frame. I hope it arrives soon, with a L7500 option as well as the L7300.
I hope that the designers see clear to make the modem/bluetooth board optional because I am one of those that would want the Turbo memory /and/ the built-in WWAN. If you think about it, is there a good reason to have a modem (even Bluetooth) if you have WiFi and WWAN? I’ve need the built-in WWAN (and don’t want a PCMCIA solution) – please don’t force me to sacrifice Turbo Memory.
Things like wide-screen would be nice, but not at the expense of multitouch/multivew.
May 11th, 2007 2:08 am
Yes it is sad that the Z series died. It would be a much clearer product matrix by calling all wide screen lappies Z-series. I guess Lenovo did not convince it’s corporate buyers of the Z series…
May 11th, 2007 9:07 am
Please add at least one esata port to the new model too so I can connect my external hard drive.
May 11th, 2007 11:51 am
Widescreen does nothing for me as I would much prefer the smaller form factor. Larger batteries are a must and you would be silly to skimp on this. It would be great if the T-series offered tablet functionality. I currently own a T40 and plan to get an X61t, but would ideally purchase a 4:3 T61t.
May 11th, 2007 2:25 pm
Are those 4:3 pictures real or rather fake ?
May 11th, 2007 2:37 pm
Like some posters asked before, please explain your decision to use NVIDIA graphic adapters. Thanks!
May 11th, 2007 4:53 pm
I, too, would like to have Intel Turbo and XP, figuring to upgrade later to Vista. Conversely, would there be a problem getting the system with Vista and setting up dual boot with XP or Linux?
May 11th, 2007 7:08 pm
FYI, looks like only the 4-cell battery is flush. Found this from ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/.....tabook.pdf:
T61 with Nvidia: 6 cell 10.2″ depth 3.8 hours
T61 with intel graphics: 4 cell 9.3″ depth 3.6 hours
T61 with intel graphics: 6 cell 10.2″ depth 5.7 hours
T60 with intel graphics: 6 cell 10″ depth 6 hours
But I found another comment posted that said this: “I spoke with Lenove sales today. They said the four and six cell sit flush with the back of the thinkpad but the seven cell sticks out past the back of the PC. He also said with the seven cell and the nvidia graphics card, I’ll get close to six hours of battery life. “
and “I just spoke to a lenovo rep…both the 6 and 7 cell stick out of the back about a 1/2″ to 1″. The 6 cell gets about 5 hours and the 7 cell gets about 6 hours. “
Looks like Vista’s Aero interface kicks the nVidia GPU into overdrive which kills performance. Wonder if the same is true running Linux or if there’s a way to turn off all Vista graphics and run in some dump XP mode to save battery life instead of downgrading to the horribly slow Intel Integrated Graphics chip that runs at warp -2?
BTW, there’s also a battery that can be put in the ultrabay, but I’m not sure if you want to take out your DVD drive just for that…
May 11th, 2007 8:41 pm
All loyal thinkpad users that I know dislike (1) removing the red/blue strips on the buttons for the trackpoint and (2) the rectangular-shaped buttons for the touch pad.
I have a friend who went so far as to remove his T60 keyboard and painted the color strip himself. While that can be done, the shape of the touch pad button cannot be altered by thinkpad users themselves.
Searching this blog I found that you mentioned sometime ago that you would start a poll about whether to bring back the color strips to thinkpad. I think it is time to start that poll now.
Maybe you would also like to start a poll regarding the shape of the touch pad buttons. Compared to those buttons with rounded-edge on older thinkpads, current rectangular shaped buttons simply look cheap and ugly. They look like buttons on a low end machine, which the manufacturer is trying to cut the as much as possible.
If you go to forum.thinkpads.com and ask, I believe most member there will agree with me. (Personally, I prefer keeping the F and Fn keys to be grey too, but not everyone agree with me on that).
May 11th, 2007 11:09 pm
Ivan:
agree with you on the strips on the buttons, even the Thinkpad Transnote has the red strips on it!
http://www.io.tudelft.nl/public/vdm/fca/ibm/25.htm
also agree with the rectangular-shaped touchpad + rectangular touchpad buttons make that part of Thinkpad looks more like those cheap alienware design
Waiting for David Hill to start a post to deal with the second wave of comments about Thinkpad design. I’m really quite nostalgic: in the older IBM designs, even the usb thumb drive appears to be such an object of desire
http://www.io.tudelft.nl/public/vdm/fca/ibm/42.htm
Oh… they have the foldable e-Paper concept also, back in 1999!
http://www.io.tudelft.nl/public/vdm/fca/ibm/15.htm
The engineering design of T61 is great; but the design in external presentation of product especially the audio jacks in the front: the intrusion of red and green color of these non-major part to the design theme is just disastrous. Good auto companies built their nice high-end cars, and they still need to make the exterior of those car looks good so that the drivers will really think that they are driving a nice performing designer car
May 12th, 2007 8:01 am
No offense ivan, but if a thinkpad user has nothing else to worry about than the color of the trackpoint buttons, that says a lot about how good the rest of the machine is.
But anyway, I know a lot of this is personal preference. I personally think that a black, rectangular notebook works very well with black, rectangular buttons, so I welcome that move.
And yes, I’m on forum.thinkpads.com, too
May 12th, 2007 11:05 am
I bought a T60p a few months ago, and although I love the machine, if Nvidia graphics had been available then I would have gone for it in a second. As a Linux user I have to say that ATI support seems to be bad and getting worse, and Nvidia seems to be good and getting better. Even under Windows I have stability problems with the ATI graphics.
I also echo previous commenter’s suspicions that Vista is the cause of low battery life, and wondering if turning off the eye candy helps? (One can be just as guilty of this on Linux; Beryl/Compiz do awesome screen effects, but when the fan jumps to high speed you know you’re burning battery!)
(Off-topic but on my mind; I think it would be really useful if Lenovo could fund an engineer or two to help the big Linux distributions get Thinkpad software features properly integrated into their major releases. The last few Ubuntu releases have not had such things as Thinkpad suspend/resume working out of the box, which is the only disappointing thing I’ve found about the OS).
Congrats on the 61 series, keep up the great work! -Mike.
May 12th, 2007 11:52 am
Since there’s no open forum on this site to mention ideas, I figure I’ll place one here. Every user seems to want different ports on Thinkpads. The reason Lenovo gives for not adding these ports (DVI, HDMI, S-video, optical audio, eSata, sometimes firewire, extra USB, etc.) is size and cost. Why not make more Ultrabay adapters to add those ports and even some others (component video? dual outputs of other ports?). I’m not sure what it’s possible to connect through the Ultrabay, but if additional ports could be added, I think it would be a great way to do it. No additional space is taken up or cost added for the typical user, while those who would like the extra features can add them. I do understand that some ports might be less useful if they take up the ultrabay (couldn’t use an HDMI or DVI port to watch a DVD for example).
Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope Thinkpads continue the innovations they’ve been known for!
May 12th, 2007 1:25 pm
While I am impressed by the T61 in general, there is one thing that bothers me: Why, in the age of video-on-demand, video-streaming, DVD & Blue-ray discs, are Lenovo product designers thinking that the S-Video port is something that can be dropped from the Thinkpads? I am aware that every port takes up some of the valuable casing space, but in case of connectivity to TVs and other video devices there is no other option than S-Video. If for some very good reason it is impossible to include the S-Video port in the Thinkpads anymore, then I would at least expect the existence of an S-Video port on the “Thinkpad Essential Port Replicator” offered by Lenovo. However, it seems like not even the advanced docking solution offers S-Video.
May 12th, 2007 5:03 pm
Nicolo:
Right…David Hill was the one who talked about starting the poll…I mixed up the 2 blogs. Maybe I should just copy my comment over to that blog.
May 12th, 2007 6:51 pm
Please tell me that there will be a 14″ WSXGA+ (1680×1050) T61 Widescreen Thinkpad. I could not find any information on this.
May 13th, 2007 12:07 am
I want classic 4:3 screen! I want classic 4:3 screen! I hate the front audio port! I hate the front audio port!
en, that’s all
May 13th, 2007 12:12 am
Can any one tell me if there is SXGA+ 4:3 LCD? Please!
May 13th, 2007 4:57 pm
And how about the so called enormous battery drain, this doesn’t sound very positive on the new series of T61 widescreen…
And a different type of battery, which isn’t compatible with the T60 etc. is this true???
I too, have to say i really don’t like the mini jacks on the front, this would really put me off. Wanting to upgrade from my T60…..
I love the fact it will be cooler and more quiet, a very strong sellingpoint i think!!! this and long, very long battery time are a lot more important to me than extreme video or CPU speeds.
I love all the details of the Thinkpad’s, it is such a finished product, i really think this is a rare thing to find in good’s these day’s.
Please keep it strong, and don’t give in to the easy selling strategy’s off Multimedia hypes or whatever!
And as for the sub-frame under the keypad, is this Titanium, like the T60?
I think the port Apple uses, for all its Video-connections ( you plug in a thingybox where there are multiple ports available) would be a beautiful solution for all the different demands on DVI, S-Video and what have you!!
A I-think port hihi ……………sorry to all the Apple dislikers
Love the Lenovoblog!!!!
May 13th, 2007 7:24 pm
I have to tell you lenovo missed the mark when it comes to their loyal customers:
1) They need to provide a SXGA+ version (4:3) , that has good quality. I ordered a t60 and had to return it due to the really bad viewing angles.
2) What’s up with the front jacks ?
3) They should reintroduce the old keyboard design that was before the T60. They buttons were much more elegant and had more tactical feel (so they were easier to find without looking.
4) What’s up with making the R and T pretty much identical ?
I actually ordered the T61 but i think I’m going to cancel the order since i would really like a 4:3 SXGA+ That’s what i have on my 2 other T series.
(Curentlly own a T41 and a T41 and the both rock !)
May 13th, 2007 9:27 pm
I forgot 2 things…
I think the firewire is a great added feature (great for video editing)
Anyone has the inside info to when the 4:3 version will be avail ?
May 13th, 2007 11:12 pm
Hey, when x61s, L2500 1.83GHz will be available in the U.S market?
May 14th, 2007 12:42 am
Hi can someone explain the differences in the following options for the Thinkpad T61:
PC Card Slot & Express Card Slot
PC Card Slot & Media Card Slot [$0.00] ( any comments on this option?)
PC Card Slot & Smart Card Slot [add $25.00]
I could not find any information on these options.
Thanks
Nathan
May 14th, 2007 2:51 am
Just a simple question,
Is lenovo doing away with the old blue-green-red IBM insignia on the corner for all the thinkpads or just the T61 and future thinkpads? If we order the T60, will it still have the old trademark?
May 14th, 2007 8:04 am
Is there a possibilty of introducing two graphic subsystem, integrated Intel and discrete one, like some manufacturers like Sony have on certain models? It would be ideal if the discrete graphics could be turned off without rebooting, but the mere option of having a poor but more battery friendly option would be enough.
May 14th, 2007 11:08 am
@Goran
This is generally unnecessary nowadays. The Intel graphics are getting significantly faster, but more importantly, power management technology in the ATI and nVidia systems is evolving to the point where it wouldnt matter. Take a look at ATIs Powerplay v7 specs. I am not sure what nVidia will do (or already is doing), but its a good bet that they have a similar technology in the works.
May 14th, 2007 11:55 am
A new Advanced Dock with full speed PCI-E please!!!
May 14th, 2007 1:02 pm
@Brad
AFAICR, the benchmark of the Sony notebook showeed at least 25%, probably 33%, better autonomy when the computer was using integrated graphics; that’s not something I would disregard. Note that I have personally never contemplated buying anything with integrated graphics, but still, if it can provide an additional option at low additional cost…
May 14th, 2007 1:16 pm
It’s bad that ATI has to team up with AMD (of course!)… and it’s not *yet* so Linux friendly. But comparatively, I prefer ATI because ATI is in the middle way (between integrated and nVidia)
ATI actually has better power management for laptops. nVidia is notorious for its power consumption and their product lines are not so focused in making chipsets with better advanced power management for mobile computing
But it’s a paradox for those who shout and ask for some top-of-the-line graphics in laptops: they ask for bringing in GPU chipsets that drain battery thirstily but at the same time they complain about the shortened battery life
May 14th, 2007 1:43 pm
What I want:
15″ 4:3 SXGA+
Audio Jacks not in front
9 zells battery
SVHS
DVI
Maybe there’s not enough space on the 14″, but i hope 15″ will have enough…
May 14th, 2007 2:05 pm
With the new batch of laptops will there be a 1400×1050 multiview multitouch display for an X61 Tablet – we are waiting and waiting for them. We only need 3 but they would sure help us out. A built in camera would be nice too !!
May 14th, 2007 3:09 pm
Generally I’m in line with my precommentators, but I appreciate the 7Cell battery, because you did a remarkable improvement of batterycapacity. 7Cell almost got 75wh ,
while the standard 6 Cell has something about 56wh. The former 9Cell had 85wh.
