[PLUG] Thinkpad T61

Kurt Sussman plug at merlot.com
Fri Oct 19 23:29:44 UTC 2007


John Jason Jordan (johnxj at comcast.net) typed this ...
> In shopping for a new laptop the Thinkpad T61 is currently at the top
> of my list (but the list order sometimes changes hourly). I'm pretty
> sure I've seen comments here by someone who has one. Comments
> would be welcome (off-list), and specifically regarding:

I just (3 weeks ago - longer story to follow) ordered one...

> What features did you get?

15" widescreen, 2GHz cpu, 100G 7200rpm drive, ABGN Intel wifi,
bluetooth, 9-cell battery, Intel graphics (for power saving; I don't do
games or graphics-intensive stuff).

> What features do you wish you hadn't ordered?
> What features do you wish you had ordered?

I won't know this for a while (see the following story).

> Where did you get it, what is the best place?

lenovo.com/ibmspp

Use 536686 as the access code. Look for discount codes on
techbargains.com or other deal sites. You can usually stack them with
the ibmspp login.

Of course, 'best' is subjective...

> Is it possible to find one in a store in Portland to look at?

I don't know. Probably, but it will have options you don't want, or
won't have options you want, or both.

> Which distro/architecture do you use on it? Issues?

Ubuntu on the T61 is well-documented, and seems well-supported. I'll be
running kubuntu, probably.

> Any other comments also welcome. 

I ordered it on 9/29, and they told me that it would ship on 10/18. I
ordered a wifi hotspot finder at the same time and that arrived in a
week, so I thought that while nearly 3 weeks seemed like a long time, it
wasn't too bad.

Since they sent me an email when the wifi gadget shipped I expected one
of those for the laptop, and I've been hopeful that it would ship early.
Of course you've guessed by now that it didn't.

This morning I got up early to prepare for a meeting and checked my
email, expecting that there would be a shipping notice. Not there. So I
checked the Lenovo order status page for my order. The shipping date is
now 11/20, about 7 weeks after my order date. OK, things get delayed.
But a MONTH? And they didn't know about it until the day they promised
to ship it? What good is the order status page if it's not kept up to
date?

Of course it's not easy to contact them about an order and what options
do I have anyway, other than wait for it or cancel the order?  It's not
like I can tell them "ship it now or else!"

So while I'm looking forward to getting it and I haven't heard from
anyone who wasn't thrilled with their T61, I'm a little  disappointed in
Lenovo right now.

--Kurt
-- 
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    Merlot Research Group, Inc               http://www.merlot.com
    kls[at]merlot.com        GPG key 82505A74       GTalk: ratbelt



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