Lenovo Thinkpad T60

Lenovo Thinkpad T60 Review

Overview

The Thinkpad T-series is regarded by most people as the flagship PC laptop. Renowned build quality, legendary keyboard, and top of the line specifications make for one incredible machine. The new Thinkpad T60 will not disappoint in those categories. A new roll cage design reinforces the T60, an updated keyboard, EVDO wireless, and Intel Core Duo technology make up the backbone of this high end machine.

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Our test model came nicely loaded with a Core Duo T2500 (2.0GHz, 667MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache), 1GB DDR2 667 RAM, 100GB 5400RPM hard drive, dual layer DVDRW drive, ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 GPU, 15" SXGA+ FlexView screen, EVDO wireless, and many more goodies. Unfortunately these high end goodies come at quite a price, running $2599 at publication with a three year warranty. The high price tag is certainly justified though, with more features than a Swiss Army Knife and the build quality of a tank. Lenovo support is the same as when IBM ran the Think-brand, top notch U.S. based phone support with quality service whether it be mail-in or on-site. For businesses and business professionals, Thinkpads are an easy choice for a high quality, reliable computing solution. The average home user certainly has some more factors to consider, as the price tag is significantly higher than a comparably configured "consumer" machine from the likes of HP or Dell. However in the end, users seeking the unique plethora of features held by Thinkpads will not be disappointed with Lenovo's latest Thinkpad, the T60. Let's take a deeper look at it!

15" T60 on bottom, 14" T42 on top

Design

Portability
One of the few 15' regular aspect ratio notebooks you'll find these days, compared to the 15.4' widescreen form factor, the Lenovo Thinkpad T60 combines portability and functionality. The 15' Thinkpad form factor isn't as petite as its 14' brethren, measuring 13.2' x 10.6' x 1.2-1.4', but most users won't mind trekking this unit around for the extra screen space. While 1.2-1.4' seems a lot in the days of super-sleek and thin notebooks, handle the T60 and for some reason it doesn't seem that thick. Maybe it's the sleek lines, maybe it's the carbon fiber reinforced chassis; who knows? Those looking for a notebook that will be used constantly on the go would be better off to check out the 14' T60 or even a 12' X60. While the 15' T60 is a good balance of size and portability, the 14' model is a bit lighter and more travel friendly thanks to its smaller size. As mentioned in our 14' T43 review, the 14' chassis just feels very light and balanced; almost like you are carrying a little spiral bound notebook.

Case and Design
Black, black, black. Still a Thinkpad at heart, the new T60 sports the familiar IBM-black design with only two colored 'IBM Thinkpad' logos and the usual Microsoft/Intel/ATI badges. The interior refreshes from the T43 with the new Z-series layout, a layout which will be standard on all forthcoming Thinkpads.

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The changes are relatively minor to most people, but diehard Thinkpad enthusiasts will spot them in a split-second. Colored blue and red striping on the UltraNav buttons is gone, all of the keys are black save the Enter key (Function and other keys were gray on T4x models), the rounded 'Access IBM' button is now a rectangular 'ThinkVantage' button, the audio buttons went from black to gray, and finally the Power button went from a black oval to a silver circle. Some say the new audio and power buttons feel 'cheaper;' they definitely have a more 'clickey' response when using them. While I don't call this cheap, it isn't the same smooth, plush action previous models had.

On the outside there is a single set of LED indicators, from left to right: Battery, AC Power, and Sleep. The Battery indicator will blink when charging, shows orange when the battery is low, and solid green when fully charged. The AC Power indicator lets you know if the AC adapter is plugged in, an added feature over the T4x series. Lastly the sleep indicator specifies if the notebook is in Standby mode; it also blinks while the notebook is saving into Hibernate mode and turns off when completed.

On the inside is another, more complete row of LED indicators. From left to right we have: WiFi, Bluetooth, WWAN, NumLock, CapsLock, HDD Activity, System Power, Battery, AC Power, and Sleep. The System Power LED just lets you know if the system is turned on or not, the rest are pretty self explanatory.

As always, build quality on the T60 was excellent. It is fair to say that it is even improved over the T42 15' model, not having tested a T43 15'. The screen feels particularly different from previous Thinkpads, feeling more solid and sturdy despite the larger screen size. There were no creaks or groans from the plastics, despite the weight of the machine being distributed over a larger area when holding it by a single corner; at least compared to the 14' model. This improved structural rigidity is due in part to the new Roll Cage design Lenovo is implementing in the Thinkpads.

Thinkpad Z60m Pictured (Enlarge Image)

Starting with the Z-series, Lenovo has used a new Roll Cage design to minimize stress on the internal components and improve overall structure rigidity. This new design was created with dual core technology in mind, allowing Lenovo to migrate from the single-core Z-series to future dual core platforms using the same chassis design.

