Lenovo T61

...will instead discuss what separates Lenovo from the pack and what makes then unique

Hardware:
When I bought my laptop Lenovo were the only manufacturer to have partnered up with Vodafone (Europe's biggest HSDPA provider) to enable Lenovo to provide laptops with built in HSDPA (High speed download packet access - more than 4X faster than 3G) ports and SIM cards pre-installed - this is unique to Lenovo

Keyboard ...
...Software
Software is where Lenovo laptops out perform every other laptop manufacturer and then some. I can't possibly list every tool available to you here but I will mention some of the most impressive software features available on the laptop.

1) Pre-installed Operating System: It will come pre-built with an operating system capable of doing everything you should ever want to do with exception to those wanting to heavily manipulate ... more

I've owned Lenovo/IBM laptops now for about 5 years - starting with a T20 and moving up through the lines to a T61 type 6464

I work in IT and have done a lot of contract and consulting work which means I get exposure to a broad range of different laptops. My friends who also work in IT also have a variety of different laptops. I can honestly say that I have never been jealous of anyone else's laptop (except for one friend who has the X61 Tablet) in a very very long time - these machines are really great!

In this day and age there is very little to distinguish one manufacturer from another for the most part - it used to be a lot easier; a few years ago and you could look at the spec sheets of two laptops and you would immediately know which was the better machine. Now as battery life; CPU speed, RAM and HDD space and monitor sizes are more or less available in any shape size of form from any of the laptop manufacturers we have to dig a bit deeper to distinguish a good laptop from a great laptop.

It would be pointless for me to discuss the graphics card, CPU speeds, RAM and hard drive in this review because as I said - you can get these specs from any of the manufacturers. I will instead discuss what separates Lenovo from the pack and what makes then unique

Hardware:
When I bought my laptop Lenovo were the only manufacturer to have partnered up with Vodafone (Europe's biggest HSDPA provider) to enable Lenovo to provide laptops with built in HSDPA (High speed download packet access - more than 4X faster than 3G) ports and SIM cards pre-installed - this is unique to Lenovo

Keyboard light: Not every person who owns a Thinkpad laptop knows this, but all Thinkpads for as long as I can remember have a built in keyboard light which can be turned on by pressing Fn+PgUp. This feature allows you to use your keyboard in dimly lit conditions such as aircraft without bothering your fellow travellers - I have never seen this feature on another laptop

The laptop also comes with all the important ports. VGA Output for projectors, Headphone/Microphone, 3 X USB; built in DVD-RW, Firewire, Cardbus/PCMCIA ports and optional add-ons such a finger print reader which works very well and an integrated smart card reader for the security conscious. The only thing missing is an S-Video or HDMI out to allow you to connect your laptop to a TV - this can be added by purchasing a docking station for the laptop however most flat panel displays (including TV's) use VGA input anyway. Its true most laptops these days have everything mentioned above but I thought I would include it as confirmation to anyone looking to purchase one of these laptops

One of Lenovo's biggest selling points is the build-quality and sturdiness of the laptop. The monitor (the weakest part of the laptop) has a very strong frame around it which protects the laptop monitor from being broken should be dropped or stood on. The entire laptop is rigid and nothing flaps about or creaks or feels plasticy - when you hold this machine for the first time you will feel confident about its build quality

Software
Software is where Lenovo laptops out perform every other laptop manufacturer and then some. I can't possibly list every tool available to you here but I will mention some of the most impressive software features available on the laptop.

1) Pre-installed Operating System: It will come pre-built with an operating system capable of doing everything you should ever want to do with exception to those wanting to heavily manipulate photographs or perform high-end video editing. The laptop will burn CD's and DVD's, it will play DVD movies, it will report back to you on the status of all your hardware and even keep itself updated with new drivers should you wish it to

2) Function keys: The laptop has a variety of different functions available to you by pressing the Fn button and one of the marked "F" buttons along the top of the keyboard. For example, Fn+F5 will pop up a network location manager application called Access Connections. From here you can configure multiple locations that you will be working at and configure the laptop to do things such as shut down certain network connections, turn on your firewall, change the settings for Internet Explorer, open up a website or manipulate advanced TCP/IP settings on the laptop such as IP addresses and DNS settings. Press Fn+F7 together and you will get a presentation director which will give you clear and concise choices on how you want your laptop to connect up to an external display such as a television to watch a movie or a projector for giving a presentation

3) System Maintenance: The Lenovo suite of applications installed on your laptop will enable you to keep an eye on your laptops hardware and also perform regular backups of your operating system and important files to a hidden partition on the hard drive. You can then tell your laptop to, in the event of say a virus or a corrupted operating system revert itself back to a working state and it will even keep all your most recent documents in place, even the ones you have created since your last backup

I have the widescreen version of the T61, as most of you will probably end up with due to the fact that 4:3 (non widescreen) LCD panels have for the most part stop being produced and I must say that when I first switched it all on it seemed a bit weird - I felt that there was wasted space on either side of the keyboard and thought it made more sense to keep the old shape screens and keep the laptops a bit smaller. I have since completely changed my opinions on this, I love working on a wide screen laptop - I can't explain it but it feels a lot more natural I will never go back to having a 4:3 display so I must urge those of you who are disappointed with the move towards wide screen not to worry, you will love it, I promise you!

The Lenovo laptops are often labelled as ugly machines; I can understand this comment but I argue that I like the look of the machine, it looks like its ready for bussiness - its looks like a functional serious peice of kit, it doesnt look like and isn't supposed to be a fashion item. It will out-last any other laptop designed to be a fasion item 

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