Will we see an improvement of capacity on the Ultabay battery extension ? So that we can get a higher overall capacity then with the former combination of 9cell+3cell ?
I guess most of the users would like to see this at least.
Next is when we will se a full PCI x16 line on the advanced dock ? You can be the first company that can offer such a solution. At the moment only Magna is offering a Pci-e x1 external box with many disadvantages. In the near future Asus will sell a external gfx box. But the Magna box is way to expensive with 750$ and we don’t know what the Asus guys will charge us for the small soultion. Lenovo did quite a good job with the advanced dock at a price of around 260€ in europe and all the advantages of a full dock with ultrabay and the other features. Only missing thing is the full connection with x16 so we can use a intel gfx on our Nobos with better battery performance and have i.e. a CAD gfx at home for the hard work.
Can you say something on the future of the docks and their connection ? Is this PCI-e limited due to the dock or do you only connected the connector of the nobo with x1 internal on the mainboard ?
May 14th, 2007 4:28 pm
all websites (e.g. cnet, PCMag., etc.) announce the T61 and the R61 with an integrated camera option. Do you have any idea by when this option will be available?
May 14th, 2007 4:45 pm
Called sales today… and asked about 4:3 ratio for T series… the guy said they will never have a 4:3, because the market is going wide…
is this a spoof ? http://digi.163.com/07/0509/16.....628BV.html or was he lying ?
May 15th, 2007 12:21 am
Is there a date on when the X61 or X61s or X61 Tablet is coming out for North America? We’ve already seen pics of the X61s, and Dell, HP, etc., have already announced their Santa Rosa-based laptops with 12-inch screens.
Also, I’d be curious about the reasoning behind staying with non-widescreen displays for the X series.
Thanks,
Mike
Small-Laptops.com
(Yes, I know this probably won’t be answered until we see the official press release, but I had to try
)
May 15th, 2007 3:28 am
@lowspeed
Looks fake to me. The sticker looks somewhat “cheap” and the TP doesnt have front audio jacks..
May 15th, 2007 10:23 am
I just red :
http://forum.notebookreview.co.....p?t=123126
And realized that the photos clearly show that the screen is off-centered to the left! Why did you make such imbalanced look while the keyboard and speaker below still have centered position? Thats make the laptop look weird.
Do the 15″ models will be released this way? Please make the screen centered. Please….
May 15th, 2007 11:29 am
The new designs are incredible. They make me wish I had waited to buy my 2613-HQU T60p last November. But why are all of them wide screen? Or did I not look carefully enough, hopefully. Those of us doing software development need the extra quarter of screen. Even writing research proposals and such is very difficult as the page preview and other things don’t fit on the screen without requiring scrolling.
Congratulations though at dealing with the heat of Santa Rosa with great care. Even so far as a reduction in general fan speed. With regard to battery stretch would we be able to turn off something that consumes massive power like the FireGL GPU?
A question, what happened to the IBM Logo on the system? Also will the T61p fit into the Leather Premier carrying case I bought with my T60p?
May 15th, 2007 11:34 am
I noticed that the screen of standard screen models are also slightly off-centered with some subtle differences in the left and right screen bezels (the sharp edge details designed by Richard Sapper!
)
But this time T61 WS has gone off-centered in quite an obvious manner: will make sense if Lenovo design team add some buttons to the wider edge of screen
May 15th, 2007 2:54 pm
More answers to various questions that have come up
Sri – You asked about thinner plastics. Yes, the top cover of the new T61 and R61 14W systems are thinner. This is partially how we kept the system weight neutral. We do not need as thick of a top cover if the Display Roll Cage is underneath doing its job of protecting the system.
Why not HDMI? — One reason is that there are royalties attached to adding an HDMI port to a system. Let’s face it, HDMI is a consumer port. It is not a port that a business is going to use, other than a few one off applications. Display port is the right answer, but we’re still a year off.
Why not S-Video — We have S-Video on some of our Lenovo 3000 notebooks. For corporate use, it is mostly dead and for the few people that are using it, it isn’t worth the cost of adding it to millions of systems. Companies that are connecting to displays are usually using higher resolution inputs like Firewire (which we added) and VGA. I know there will be many complaints about this answer, but the market is demanding Firewire, media card readers, and more USB ports. The market, except for a vocal minority, could not care less about S-Video.
Would you as users be willing to accept no modem and no Bluetooth (as a configurable option), in order to get both Intel’s Turbo Memory and WWAN?
Turbo Memory is not offered with Windows XP because Intel and Microsoft declined to write a driver for it.
The system Roll Cage is the same on T60 vs. T61. There was no substantive reengineering.
Your T60 docks will work just fine with the T61 as well as the R61 family (except the “e” series, which does not offer docking support).
The shift to nVIDIA happened because of several things: Customer feedback, and we liked what we saw on nVIDIA’s roadmap.
Full data encryption built into the HDD should not have a measurable impact in speed, but I haven’t seen data yet to confirm this.
I can’t comment on future products, but I can mention that we’re not done announcing all of our Santa Rosa products. You’ll see more of those coming soon.
If you choose a Smart Card or the 4 in 1 media reader, it takes up one of the available spaces for a 2nd card slot. Thus, you have to choose.
I’m told that Battery Stretch will not work on older systems, but I haven’t gotten the code yet either to try it out
The reason is that we rev’d our power management CPU to take advantage of this new technology and our older systems do not have the necessary hooks to make it work.
I’ll have more on the R vs. the T in a future post. Both the R and the T will continue to live on. We’re not going to kill our most successful products!
The off-centered screen. We needed to do that for placement of the wireless antennae. I don’t like the imbalanced look either, and I’ll try to find some more specifics for a future post.
I know answered as well as missed some of your questions. If there is something burning, please feel free to ask it again. I’ll do my best to answer them. I’m sorry that I cannot comment on anything we have not yet announced and no amount of pleading will get me to do so. We have more coming, some of which will address what you’re asking for.
May 15th, 2007 3:55 pm
Matt, thanks for taking the time to weigh-in on these issues. Your willingness to wade in and interact with us, despite the occasional rants and demands, is a testament to both your and Lenovo’s commitment to the ThinkPad community. I for one am quite excited about the additional Santa Rosa products, and I look forward to your future posts and insights into the ThinkPad design process.
May 15th, 2007 4:04 pm
The T61s look nice – great work. You had mentioned in the IPS display post that new display technologies were in the pipeline, although there would be no more IPS. How is the display on the T61? Who is the manufacturer(s)? Can we expect better/brighter displays than we have seen on the t60s, particularly in the 14/14.1 inch form factor. Thanks!
