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I am planning to buy one of these two, second hand. I've read the Wiki and see that the T61/T61p is somewhat more supported than the T400. Also, price for me really is a matter so the T61 would be cheaper.
I know there are several T61 and T400 users, so I want to get some opinions. Again, I am most likely going to get the T61, but I may change my mind. I cannot look at comparissons anymore, so you tell me.
Last edited by bgalakazam (2010-06-08 06:44:38)
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well, besides price, what are the main things you are looking for in a laptop?
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After price, comes battery life. I don't want a netbook, however. I've had 2 Dell laptops (both broken and in garbage since long ago) and currently have Acer Aspire 5102 WMLi, but my wife uses it and I plan to completely give it to her once I get the ThinkPad.
Last edited by bgalakazam (2010-03-05 22:46:15)
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For the past five years or so, I've run ArchLinux on a T23, a T43 and now a T61p. All have worked superbly. I think I had to tweak things a bit to get the volume control buttons on the T61p to respond properly, but beyond that, I've been very impressed with all my Thinkpads, especially the T61p (a powerhouse; I like to run a second hard drive in the UltraBay slot) and the T23 (a little beast of a machine, in its day, and still running strong).
I haven't tried a T400. I had been concerned about the T61p since it was the first pure-Lenovo machine I'd owned (the T43 is branded IBM), but I haven't noticed any change in quality.
Someone described Thinkpads as the Volvos of the laptop world. I think that's pretty accurate. Not a lot of pizazz, but solid quality and workmanship.
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Half a year ago (or a little more) I bought a T500 (same as the T400, but with 15-inch screen).
It is a rustic and powerful notebook (who else can I say about a Thinkpad, and everything has been said about them).
The battery life is very good. This running arch (which most expect?) with thinkpad_acpi, laptop-mode-tools and KDE4 with PowerDevil (I think nothing else).
It is a very very fast, quiet (not really feel the fans, most of the time or are turned off, or running at very low speed), and above all, very cool.
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well, i've only ever had a t61p from lenovo, so i can't really compare the two models. That being said, I love the t61p. I've had it for a long time and it has been running great for the whole time. Battery life is very good with the 9 cell battery. I really have no complaints about the laptop, once i got everything configured in arch, i haven't had any laptop specific problems. Like dhave said, these things are built really well, it seems like it can last forever.
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That's why I stopped on it as a first choise. While the hardware difference may not be that great between T61 and T61p, a second hand T61 can be found as low as $300 where as the cheapest T61p was $500. Also generally, there are more second hand T61's for sale out there.
Last edited by bgalakazam (2010-03-06 02:04:27)
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I'm also an extremely happy T61p owner. There are a couple of different versions out there, so here are the specs on mine:
T7700 CPU
4GB DDR2 RAM
500GB 7200RPM HDD
nVidia Quadro FX570M (256MB GDDR3)
Intel 4965AGN Wireless
15.4" WUXGA (1920x1200) LCD
The main reason I love it is the LCD. You simply cannot get any better resolution. The CPU is good, GPU is more than enough, even for graphic-intensive games on Windows. Everything works fantastically on Linux using thinkpad-acpi.
It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. (Mark Twain)
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With T400 you should get more battery life, however as a proud owner of T61p i can surely recommend it to anyone - great machine
Thinkpad T61p : T7700 | 4GB RAM | nVidia FX 570M | Intel 4965
Arch64 @ Openbox
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I like my T400 and didn't have much trouble getting it to work with Arch, but I've never owned a T61 so I can't really compare them.
"Je suis venu au monde très jeune dans un temps très vieux." --Erik Satie
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Well it's official! I got a Thinkpad T60p. None of the T61's had good prices and the T60p has similar specs. I can deal with the fact it only supports 3GB of RAM. I got the 14.1" SXGA+ screen, too so I am very happy about that as well.
Now just have to wait for it to arrive so I install Arch.
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Good for you! I will be buying a 4:3 T61p (if I can find an unused one) as well. I had a T61p with WUXGA resolution, which died due to the notorious faulty nVidia GPU.
It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. (Mark Twain)
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I wish I could get the 15" IPS screen. Too expensive, though. But I got 4:3 nevertheless since it's pwn.
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Make sure you install tp_smapi to conserve the battery - check the wiki page
never trust a toad...
::Grateful ArchDonor::
::Grateful Wikipedia Donor::
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