The T61p from Lenovo

The T61p is the first widescreen ThinkPad mobile workstation, and the latest high-end offering from Lenovo. It comes with almost every feature a demanding business user could want, and is starting at a very reasonable price point below 1400 for the 14.1” model. This model has also gone under a number of changes from the previous generation, and in this ThinkPad T61p review you will find out how it stacks up.

The ThinkPad T61p comes in two sizes, one being 14.1” and the model being reviewed at 15.4”. The key difference between both these lines, besides screen size, is the memory size of the NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M video card included with the system. You receive a 128MB card in the smaller 14.1” model, and double the memory at 256MB in the 15.4” model. The processor selection is the same, spanning from the Intel T7100 to T7700, memory from 1GB to 4GB, and hard drives from 60GB to 160GB in 5400 or 7200rpm flavors. Other options include a fingerprint reader, Bluetooth, Intel Turbo Memory, N-wireless, and an extended battery version.

When the GPU was put under load, the playing field evened out. Both laptops have roughly the same size heatsink/fan meaning they will dissipate energy just at roughly the same speed. Both laptops had GPU temps peaked around the 80-81C range, with the T61p slightly higher (though it's a much better card than the old X1400 in my T60). Another aspect some might notice is how quiet the new T61 series is under load. At first I was thinking it was a new fan design, but playing with tpfancontrol I noticed you only have 3 fan speeds instead of 7 on the T60. It is quieter under high load because the fan is limited to ~3300rpm, whereas the T60 can go upwards of ~4300rpm. Less noise yes, but also less peak airflow. Speeds 1-3 are roughly the same noise level, but the T61 (with its newer heatsink design) spends more time without the fans on at all.

Performance and Benchmarks: With the broad range of Core 2 Duo processors available, combined with the NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M graphics, the T61p doesn’t fall short on performance. Even with its being targeted towards business applications, it has more than enough raw power for the latest games. Another fun fact for those curious about the video ram configuration, you will be happy to know this laptop has GDDR3 modules, Hynix hy5rs123235b to be exact. To keep system lag to a minimum, this particular configuration also had a 7200rpm Seagate hard drive. The following benchmarks are a testament to this business laptop’s shear power.
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