May 15th, 2007 4:58 pm
Matt, thanks for the detailed response. As I guessed, most of the design decisions were logical … We are waiting for the R Vs T series post, now that you have confirmed both lines are going to be there!
May 15th, 2007 7:10 pm
This is tad confusing but NVidia lists the 140M part as a new part launched recently and with DX10 support on their webpage. So is it a DX10 part or not?
May 15th, 2007 7:40 pm
I am a little bit disappointed. The T-Series – up to T42p – (I upgraded now from a T42p to a T60p) is in my opinion the best notebook. But why downgrade Lenovo the T-Series? I like 14″ 4:3 with 1400×1050. I need no camera and no wide-screen for 14″ and such stuff. A serious T-laptop will never have 14″ wide-screen or 17″. I need a serious notebook for working, for my business. T-Series seems to go consumer. And maybe some customers, as I, interpret the T for tradition. I have a well done T-laptop and my next laptop will be a well done T-laptop too. I looks like and feels like the old one, only the performance is better. But, I think, the tradition is broken. And know? The last serious manufacture of laptops has gone. The T61p seems to be my last laptop.
May 15th, 2007 7:52 pm
Those who asked for some news related to upcoming Santa Rosa based Thinkpad X series models might take a look for example at…
http://www.notebookreview.com/.....ewsID=3711
…and search through the coresponding Thinkpad forums.
Regarding the newly announced T61/R61 series it seems that many people have expected some more radical Thinkpad improvements/changes, beside the usual Santa Rosa support and some slightly case design and display screen changes. – Even longtime Thinkpad users should usually know better, that Thinkpads are always only improved in small steps from model to model.
I for my part would suggest to first wait for some real excessive live tests and measurements of the new T61/R61 models, in order to see how they will perform in contrast to their competitors. This should then also answer many of the questions people throw in here.
May 15th, 2007 8:00 pm
… oh sorry, the last sentence must be: The T60p seems to be my last laptop.
May 15th, 2007 11:47 pm
Will it have external pci express 16x?
May 15th, 2007 11:56 pm
Matt:
A very concise yet comprehensive reply! and good strategy to wait for the “storm” to be a bit over before replying…
David will be starting the second wave of storm soon I think
TUser:
I do agree that 4:3 is the aspect ratio for many business users
However, if the screen is large and wide enough (e.g. on a 17″ MacBook Pro), it is actually very convenient to comfortably look at two documents side by side
Also, a webcam can be of business usage nowadays, e.g. videoconferencing; and HP has an upcoming ultra-low voltage tablet that try to make use of its built-in webcam (with some in-house software) for “scanning” business cards too
While I also agree that the sudden introduction of webcam and frontal audio jacks location may have made the appearance of T61 more domestic multimedia consumers oriented, I think the inner beauty of Thinkpad T61 has reached a new height: they now a full exoskeleton! and better cooling system!
Lenovo should be very careful about Thinkpad’s exterior design in how to keep and win the heart of loyal Thinkpad business users: a heighten inner value but with a cheapen look will still kill
So, really beg the engineers to try their very best to conform to all the design requirements set by product designers (like Richard Sapper), and no more compromises like having audio jacks located in the front (Apple has their engineering compromises for their exterior design therefore well-known with the quality issues in their first batch of new products and quality control etc etc, but Apple has been relatively strict in having discipline to conform to the design specs, so their laptops look very designer laptops)
May 15th, 2007 11:58 pm
btw, I do want to see 4:3 14″ SXGA+ Thinkpad & 4:3 15″ IPS Thinkpad line still alive
May 16th, 2007 12:32 am
I too am interested in a external pci express 16x port. When should we start seeing these?
May 16th, 2007 4:43 am
Re the link from vkyr: two things worry me about the X61 — the lack of ExpressCard is still a bit disappointing but I think the fact that there’s going to be a new Wi-Fi chipset (the 4965AGN) that isn’t ostensibly supported by any other operating system but Windows is rather serious. Hopefully I’ll be able to CTO an X61 with an older 3945ABG somehow.
May 16th, 2007 5:24 am
Matt,
> Would you as users be willing to accept no modem and no Bluetooth (as a
> configurable option), in order to get both Intel’s Turbo Memory and WWAN?
seeing that WWAN would substitute the modem, and Bluetooth is primarily used (at least by myself) to connect to cellphones, I’d say that just WWAN would be enough to offset this.
However, throwing in Turbo Memory is nice as well. Though I’d rather configure another 2 GiB of memory.
May 16th, 2007 8:14 am
Ivan – you now know a loyal ThinkPad user who prefers the buttons without the colour and I cannot believe any loyal ThinKPad users gives a damn about the TouchPad buttons as they will never get used. I want my ThinkPad to be as simple a black box as possible – i hate all colour except the trackpoint nipple (grrrr blue Enter key and silly silver buttons) – if only i could find a way to reliably remove the letters from my keyboard i’d do that too.
I don’t have my T61 and R61 models yet so cannot be firm in my comments but i am very confused by the similarities of them – I cannot understand the logical reasoning behind having them both if they are both as sturdy and the same weight/dimensions. I guess the thinking is that with the T series being so popular then make the R series more like it but that just means there are 2 products competing for the same market from the same company which is very odd. It’d be better to get rid of the R series and reintroduce the A series, people that would have bought the R will buy the T so i really don’t think any sales would be lost but sales could be gained by offering a completely new desktop replacement product (dual optical, dual HDD RAID, 17″ screen etc).
May 16th, 2007 2:44 pm
Matt Kohut said:
>Would you as users be willing to accept no modem and no Bluetooth (as a configurable option), in order to get both Intel’s Turbo Memory and WWAN?
YES! Please make it so. It’d be an easy web page change. Seems to me that the BIOS and Windows both enumerate hardware. Just substituting the Robson card for the modem card and putting a blank in the modem jack (or not breaking it out of the case at all as my Dell arrived configured) would be great!
Looking forward to jumping ship from DELL to Lenovo!
May 16th, 2007 4:42 pm
Dear Matt,
now that the second worst kept secrets in industry is revealed – I mean the specs of the upcomming x61 series – will there be a x61/s with SXGA+? I think there is a big demand for it.
May 17th, 2007 11:30 am
Is there a T61p in the works, or does the current T61 have enough graphics horsepower to do the model design? I apologize for being unfamiliar with the nVidia Quatro series. Also, is there a plan to offer a Linux friendly system such that was released with the T60p? Thank you for assistance in this matter.
