Thinkpad T60 $894

[EKKC]

Originally posted by: Muse
Tracking shows an arrival scan in my town this afternoon (Sunday). For some reason it says the delivery is "rescheduled" for Tuesday, which seems pretty weird. I'm going to be out of town Tuesday at least until the afternoon. In fact, I wasn't planning on being home until maybe Thursday, but I can change those plans and be home Tuesday afternoon and etc. If it comes tomorrow and I don't have some assurances from Lenovo concerning the arrangements I made with the sales rep, I wonder if I should refuse to accept shipment.

Status: In Transit
Rescheduled Delivery: 11/28/2006
Shipped to: BERKELEY, CA, US
Shipped or Billed on: 11/25/2006
Service Type: EXPRESS
Weight: 4.20 Kgs




Package Progress
Location Date Local Time Description
OAKLAND,
CA, US
11/26/2006 5:06 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

LOUISVILLE,
KY, US 11/26/2006 3:13 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN

11/26/2006 11:39 A.M. IMPORT SCAN

OSAKA,
JP
11/26/2006 7:38 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

CHEK LAP KOK,
HK 11/25/2006 10:53 P.M. EXPORT SCAN

11/25/2006 10:52 P.M. ORIGIN SCAN

HK 11/25/2006 12:01 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

wow they ship these babies direct from hong kong? wow.

many shipments are "rescheduled" due to Thursday being a holiday, basically that pushed all shipments back by 1-2 business days. most of my shipments that should arrived this week have that label as well.

 

[Muse]

I have a question about the GMA950 Intel video option. Before I decide I want to keep my T60 (it's nestled in the unopened box), I want to know if I can use an external monitor (say, a 19" LCD) or even a projector with it. I have the 1.5 GB RAM option. The recent PC World article says not to use the GMA950 if you want to use external video, so this concerns me. I'm thinking that 1.5 GB RAM might make that superfluous, but just don't know. TIA.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Who the hell wrote that? There wasn't even discussion about dual core.

GMA950 is fine for external displays. The quality on a nice LCD won't be great since you're using VGA, but it will work fine. GMA950 is fine for anything 2D; 3D is where it suffers.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Who the hell wrote that? There wasn't even discussion about dual core.

GMA950 is fine for external displays. The quality on a nice LCD won't be great since you're using VGA, but it will work fine. GMA950 is fine for anything 2D; 3D is where it suffers.

Ah, you mean like games?

I guess those PC World guys aren't quite accurate sometimes. That's why I usually check out forums or newsgroups before I even think of checking regular websites. Too many of those have too many people faking it.

Since I haven't been playing my games on my desktop system, I don't think I'll be doing it on the laptop. I have a BFG geforce 6600 GT OC AGP double DVI in my main desktop. I got the dual DVI because I agree with you that VGA out just doesn't look real good on a nice LCD (I have a 2nd 19" LCD for dual display with my main desktop). If I want to do 3D, that'll be where I do it. Thanks!

 

[Muse]

Am I wrong, or is there no upgrade path to Vista Ultimate with this deal? I wonder if it's not smarter to wait until after Vista ships. Maybe Vista Ultimate will be an option.

Lenovo Vista upgrade options

No Upgrade to Windows Vista Ultimate

 

[fbrdphreak]

Looks like it - but that is an MS thing unfortunately.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Looks like it - but that is an MS thing unfortunately.

In fact, it appears that the upgrade paths are thus:

XP Pro
--> Vista Business
XP Home
--> Vista Home Premium
--> Vista Home Basic

Evidently the upgrades from XP Home involve a rebate (at least, through Lenovo), but other than that the cost is the same as from XP Pro -- S&H. Vista Home Premium has the features of Media Center Edition, however Vista Business does not.

Vista Express Upgrade

 

[GoSharks]

1 2613HJU ThinkPad T60 $1,014.00
24x/24x/24x/8x Max
CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Ultrabay
Slim Drive
ThinkPad 6 Cell Li-Ion Battery
ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wireless LAN
MiniPCI Express Adapter
Genuine Windows XP Home Edition
512MB PC2-5300 CL5 NP DDR2
SDRAM SODIMM
60GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive

Ordered Nov 17, estimated ship date is Dec20. How the heck did you get yours so quickly Muse. I called them last week and they said there was a shortage of ram.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: GOSHARKS
1 2613HJU ThinkPad T60 $1,014.00
24x/24x/24x/8x Max
CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Ultrabay
Slim Drive
ThinkPad 6 Cell Li-Ion Battery
ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wireless LAN
MiniPCI Express Adapter
Genuine Windows XP Home Edition
512MB PC2-5300 CL5 NP DDR2
SDRAM SODIMM
60GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive

Ordered Nov 17, estimated ship date is Dec20. How the heck did you get yours so quickly Muse. I called them last week and they said there was a shortage of ram.

