Lenovo ThinkPad R61

...world of insurance Toshiba and Lenovo are spelt the same?). Needless to say the chances of me renewing my policy with them are somewhere between sweet FA and Nil.
However rant and rage over with here are my opinions and observations of the R61 thinkpad.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
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When I first opened the box, my first impression was "Oh my god!, it's come from the Lada car factory. The ...
...Although I had seen the Lenovo name around, I had not linked it to the IBM brand. However as soon as you look the laptop, it is instantly recognisable as an IBM Thinkpad. Sadly though not in a good way, The keyboard and general layout do look very dated.
The only plus point here is that it does seem to be very well built and sturdy enough to take the odd few knocks and scrapes.

SPECIFICATIONS
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I have had my laptop now for just over a month and I am now ready to report on my findings.
I will say at the start that this was supplied to me from my insurance company, rather than by choice. I was assured that it was a like for like replacement for my Toshiba. (evidently in the world of insurance Toshiba and Lenovo are spelt the same?). Needless to say the chances of me renewing my policy with them are somewhere between sweet FA and Nil.
However rant and rage over with here are my opinions and observations of the R61 thinkpad.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
-------------------------------
When I first opened the box, my first impression was "Oh my god!, it's come from the Lada car factory. The design has all the finesse of a 1980's house brick mobile phone. Although I had seen the Lenovo name around, I had not linked it to the IBM brand. However as soon as you look the laptop, it is instantly recognisable as an IBM Thinkpad. Sadly though not in a good way, The keyboard and general layout do look very dated.
The only plus point here is that it does seem to be very well built and sturdy enough to take the odd few knocks and scrapes.

SPECIFICATIONS
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Thankfully the performance of the laptop is far better than the design for which I will elaborate further.

Processor
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This is an Intel T7100 dual core (or core 2 duo to give it the correct title) which is rated at 1.8Ghz for each core.In essence this gives you the equivalent to a 3.6Ghz single core processor The processor uses 64bit technology, FSB @ 667Mhz and L2 cache of 2MB.
In layman's terms, it is very fast and more importantly stable. When running several applications simultaneously, the laptop maintains stability even under high demand. Despite what I ask of it, I have yet to have a single "Not Responding" error message, usually caused by the PC not being able to keep up with the demand.

Memory
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In view of the laptop looking more like a Fisher Price toy but without the pretty colours, I was pleasantly surprised by the 1Gb of RAM fitted as standard. As with all newer laptops, the memory is the now standard DDR-II running at 667Mhz.. If required, the memory can be upgraded to 3Gb. The access point for the RAM is easily accessible and therefore an easy upgrade option even for someone with very little or no experience. The only slight drawback to memory upgrade here is that rather like 99.9% of all other manufacturers, the memory supplied is in the form of 2 x 512Mb modules rather than 1 x 1Ghz. This means that both slots are used up making memory upgrade a little more costly.

Performance
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The combination of CPU and memory do make the laptop a pleasure to use. I have used it a few times for transferring and editing home movies from a camcorder. The reason for using this as an example is that in term of the resources, the demand placed upon the laptop is very high. I have been very pleasantly surprised with how the laptop has handled this from transferring to editing and finally to burning the finished product to disk.

Storage
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Although not massive compared to other models, the laptop is fitted with an amicable 320Gb hard drive. This may seem large enough, but can be filled quite quickly if you like to store a lot of video and graphics files. Again this is the newer standard SATA drive, the main advantage being that they are not only quicker for reading and writing data, but are also a lot quieter without the loud clicking and whirring noises associated with older drives.

Drives
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Fitted as standard is a DVD writer. In the same way as Dell,this is a modular type meaning that the whole drive can easily be removed. Although there are few reasons to remove the module, it can be a much cheaper option in the future if the drive fails. Should a replacement be required it is just a matter of buying a new module rather than having to send the laptop in for professional repair.

Graphics
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The graphics card is integrated in the form of an Intel X3100. These cards are fitted as standard across a broad spectrum of manufacturer's, There is no dedicated memory however. This means that the graphics memory is tapped from the main RAM. With 1Gb of RAM fitted as standard though, this does not pose any problems. Shared memory can be set as high as 384Mb.

Display
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At the end of the day, the end display is a combination of both graphic card and monitor performance together. Whilst the end result is far from the Vaio screens and the like in top end laptops, it is still more than acceptable. Colours are vivid and picture the quality in general is nice and clear. The only niggly point I have found so far is that the display does not fair as well as others when used in bright direct light.

Sound
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Nothing special here, it is a built in sound card that does the job. Unfortunately that is about as exciting as it gets. The sound card / speakers are reasonable quality, however there is a noticeable depreciation in quality when the volume is turned right up.

Software
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The laptop was supplied with Windows XP Professional. This to me was more of a blessing, I have used Vista Premium but to be perfectly honest was not over impressed. If you should decide that Vista is a "Must Have" however, the specification of the laptop makes it more than capable of handling it.

Other features
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As is the "Norm" with laptops, it has built in Wifi, LAN and dial up modem all included. Others include the standard audio in / out ports and USB ports. I must add at this point that a good design feature (they must have had a good day with this one!) is the fact that the USB ports are located on both sides of the laptop. This can be useful when using multiple accessories as it becomes far less crowded and easier to access the ports.

Battery
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This for me was another big surprise. With average use I can get around 1, 3/4 to 2 hours use from a full charge. This I have to say is far better than I used to achieve with my Toshiba.

SUMMARY
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Despite the pig awful and very dated look to the laptop, it doe s perform surprisingly well. With the exception of the slightly weak performance of the TFT panel, I have been quite impressed with overall performance and operating speed of the laptop.
Would I recommend one?
In terms of usability, then yes I would
In terms of design and looks, I would say No! However, I guess it's a bit like Marmite, you will either love it hate it.
As stated above this was provided for me by my insurance company, I am therefore unable to provide a purchase price. Fortunately there are more than a few price comparison sites around to find this information if required.

TECHNICAL
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I won't go over board here as the full specs are available very easily if required. However, here are the basics.

Size: 33.5 cm x 23.7 cm x 3.5 cm
Weight: 2.7 kg
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 / 1.8 GHz
RAM: 1Gb DDR II SDRAM - 667 MHz
Operating System: Windows XP Pro
HDD: 120Gb
Optical: DVD +/- RW
Wifi

FINALLY
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If you have got this far, thank you for reading my review. Hopefully you will have found it interesting and informative. Any comments will be gratefully received. 

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