May 18th, 2007 2:58 am
I know a lot of people have varying opinions on the ThinkPad and this latest generation especially, but I really am with Ivan. I fell in love with the squarish, no-nonsense professional design of the T43 (and T4x in general, which was an improvement on the T3x, and the T2x, all of which I adored). It had a class I haven’t seen any any other notebook, anywhere, ever.
Even thinking about a T43 makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. There was something it embodied which could not be expressed in words – well, other than “beauty”.
So while some may think it a tad superficial to ramble on about how the external presentation has changed, others may liken it to choosing a fast, expensive, powerful and ultimately sexy car. Like anything requring class and distinction, you require a certain level of passion for every aspect of the machine to truly appreciate it. If you love your cars, you don’t buy them just because they’re powerful, you buy them because they’re beautiful. It’s the delicate balance between engineering and art that makes me want to put posters of the T4x series up on my wall.
I actually feel happy just using my T43 – I don’t care if it crashes, the screen flickers, the battery dies – I smile and thank the heavens for even having one for myself.
I could try and relate the ThinkPad to something sublime – something invariably greater than any mortal description, but I’m tired.
I know the ThinkPad engineers had a lot of people telling them very different things. I understand that – but why – why oh why – why oh why oh why.
I was a day off ordering the 15″ IPS screen before they were discontinued, then a day off ordering the last 15″ 4:3 before they were discontinued, and then when I wanted to hurry up and get the 14.1″ SXGA+ screen, they were also discontinued. I cried myself to sleep. It was as if mankind had lost the very mojo on which it was founded.
All I want to know is this: will the 4:3 SXGA+ T61p (which I know is coming – because if it isn’t, I might just cry) look any different to the 4:3 SXGA+ T60p?
Is my dream now that intangible and forever distant ideal to which I can only aspire – whose attainment is nothing more concrete than the air which we breathe?
PS. The IBM logo was included in my fantasy.
May 18th, 2007 8:36 am
Oh My Arya – get a room with your T43
I liked the T2* design, really disliked the T30 and thought the T4* was fantastic but I seem to be one of the few who thought the T60 aesthetics was another step in the right direction (i’ll turn a blind eye to the silver buttons) but I just feel the T61 was a step backwards.
May 18th, 2007 10:25 am
The T23 was the best Jerry, they best !
May 19th, 2007 2:41 am
As an IT Admin in a school, I often have to do a lot of research on new notebook before I recommend it to the management to purchase.
We’ve recently bought 14 Z61t Titanium and 2 X60 tablet laptops, we’re aspecially impressed with the finishing of Z61t Titanium.
Given the similarity of T61 & Z61t, I can understand Lenovo’s decision on discontinuing Z series.
T61’s card reader, firewire, 14″ wide LCD are all great improvements.
But, honestly speaking, I have more disappointment on the T61….
The striking good looking Titanium cover is gone from the Thinkpad lines. We have many user, especially female, just don’t like the old fashion looking black screen cover.
Let’s face it, the majority of average user out there more prefer the Titanium cover over the Black Satin cover. And Thinkpad’s black cover look is just not well recepted it the eyes of most female worker and some male worker.
Why don’t Lenovo give us a choice? Why don’t Lenovo do a poll survey (for accuracy, in a neutral forum like http://www.notebookreview.com) on the popularity of Titanium cover? Why kill a good idea? I personally think it’s not worth to trade the Titanium/Magnesium cover for a slightly better wireless reception. Plastic just doesn’t look good, although it has added Magnesium roll cage inside.
Thinkpad T’s mojo is “Thin & Light”, but the T61 is actually thicker than the previuos model, which is againts the technology’s and market’s trends.
Thank you.
May 19th, 2007 11:26 pm
I liked the diversity of having the R, T and Z series’. I understand that it’s more costly to maintain three different product lines, and the product lines were merging, but the distinction used to be clear up to the T60.
I’m not saying it’s a bad thing but it’s been commented that the R61 is now very close to the T series, in both size and features, perhaps lacking in performance. This is great for the R series users but bad for the T61 users.
With regards to the T61 design, considering we are yet to see a lot of new variations, there is a feeling of disappointment. It seems a lot of people are disappointed about minor things that overall go to make the Thinkpad what it is. The chassis design for instance has taken a blockier approach, audio jacks on the front, IBM logo not being present (validity of this statement in question), off-centre screen, lack of a brighter screen with better viewing angles (IPS) and poor battery life performance.
I’m not too bothered about the chassis design, the boxier look when I come to think about it may be more functional, providing greater strength. Audio jack placement all-in-all is small potatoes. Off centre screen is largely a cosmetic issue related to the antennae, if I am correct, so understandable – like the audio jacks.
Battery life and screen brightness however are two very important things in this grade of notebook, at least in my opinion. The latter issue being one that has been around for a while, as I understand it. But battery life has always been stalwart of the Thinkpad line. I’m not one to complain about extra bulk due to extended life batteries, I just want the option of having that extra bulk for extra battery. Give us the same capacity as previously, the same capacity as the competition at least. I for one don’t care how much it sticks out of the back, I just want the option. Screen brightness especially in the mass-market I think is an overall important issue, matte screens need to be kept for numerous reasons but I don’t think there’s anyone who wouldn’t like a few extra notches for screen brightness, it’s embarassingly dim on my T41p, and the reports I have seen for the T61 seem to corroborate this, if we’re getting widescreens shoved down our throats by the manufacturers, at least let them be better and brighter.
Thank-you once again.
May 20th, 2007 12:27 am
I think that the best design is the t4* by far.
Will there be 4:3 option for displays. I don’t hate 16:9, but they usually lack the vertical res that I like for web pages / writing documents / coding /etc.
Ports in the front..?!! Not a fan. Every laptop that I have encounterd with headphone ports in front had broken ports. This concern is especially true with the z series. Why would you have front audio ports on a multi-media notebook? Cords sticking out of the front is just messy and tacky. So having ports in the front just seems like bad design.
I just hope that Thinkpads don’t end up like sony laptops (ie lots of useless software dependant features and poorly placed ports)
May 20th, 2007 3:49 pm
RRedline: Lenovo did run a giant poll for those ThinkPad owners that prefer either Black or Titanium colored screen covers. The URL was hhtp://www.whichsideareyouon.com/ It now redirects to the Lenovo website. The last time I checked, Titanium was in the landslide majority. I suppose they decided that it was best to stick to tradition. I’m happy, because, in most aspects of life I admire and follow the ways of the past.
The T60p was incredibly thin, even thinner than the 600E I still own with great pride. I’ll bet the descision was made to thicken it due to stability of the screen. I doubt the difference was made with a flagrant disregard for usability.