I have no idea why mine shipped so fast. I was literally taken aback. In fact, I was displeased! I had expected that the order would be called back from the plant before assembly and I would rehash it with the sales rep. His explanation of why this did not happen was complex and less than satisfying. The box sits on my floor presently. If I don't get the price I thought I was getting, the system is going back. WTH, I have some other ideas of what I want now. I figure the $20 for 7200 60 GB drive is a decent upgrade. I'm uncertain of that, but if I were ordering now, I would do that. I may just decided to keep it.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Muse
-snip- I figure the $20 for 7200 60 GB drive is a decent upgrade. I'm uncertain of that, but if I were ordering now, I would do that. I may just decided to keep it.

A bit of investigation has me thinking 5400 RPM may be the best bet for me. See the second post in this four post thread. 7200 RPM drives give only about 8% faster access times, but give off more heat, use more battery power, make more noise and are apt to shorten the life span of the laptop.

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: Muse
-snip- I figure the $20 for 7200 60 GB drive is a decent upgrade. I'm uncertain of that, but if I were ordering now, I would do that. I may just decided to keep it.

A bit of investigation has me thinking 5400 RPM may be the best bet for me. See the second post in this four post thread. 7200 RPM drives give only about 8% faster access times, but give off more heat, use more battery power, make more noise and are apt to shorten the life span of the laptop.

And Muse sets the record for most replies in a Hot Deals thread.

A 5400 rpm hard drive will be fine. However, that reply you referenced is arguably not too accurate.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: Muse
-snip- I figure the $20 for 7200 60 GB drive is a decent upgrade. I'm uncertain of that, but if I were ordering now, I would do that. I may just decided to keep it.

A bit of investigation has me thinking 5400 RPM may be the best bet for me. See the second post in this four post thread. 7200 RPM drives give only about 8% faster access times, but give off more heat, use more battery power, make more noise and are apt to shorten the life span of the laptop.

That is a myth dear sir.

http://www.laptoplogic.com/reviews/detail.php?id=92

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: Muse
-snip- I figure the $20 for 7200 60 GB drive is a decent upgrade. I'm uncertain of that, but if I were ordering now, I would do that. I may just decided to keep it.

A bit of investigation has me thinking 5400 RPM may be the best bet for me. See the second post in this four post thread. 7200 RPM drives give only about 8% faster access times, but give off more heat, use more battery power, make more noise and are apt to shorten the life span of the laptop.

That is a myth dear sir.

http://www.laptoplogic.com/reviews/detail.php?id=92

OK, Tim, since you evidently conducted the tests and wrote the review, you obviously are in a position to speak on this. I quote you here:

Since SYSmark2004SE simulates real world usage through general internet and office applications, we don't see a huge disparity in performance due to RPM speed. In fact, the Hitachi 120GB 4K120 is only one opint away from the Seagate 100GB 7200.1 despite its meager 4200RPM spindle speed. For the kind of usage reflected in SYSmark2004SE, we recommend users looking at the capacity they need and the best $/GB ratio as higher RPM's don't increase performance terribly much.

So, it more or less comes down to $/GB and the question:

Will a drive with this RPM do what I need it to do? I read some posts by a guy or two who have relatively heavy demands on their HDs in their laptops, and they prefer 7200 drives therefore. I don't know what I will be doing with mine for sure. I figure I will probably be OK with the 5400 RPM 60 GB.

Question: How can I determine what specific drives go into the T60's (and who manufacture's them)?

Scanning the article, it looks to me like the Toshiba 1032-GAX (100 GB, 16 MB cache, 5400 RPM) comes in a winner in the bang for the buck department.

 

[fbrdphreak]

7200RPM has a noticeable benefit in application load times and general performance if you use up most of your RAM and use the swap file a lot. It adds a fair amount to cost and you are limited to 100GB, but that's what you get for performance.

Modern 5400RPM drivers offer very similar performance to 7200RPM drives and hands down offer best bang for the buck performance. My point was more that 7200RPM drives don't add heat or reduce battery life in any discernible fashion.

From my experience, most of the drivers in ThinkPads are Hitachi; however with the switch to SATA you will see some Seagate and Fujitsu as well. Not sure if other brands are used; all are good choices tho. If it is 7200RPM, it will be Hitachi or Seagate; Fujitsu doesn't offer 7200RPM drives right now.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
7200RPM has a noticeable benefit in application load times and general performance if you use up most of your RAM and use the swap file a lot. It adds a fair amount to cost and you are limited to 100GB, but that's what you get for performance.

Modern 5400RPM drivers offer very similar performance to 7200RPM drives and hands down offer best bang for the buck performance. My point was more that 7200RPM drives don't add heat or reduce battery life in any discernible fashion.

From my experience, most of the drivers in ThinkPads are Hitachi; however with the switch to SATA you will see some Seagate and Fujitsu as well. Not sure if other brands are used; all are good choices tho. If it is 7200RPM, it will be Hitachi or Seagate; Fujitsu doesn't offer 7200RPM drives right now.

I suppose the only way I can find out what's in it is to fire it up and see what Windows reports.