Keyboard
As we mentioned previously, the T60 keyboard goes the way of the Z-series. Different buttons, all black keys save the blue Enter key, no red/blue stripes on the UltraNav, and of course Start & Context Menu keys. Like all T-series we have encountered, the typing on this machine is absolutely blissful. As we mentioned in the Z60m review, the key travel was very nice but the keyboard itself was rather loud to type on; no loudness issues on this machine. One thing to keep in mind if you've not used a Thinkpad before is the placement of the Fn key. Some manufacturers, arguably most manufacturers, place the Fn key between Ctrl & Start in the lower left corner. Lenovo, and IBM before it, places the Fn key outside of the Ctrl key on the bottom left. This isn't a negative, just something to remember for those not used to this configuration.

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More operations can be performed via the Fn keys than ever before, avoiding too much clutter with extra feature buttons. In combination with the Fn key you have the following the controls at your fingertips: F2 allows you to quickly lock your computer (same as Start+L), F3 launches an OSD (On-Screen Display) window with all power schemes (same as using Battery Maximizer in toolbar), F4 puts the machine to sleep (unchanged), F5 brings up a WiFi control OSD, F7 launches the Presentation Director OSD, F8 controls your pointing device input options, F9 allows you to easily "eject" a system device (i.e. disable optical drive, external drive, or other non-integrated device for easy removal), and F12 puts the system into hibernate. You can also control the screen brightness and ThinkLight from the Home/End and PgUp keys, respectively. Another new set of functions are found in the arrow keys, with Play/Pause, Stop, Forward, and Back for media player controls. It should also be noted that while on previous T4x Thinkpads the Fn+F3 would turn the screen off, you can still enable that option in the software.

Design Continued

Touchpad/Ultranav
Lenovo is one of the few computer manufacturers that includes a 'pointing stick' combined with a touchpad. For those who haven't used this combination, it is not an option to under-estimate. The ability to mouse around the screen, click, and scroll without removing your hands from the keyboard is invaluable. As you can see below, there is a red pointing stick in the middle of the keyboard, both mouse buttons, and a middle button that is set to scroll by default. The quality of the T60's Ultranav is on par with previous Thinkpads, but the mouse buttons do click louder; they aren't as soft as those on the T43. You can reprogram the middle button for scrolling or screen zooming.

For those who prefer to use a touchpad, the T60 has an excellent one. The responsiveness and texture is ideal, with a plethora of customizable options. The software allows you to set scrolling zones, tapping, tap zones, virtual scrolling, and many other options. Not that it should affect anyone, but the T60's touchpad is more flush with the palm rest than the T4x series.

Connectivity Options
The T-series underwent some radical changes with the T60 model, a number of which are related to connectivity. Some ports disappeared, some appeared, but it was overall a positive change.

On the front of the machine you will find the new wireless radio switch. Using this switch will turn of all radios and then restore them to their previous state; so if you had WiFi and Bluetooth on, it would only turn those radios back on. You can also see the IR port and the LCD latch.

The backside contains the new 20V power plug, but one thing missing is the legacy parallel port. Lenovo ditched this in favor of another exhaust vent. Sure it is a bit risky to lose a legacy port when you have a fairly diehard non-corporate customer base, but otherwise I doubt we'd be able to see dual core in this small of a form factor.

And now we get to the goodies on the left side. From left to right we have an exhaust vent, VGA output, 56K modem, network port, microphone jack, headphone jack, single USB 2.0 port, and ExpressCard slot. The USB port is a welcome addition, placed in a location that is ideal for flash drive usage or anything that you prefer to have easy access to.

The right side is home to the optical drive, two stacked USB ports, and a Kensington security lock hole. You can also see the WWAN antenna here.

Overall we have a positive change from the previous T-series. The additional USB port is indeed welcome and despite having to rearrange things for the heat vents, the layout is still satisfactory. Some will miss the legacy parallel port, but we believe it was time to say goodbye to it. After all, parallel to USB adapters aren't that expensive these days. Our last comment on the ports is that we would like to see Firewire mixed in here soon. We spoke with Lenovo about this issue and were told that there simply wasn't enough demand for it from the corporate customers, given that USB is already included. You probably won't see Firewire ports until/if corporate customers demand them, but it would help Thinkpads compete more in the mainstream.

Heat and Noise
T-series Thinkpads have traditionally been cool running and fairly quiet machines. Given the chassis is pretty much the same size, how well did Lenovo cope with added heat of the Yonah dual core processor? The system idles around 38-43 degrees Celsius, depending on the surface its sitting on. If you load the CPU up, temperatures can climb over 60 C and the fans will kick in. These temperatures are pretty consistent with single core machines, which we expected since Yonah does not generate much more heat than Dothan. During normal usage, the fan will run fairly regularly but it operates quietly. When we first received this notebook, the fan ran constantly and was rather audible. However a BIOS update to our pre-production machine resolved this and we are happy with its noise level. Comparatively, we feel the T60's cooling system is a little louder than a good T42. It isn't quite as bad as the T43's were when they first debuted, but true noise freaks might want to hear a T60 first hand before deciding to invest in this high end workhorse.

Upgrading and Expansion
Upgrading your Thinkpad T60 has been made both easier and more difficult than previous models. As most previous Thinkpad owners know, to replace the hard drive you have to open the screen. This is not a major inconvenience, but a minor annoyance nonetheless. Lenovo has changed this and there is simply a small access panel held in by one screw, after which you can remove the hard drive via a small plastic tab.