May 21st, 2007 4:23 pm
You imply by saying “…hot new feature that may show up…” that Blu-Ray may not show up. Do you think Blu-Ray will show up?
I’ve got a very basic reason for wanting a laptop with either HD or Blu-Ray… when it comes to data backup… a disc offers the best protection (if you actually take the time to backup)… a backup harddrive protects against harddrive failure – but not theft or natural disaster (fire, earthquake, etc.). A burned disc that can be stored easily offsite offers protection from harddrive, theft or other cause.
Eager to order a T61… but would love some indication if Blu-Ray is real or not. (Granted, because I’m into this for data backup, I don’t really care if it’s Blu-Ray or HDDVD… just want as much capacity as possible).
May 22nd, 2007 11:04 am
Hi All,
I notice that Lenovo added a camera option to the display selection. Also removed 64-bit Vista. Any ideas on this?
Thanks
Nathan
May 23rd, 2007 10:53 pm
Sorry, I am just not getting too excited by all this. The main features I want are missing: a bright 14.1″ 4:3 high resolution display, a classy visual presentation, and a TV out solution to use with a standard TV.
The PC Magazine quote on Lenovo’s website is telling: “The Lenovo ThinkPad T61 widescreen is the best business laptop for those who love widescreens…” — Notice what is being implied here.
May 25th, 2007 4:59 am
Dan – as far as i’m aware blu-ray drives only exist in the 12mm form factor at the moment so will not be on T series until this changes.
May 26th, 2007 10:21 am
Hi Matt,
1. A Thinkpad user has a little review saying that the new T61 has a seemingly degraded keyboard that’s “After typing on T61 for about 15 mins I felt a strange feeling of foreignness that I had never felt on any thinkpad keyboards as of yet (have been an owner of A31p, two X31, R51, T60 and T60WS).
Keyboard build quality itself was fairly solid but it lacked the sweet touch and feel of previous keyboards I’ve seen in any thinkpad.”
I’m most concerned with it, and please trace down QC of the part manufacturers, or are they building the new keyboards in a different / lower quality way?
2. The user also pointed out that only vertical USB slots are available on the T61, and this makes it impossible to plug in broad USB thumb drive / devices
An attempt to keep up the quality of Thinkpad…
May 27th, 2007 10:16 pm
I was just looking at the Lenovo website, looking at the T61 CTOs and see that Lenovo is ONLY offering them with Microsoft Vista as the operating system. I guess Microsoft is pressuring their suppliers to unload this turkey on the public so hard, they’re withdrawing their support for Windows XP… if this is the case, Lenovo can kiss my business goodbye. I will go without ever buying another laptop from them if it means getting it with Vista on it. I’m pretty fed up with Lenovo’s way of doing business, offering one thing this week and withdrawing it the next… having a ’sale’ this week, and next week the same laptop is $200 less. It’s all a bunch of bull, and Lenovo should take the Thinkpad brand off their laptops, because they do not have the same high standards that caused me to buy Thinkpads for the past 15 years, they’re not even close. There are a few of their employees who are trying to do their best to continue the tradition of IBM, but without support from above they are helpless. Too bad the US allowed this sale to the Chinese to go through… shame on us.
May 28th, 2007 6:37 pm
I am reading various blogs that there are delays on the T61. Whats the real story? I actually placed an order on May 9th the day it was released with an estimated ship date of May 28th. Today I check the online status and it shows Aug 30th. How can it take 3.5 months to build this thing?
May 29th, 2007 5:25 pm
Hi, This is a very interesting news…. i’m seriously thinking to buy a new lenovo x61 tablet but i’m worried about the lack of EXPRESS CARD that will be the new standard.
Could you confirm the absence of express card instead of pc card?
Do you know if it will be introduced in the new ultrabase? (it would be very useful connect x61 with external GPU through the ASUS XG STATION…..)
Best Regards
Renato
May 30th, 2007 1:01 pm
Besides Vista Business 64bit being removed from the Lenovo T61 configuration screen the Intel T7700 processor is no longer an option. Also both the Intel graphics and Nvidia graphics indicate that selecting that option may delay your order. So basically no matter which graphics option you pick…the order will be delayed. Whats up with that?
May 30th, 2007 7:08 pm
I am in the same boat. My original ship date for my T61 was 5/30. Today I go online and it shows 8/31. Worst of all, I have been trying to call Lenovo all day and you cannot get through to the call center. As of 6:30pm est, the closed message is all you get even though they indicate the hours are until 7:00pm. There is nothing on their web site about this issue either. Very poor customer service in response to this issue. If the new delivery date is really 8/31, I will be cancelling my order and looking elsewhere.
May 31st, 2007 6:14 am
Well, the new ThinkPad X61/X61s/X61 tablet are now orderable on the Lenovo website. The estimated ship date is 2 weeks from now. Lets cross our fingers and hope.
May 31st, 2007 9:05 am
Snife wrote:
“I cannot understand the logical reasoning behind having them both if they are both as sturdy and the same weight/dimensions. I guess the thinking is that with the T series being so popular then make the R series more like it but that just means there are 2 products competing for the same market from the same company which is very odd. It’d be better to get rid of the R series and reintroduce the A series, people that would have bought the R will buy the T so i really don’t think any sales would be lost but sales could be gained by offering a completely new desktop replacement product (dual optical, dual HDD RAID, 17″ screen etc).”
I must say that I concur. Even the pricing is extremely close. What gives? I don’t see how this can continue. One of these is due a premature death IMO. My guess is that the next series after the *61’s will not include the both the R and T. My hunch is that what remains will in essence be an ‘R’, whether it is called a ‘T’ or an ‘R’. I have a feeling the svelt T-series, as we know it, will be history. Currently the difference between the R61’s and T61’s is about 1/8 of an inch (3 mm) in thickness, and about .2 lbs (.1 kg) in weight. Previously, comparing the T43 with a R52 yields a difference in thickness of about 1/4″ (6 mm), and a difference in weight of about 1 lb (.5 kg), and a corresponding price difference as well.
For cost-cutting reasons, I will not be surprised if we are looking at thicker notebooks from Lenovo in the near future (excluding the X-series). At least weights have not changed much since the T4x series.
Snife’s suggestion to bring back the A-series is a good idea. We do not need an ‘R’ and a ‘T’ that are so similar.
May 31st, 2007 2:12 pm
Just for all you wondering when a T61 would hit the market with a 15.4″ display — well it appears they’re finally on the market, or at least one is anyways. A 646557U comes in at just under $1500 CDN according to Lenovo Canada’s website.
May 31st, 2007 9:07 pm
Order T61, and you will get it some day, maybe forever…
THey just have different exercises to delay the ship.