Scanning the article, it looks to me like the Toshiba 1032-GAX (100 GB, 16 MB cache, 5400 RPM) comes in a winner in the bang for the buck department.

Yes, I was thinking that with a lot of RAM, your need for HD performance would be very much diminished.

 

[aimanzym]

using a thinkpad for gaming? is that good enough?

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: aimanzym
using a thinkpad for gaming? is that good enough?

Depends on your definition of good enough

http://www.laptoplogic.com/resources/detail.php?id=37

 

[Muse]

Lenovo ThinkPad T60 Widescreen Review

Submitted by abaxter on Tuesday, November 28, 2006

 

[Muse]

The widescreen T60 has been added to the lineup at the T60 Lenovo ordering page, but the baseprice is $1289.

 

[Muse]

The sales rep I was dealing with never called me back with info about price adjustment. I last talked to him on Monday and he said it would be a day or two. I left him 2 messages yesterday (Thursday), still no reply. I called and talked to a different sales rep and she asked me the name of the person I had dealt with and without asking me, she said she'd connect me with him and bang... I was connected to his voice mail again and I hung up.

I've had the unopened box since Monday and I decided to return it (for a full refund). I only ordered because this guy told me I could and he would work up the adjustment. I'm not blaming him. I have to figure it's just not the right time for me to get my first laptop. Unless I cave in and buy a used laptoop, my first will be a Thinkpad. But it will be a while. I'm very busy with big projects. Frankly, I don't need a laptop and it's a bit of a luxury. I have a perfectly good desktop and 19" LCD, I'm currently unemployed. If I need a laptop, I'll get one. Meantime, I've got what I need with my desktop.

I guess a major reason I made the decision is the fact that I ordered XP Pro. The upgrade path to Vista from XP Pro is to Vista Business. There's no path to Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate, which are the versions that include the Media Center functionality. I now think I want that and am unsure if or when I will want remote desktop or support for logging onto network domains which are supported by XP Pro and Vista Business.

Edit: The sales rep just called me back and said he was off yesterday. He said his request for confirmation of the prices on 11/17 and commensurate approval of the price adjustments I wanted (totaling $114) hadn't come through yet, which is unusual. He said they usually respond within a day or two. He said he would continue to pursue the matter for me but couldn't guarantee the result. Then he noticed that a return had been processed and I confirmed, but said I haven't sent the package back yet. I said I would hold onto it until he gets back to me with the results of the deliberation on the price adjustments. I said I had a misgiving about my system and the choice of XP Pro, for the reasons stated above (no upgrade path to Ultimate), and he said that the anticipated upgrage path something that is apt to change, and he thinks if I want to upgrade to Ultimate it probably won't be that difficult. He said he'd get back to me Monday or Tuesday and I said I will delay a final decision until I hear from him. Even if he says they will honor my original cart (of which I have no proof), I may return the system. I'm just not too hot on it right now. If they say they won't honor my original cart, I will return it for sure. After all, I only ordered because he said he would go to bat for me. I should really have reminded him of that (I have the feeling he forgot). It's been said I'm too nice a guy and I guess maybe it's true.

 

[Muse]

I get an email from Lenovo saying I have two contradictory requests in their system:

RMA's
Price protection

They ask me to make up my mind and call them!

So, I call them (still trying to get my price protection) and they say since I'm already dealing with a sales rep, I should contact him. I call him and get his voice mail. He answers me next day saying he still hasn't obtained the information he needs and he will call me Monday or Tuesday (yesterday or previous day). He doesn't, and I'm getting antsy because my RMA notifications say I have 10 days to return and the clock is ticking.

I call Lenovo again today and am told that the sales rep I've been talking to is part time, which accounts for my difficulty in connecting with him. The guy puts me on hold and comes back and asks me if I want to pursue the RMA or the price protection. I reply that if I can get the price protection I'll keep the equipment. He says that shouldn't be a problem. If it is a problem, they'll notify me. I say before I open the packages I want assurance that the price protection has been accepted, and ask to be directly informed. He says I will get a call tomorrow or next day to that effect.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Jeez, sounds like one hand not knowing what the other is doing. Good luck, I hope you get what you want

 

[marulee]

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Jeez, sounds like one hand not knowing what the other is doing. Good luck, I hope you get what you want

It looks pretty certain at this point. It's not absolute, but I'd be surprised if they turn around and say "no, we will not honor your price protection request." Whether or not this will invalidate my Fatwallet 7% discount is another matter. I don't know how that's going to pan out. They withhold the Fatcash for a period to make sure the deal wasn't cancelled, etc. Ideally, I'd get the 7% off my ultimate price (before taxes, I assume) and not the one I was rung up for. If the Fatcash falls through and there's no remedy, it won't be the end of the world.

Edit: Sometime this weekend I guess I'll open the box!

 

[GoSharks]

I finally got my 2613-HJU on Tuesday. Its really nice . Better build quality than my old T23 that was stolen... Although there are some design features that I will need to get used to after 3.5 years of the T23. Little things such as the corners being square and not beveled.