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On the negative side, memory is now more of a pain to change. Previously, Thinkpads had one memory slot on the bottom and another under the keyboard. Now both memory slots are located directly underneath the touchpad. Removal of the palm rest is similar to that of a keyboard, requiring the removal of four screws and then popping the palm rest off. It seems as though the palm rest is just supposed to pop off in places, but it feels like if you had to remove it too many times then the tabs might just break off. Other than the slight memory inconvenience, upgrading is the same old story in a notebook. You can change the mini-PCI wireless card and add up to two 2GB DDR2 RAM modules, as well as a Serial ATA hard drive. T43 owners are familiar with its limitation of only officially supporting drives sold by IBM/Lenovo. The use of a SATA to IDE adapter in the T43 necessitated a BIOS check to see if the drive uses an IBM/Lenovo firmware, causing a boot error that was bypassed with the ESC key if the drive didn't have the proper firmware. We hope there is no issue like that on the T60, but unfortunately don't have any Serial ATA drives in the lab to test this with. If we do encounter such a difficulty, we'll be sure to make note of it in our news.

Gaming Performance

Quake 4

Quake 4 is reasonably playable at Medium settings, but the image quality at those settings is laughable. With modded drivers and perhaps even some overclocking, one could probably attain decent frame rates at 1024x768. The HP dv5000z could not complete Quake 4 tests for some reason.

F.E.A.R.

Once again F.E.A.R. is playable at Low Settings, but image quality is poor. Being one of the most graphically strenuous games on the market, it is no wonder the T60's low end graphics solution can't keep up.

Battery Performance

So much for dual cores using more power! The T60's generous 9-cell battery combined with the power efficient Core Duo yields over 6 hours of battery life. The Thinkpad Z60m with a larger battery only lasted a few minutes longer in this test, showing the true potential of the Yonah processor!

The same trend is apparent in the Office test, showing usage that better reflects what most readers will experience.

With enough time to watch two movies, or one Lord of the Rings, the T60 continues to impress. We hope to be able to test the standard 6-cell battery and the optional UltraSlim Bay Battery at some point, and you'll see an update to this review if we get the chance!

Conclusion

Pros:

• Top notch build quality
• Unparalleled software package
• Decent GPU Option
• Superb SXGA+ screen
• Great battery life
• Plethora of Function keys
• Modular drive bay
• ExpressCard
• Fingerprint Scanner

Cons:

• Bit on the heavy side
• Expensive

Recommendation
Love or hate the changes made to the T-series with the new T60, overall this is still one solid machine. With the new roll cage implemented for the T-series, we have an even more stable and robust design. Lenovo is listening to the masses by adding another USB port and adding a high speed, dual layer DVD burner. EVDO wireless is now an option, making the T60 one of the few machines to feature the bleeding edge communication technology. We love the 15" SXGA+ FlexView screen, despite its slightly higher power consumption and added heft over the 14" SXGA+ models. Those looking for portability primarily will definitely want to opt for the 14" model, which offers all the same options as the 15" except the FlexView LCD panel. Users who don't mind the extra size in exchange for a more comfortable workstation, both in terms of keyboard and screen size, will love the 15" T60 ergonomics.

The T-series has always been the flagship Thinkpad, and the T60 is no different. Unfortunately with the top of the line stigma comes a top of the line price. While you can order a $1299 model right now, that will only get you a 14" XGA screen, 256MB RAM (You can still buy a computer with that little RAM?), and a Core Solo processor. The best value T60 right now is the 2623D6U model, sporting a 14" SXGA+ screen, discrete graphics, Core Duo T2400 (1.83GHz) processor, DVD Burner, 80GB hard drive, and Fingerprint Reader; all for $1899. Portability, power, and a 3 year warranty for $1899 isn't too bad. Based on that current offering, excluding any discounts you might be able to get, the T60's value is certainly improving for the T-series. However our model is an example of excess, coming up at a rather excessive $2599. Pretty much all the specs are a little better, and it has the EVDO wireless, but is that worth another $700? That question is left up to you, but our test unit clearly isn't the best value. We feel that given the price tag of the T60 models, versus the mobile workstation T60p's, a more powerful GPU should be an inexpensive option. Not everyone wants or needs a quality gaming GPU in a portable powerhouse like the T60, but for $2599 something more powerful than the long-in-the-tooth 4 pipeline ATI GPU.

Overall the T60 is another shining example of top notch build quality, high end features, and a high end price tag. If you can afford the price tag of a T60, you won't find a better dual core business notebook out there. Between the quality and support behind it, you can't go wrong with a T60 for personal or business use. Obviously a lack of multimedia features or a strong GPU will discourage certain mainstream users, but hardcore mobile users will appreciate the Thinkpad's defining features.

The flagship T-series has always been hard to recommend for most people and the T60 is no different. Not really in "Highly Recommended" territory, the Thinkpad T60 earns our Recommended award.

Availability/Warranty
The Lenovo Thinkpad T60 (model 2623D3U) is available now for $2599 in the United States. The default warranty coverage is for three years parts and labor, one year on the battery. T60 models are available starting at $1299.