THis happens again and again, Z61, T60, then this time it is T61.
LENOVO are losing their credit
June 1st, 2007 6:31 am
complaining lenovo, sososososos bad, delay my oder, i will cancel it. I do not what’s matter with your service?
June 6th, 2007 12:57 pm
Matt Kohut said:
>Don’t look for DVI. It is a physically large, expensive port to add. Thus we only put it on our Advanced Port Replicators and Docks. Display Port will be the solution instead of DVI, maybe starting in 2008.[/quote]
Matt Kohut said:
>Why not S-Video — We have S-Video on some of our Lenovo 3000 notebooks. For corporate use, it is mostly dead and for the few people that are using it, it isn’t worth the cost of adding it to millions of systems. Companies that are connecting to displays are usually using higher resolution inputs like Firewire (which we added) and VGA. I know there will be many complaints about this answer, but the market is demanding Firewire, media card readers, and more USB ports. The market, except for a vocal minority, could not care less about S-Video.[/quote]
According to this link (http://www5.pc.ibm.com/de/prod.....ocument#eo), the R61 15,4″ has DVI as well as S-Video.
June 6th, 2007 1:53 pm
Dennis,
None of our notebooks have DVI integrated, and only a select few have S-Video. Any reference to DVI integration goes back to certain docking solutions which have DVI output capability. If you want to know if a specific product offers DVI passthrough support and/or S-Video, please post which product you are interested in and I will let you know.
June 6th, 2007 5:37 pm
Hi Tim.
That’s pretty sad.
So I assume the information on the german lenovo site (http://www5.pc.ibm.com/de/prod.....ocument#eo) are wrong
Anyways, here in germany some dealers list 14″ T61 Thinkpads with a 4:3 resolution (xga only though), but with a 6cell battery, which i assume is the “old” one from the T60 series. Is there a chance that we might see 4:3 SXGA+ on T61/R61 with the possiblity to use the “old” 9cells battery?
Matt said some time ago, that Lenovo hasn’t announced all of their Santa Rosa Thinkpads, some more info would be great.
June 6th, 2007 5:47 pm
Dennis,
My German is rusty, and the layout of that site is a little confusing, but I think what it is trying to list is that the R61 features DVI support, but what it does not elaborate is that DVI support is via pass-through only; in other words, the system supports DVI through the docking station. We do specify which systems offer DVI passthrough support as some models, like the R60e or Z61e for instance, do not support DVI passthrough.
I will get back to you on your other question, but as always keep in mind: we cannot discuss unannounced products.
June 7th, 2007 11:16 am
Is 802.11n Wi-Fi ThinkPad 11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter OR Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN? Because i wanted 802.11n. What’s the difference between (1 DIMM) and (2 DIMM) in memeory?What’s the difference between WXGA+ and WXGA? What configuration do u recommend. i chose 1 gb ram…can i still called them up and switch to 2gb of ram? Thanks
June 7th, 2007 11:25 am
Here’s my order any comments?
CTO THINKPAD T61 WITH NVIDIA GRAPHICS – 1 YD
SBB INTEL CORE 2 DUO PRCESST7100
VBB MS WIN VISTA HOME PREMIUM
SBB MSWIN VHP32 US ENGLISH
SBB 14.1″WXGA TFT,W/ CAMERA
NVIDIA QUADRO NVS 140M MEDIACARD
VBB 1GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 1DIMM
SBB KEYBOARD US ENGLISH
SBB UN(TRACKPOINT+TCHPD)+ FING.R
SBB 100 GB HDD,7200RPM
SBB INTEL TURBO MEMORY 1GB
SBB DVDREC8XMAXDUALLAY,UBAYSLM
SBB PC CARDSLOT EX CARDSLOT
SBB THINKPAD 11N #1
VBB INTEGR.BLUETOOTH PAN
SBB 7 CELL LI-ION BATERRY
SBB COUNTRY PACK NORTH AMERICA
SBB PSTN CABLE
SBB LANG.PACK US ENGLISH
SBB PACKAGING US
SBB 14.1WXGAW/OWWAN,W/CAMBT11N
SBB 56K V.92 DESIGNED MODEM
SBB CL.PLATE T61WLANANDBLTOOTH
SBB FCC, LABEL
SBB GEO LABEL US, WLAN,BT
SBB LOGO PLATE
SBB INT WLAN ANT 14.1″ 11ABGN
SBB MT 7662 SYSTEM LABEL
SBB MECH MISC PARTS
SBB MS LABEL (VISTA PREMIUM)
SBB INTEL LABEL CORE-2
SBB NO SIM MODEL
SBB PC CARDSLOT EXPRESCARDSLOT
SBB STAND LCD C/B:14.1″W/ CAM
SBB WLAN MISC PARTS
SBB WWAN MISC PARTS
SBB NVID QUADRO NVS XXXX W/AMT
SBB BLUETOOTH W/ ANTENNA
SBB BLUETOOTH SCREW
SBB MS WAU ENGLISH NA-U MODELS
SBB 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SODIMM
June 7th, 2007 5:14 pm
Paul,
Lenovo currently offers 802.11a/b/g/n from 2 different companies. One is the Intel version, which is basically an Intel wireless chipset and the other is a chipset that is from Atheros. They both provide 802.11a/b/g/n connectivity, but they may offer a little different performance. If you choose the Intel version of the chipset, then your machine will also be considered to be a Centrino system, or Centrino Pro, and that just means that you have the 3 Intel chipset components. The Intel chipset may offer slightly better battery performance, but I don’t think it’s for certain. I have read several people say that the Atheros (ThinkPad branded 802.11 wireless) may offer better range and connectivity. So you’ll have to do a little more research and decide for yourself which you want to select. I think neither of them is a bad decision.
Your ThinkPad has 2 memory slots. When you choose how much system memory the unit comes with you can specify if the memory takes up 1 DIMM (memory) slot, or 2 DIMM slots. Let’s say you want 2GB of memory. It’s generally cheaper for them to provide you with 2GB of memory by installing two, 1GB memory modules (DIMMS). This would use up both of your memory slots. If you decided later that you wanted to upgrade your memory, then you would have to take out one of the 1GB modules and replace it with a larger one. If you pay a little extra, then you can get all of the memory in 1 DIMM, leaving yourself a free memory slot for future upgrades. In the past, some systems performed better if they had memory that was installed in matched pairs and the two 1GB modules would have performed better. I don’t believe that this is necessarily true anymore and often it’s not on a laptop since they only have 2 memory slots most of the time. I think most of us order a low memory configuration that only takes up 1 slot and then orders extra memory from a company like Crucial since their prices are much better.
I can’t answer your question about WXGA+ vs. WXGA with any certainty, but I can offer some possibilities. Generally speaking, the W in front of the resolution would indicate a wide screen aspect ration, something like 1280 x 768. Normally the plus after the resolution indicates a slightly higher resolution like 1400 x 1050 in the case of SXGA+. If you do a search on Wikipedia for WXGA+ then I’m sure you will turn up something. One warning though, sometimes there is a typo with regards to the resolution. For example, on the new ThinkPad X61 tablets, they list the screen as SXGA and really it shoudl say SXGA+.
I hope this info helps.
June 7th, 2007 5:39 pm
THANKS ALOT madcow101333 , that info cleared up everything.
June 9th, 2007 3:32 pm
Howzit,I am trying to build the lenovo r61 with windows xp,for some reason in device manager the base drivers does not install,any hints
June 10th, 2007 9:16 am
Could someone post the actual weights and dimensions of the new Thinkpad series? 14,1″ as well as 15,4″…
June 10th, 2007 2:04 pm
I really think Lenovo should built a Z62t with these configurations:
Santa Rosa
13.3″ WXGA LCD (or 14.1″)
Titanium Lid
DVD-Writer
IMO Thinkpad design team’s inablility in designing a practical female-oriented Thinkpad laptop has at least cost Lenovo 50% of the sales volumn.
Without these configurations our organisaton’s next purchase would not be Thinkpad, most likely it would be Fujitsu S6410 or Macbook with bootcamp.
June 10th, 2007 4:37 pm
I was wondering how the the t61 notebook feels. It looks like cheap plastic.
June 10th, 2007 10:11 pm
Some people say X61 is suitable for lady user. I say, what? no touchpad? with that old fashion black lid? Persoanally after dealing with almost hundred of lady users I have never seen anyone of them like to use the track point and like the look of the black cover.
June 11th, 2007 4:39 pm
1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SODIMM means? 2 512mn ?
June 14th, 2007 5:42 am
Paul,
I looked at the BOM that you posted for your order and I see the following:
VBB 1GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 1DIMM
That indicates a 1GB SODIMM and it says 1DIMM. However, I also see near the bottom:
SBB 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SODIMM
So my *GUESS* is that your ordered 2GB with your system and it’s taking up 2 DIMM slots. I haven’t seen and order for a system that is configured for 2GB in a single DIMM slot since all of my orders were for only 1GB. Do you happen to remember when you were selecting the memory if you chose 2GB (1 DIMM) or (2 DIMM)?
June 14th, 2007 12:55 pm
madcow101333,
Thanks for your reply. Funny thing is that I selected 1 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM). So what does that mean?
June 15th, 2007 4:51 pm
I want to buy X60s or X61s. Is there any docking solution for X60s/X61s with DVI support? X6 Ultrabase doesn’t have DVI output.
June 15th, 2007 7:31 pm
Paul,
I went back and looked at my order and I also selected 1GB (1 DIMM) and I also have two items listed similar to your. Therefore, my *GUESS* is probably wrong. It probably means that you are getting the 1GB that you ordered and it is configured to be only in 1 DIMM slot, leaving the other open for upgrade.
June 16th, 2007 11:36 am
Hello,
I have to decide very soon which laptop I will order. Here a few questions:
Until now, I cannot find any 15.4 inch models with integrated webcam. Will the webcam be integrated in those models? And will there be a larger resolution available for the 14.1 inch WS models than WXGA+?
Thanks for your answers.
MCH13
June 16th, 2007 3:33 pm
When is the T51p coming out and when is the T or R series with blu ray scheduled to be released?
Thanks
November 26th, 2007 5:19 pm
What is missing:
More Options for 14″ 4:3
Different Video Outputs like:
S-Video,DVI (HDMI ?)
There is no way to get that with a T61
Maybe it could be done with a Solution like Apple is doing it (Mini-DVI + several Adapters).
I would wish so much to update to the T-Series, but not without having at least S-Video…
December 15th, 2007 10:14 pm
It seems that Lenovo misled everyone as to the capability and compatibility of the T61 with the Advanced Dock and an additional PCIe video card. The PCIe slot is electrically only x1 not x16 and so far only Matrox has certified a couple of their cards and they cost $800!! I bought an HIS ATI Radeon HD2600XT PCIe 512mb card. The T61 will not boot up. Apparently this is the universal experience with all PCIe video cards. I bought this configuration specifically because I wanted to run HD DVI from the Docked config with my T61 and it seems this is impossible. When anyone has asked Lenovo support if they know of Any PCIe card running in the Advanced Dock w/ a T61, they say no. If anyone has managed to make this work, there are a lot of frustrated T61 owners who would appreciate knowing how you did it.
December 17th, 2007 7:06 pm
Randal – to the best of my knowledge, the issue is not with the video card itself but with Vista. As I understand it, our advanced dock does not support a separate graphics card with Windows Vista due to how video drivers are handled. I’m looking more into this, but if you use Windows XP you should not see these problems. Not the best answer, I know, but that is all I know at this time.
December 17th, 2007 10:57 pm
Thanks Tim, I appologize for not including my T61 specs: currently 1Gb Ram, T7500 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo pro, Intel Turbo memory card, 100GB 7200 rpm HDD, 14.1″ WXGA+ w/Intel 965 integrated video, running Verizon mobile broadband PC Card, and most importantly, Windows XP sp2.
With the PCIe card in the dock, LT off, connect, turn on the Dock, when it gets to the
(I believe) the hardware initialization section of Windows, the screen blanks and a DOS like window opens saying there was a hardware failure, contact the vendor, NMI and Memory checksum failure. At this point there is total lockup and only a powerdown recovers. Unplugging the LT and rebooting, it comes up fine.
April 1st, 2008 5:02 pm
Hi -
I found this post through Google: I’m trying to find out whether the T41 supports DVI passthrough to the dock – please let me know.
Thanks,
Aktrop
April 1st, 2008 6:58 pm
Aktrop — if the T41 has integrated graphics, the answer is no. If it has ATI graphics, then yes.
April 1st, 2008 7:11 pm
Thanks, Matt.
I’ve got an ATI Radeon Mobility 7500 (M7 LW). I’m trying to get a triple head set up (laptop monitor + monitor on the VGA output of the dock + monitor on the DVI output of the dock). A dual head setup works fine, but Ubuntu doesn’t recognize the DVI screen. Your comment suggests that it might be a problem with the driver (“radeon”) I’m using. Any suggestions?
Thanks again!
June 25th, 2009 8:24 pm
Can I use these new laptops to drive my television?