There are only 4 days left before nominations close for the chance to carry the torch in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Torch Relay!
Make sure you or someone you know does not miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity by telling them about this competition, today.
Visit www.lenovo.com.au/olympics for more information and to nominate a remarkable Australian.
Nominations close midnight on Sunday 7 October.
Lenovo Business Partner Events October
Mark your calendars for the October Lenovo Business Partner Briefing Event in your city.
You are invited to join us for the Lenovo Business Partner Briefing to hear about what is new at Lenovo and upcoming products and technologies.
Plus, learn about innovation at Google and how to market your business using Google AdWords. Google experts will show how businesses have grown through search marketing, plus demonstrate the straightforward sign-up process.
Attend and you'll receive $150 worth of Google AdWords to get you started.
After the presentation, representatives from Google and Lenovo will be available to answer any questions.
Attend and Win!
Just in time for the 15th anniversary of the Lenovo ThinkPad®, we'll be giving one lucky attendee the chance to win a Lenovo ThinkPad R61. Attend to go into the draw!
Event dates
Melbourne - 16 October 2007 - 8.30am - 10.00am
Sydney - 17 October 2007 - 5.30pm - 7.00pm
Brisbane - 18 October 2007 - 8.30am - 10.00am
Adelaide - 24 October 2007 - 8.30am - 10.00am
Perth - 25 October 2007 - 8.30am - 10.00am
To confirm your attendance for this invitation-only event, please RSVP here.
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 Review
Tech Loop - ThinkPad X61 Review - 9.5 out of 10 'Loops' & Editors' Choice
"Overall The X61 is a premium quality, ultra-portable laptop, designed with business-class users in mind. The advanced security features reinsure me that my data is safe. If you don’t love Vista you might opt to get XP instead. Lenovo put some serious thought into the design of this notebook, and it shows! Editors Choice!"
Introduction
We got our hands on new ThinkPad X61 review unit. Today, we’re going to put it to the tests. The X61 is a business-class laptop aimed towards professionals who want power and performance in a small package.
Having fallen in love with the Lenovo T60, I was eager to get my hands on the Lenovo X60, and then the X61 came out. After unboxing the X61, I was pretty surprised at how small the unit was, having used mostly 14” laptops in the past.
Specs of our X61 configuration:
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0Ghz
- Memory: 2GB DDR2 PC2-5300 (2x1GB)
- Hard drive: 120GB 7200RPM
- Display: 12.1” LCD (1024x768 resolution)
- Video Card: Intel X3100 (onboard)
- Chipset: Mobile Intel 965 Express Chipset Family
- Battery: 8-cell (about 5 hours)
- PCMCIA slot
- Intel Wireless
- Verizon WWan (EV-DO)
- Bluetooth
- CD combo drive (via X6 UltraBase)
- Windows Vista Business
- Weight: 3lbs 11oz
Many people opt to get a 14” notebook over a 12” because of the hit in resolution that you take when you purchase a 12”, and with good reason. It was a little difficult to adjust to using a 1024x768 screen resolution, but for my uses it was adequate. You won’t be doing very much gaming on the X61, the X3100 integrated graphics just aren’t going to cut it. The lack of gamingness is expected in a 12” portable. OK, so no games but it will make one hell of a internet/email/office machine, and that’s it's target anyway. More screen resolution would make text unreadable, 1024x768 is the standard, and seems to work well.
As any Lenovo fan (or IBM) knows, the ThinkPads change very little when new models are released. The same holds true to the X61. Due to the small size of the unit there is NO Trackpad at all, you’re stuck with just the TrackPoint. While, I would have liked to see a trackpad, it's completely understandable why Lenovo would want to leave it out, no room. After using the TrackPoint for the last three months, I have grown quite fond of it, and even prefer it over trackpads now.
The X61 packs plenty of punch, with a T7300 2.0Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and 2GB of ram. The small size really doesn’t come with much sacrifice, except maybe weight, but that’s a good thing. The 8-Cell battery seems to last about 5 hours with moderate use, not bad at all.
Wireless performance was better then average, I was able to pickup my wifi signal everywhere in my house, other laptops were a little spottier. The built-in wireless is a/b/g, no n, disappointing, but not very significant for most people.
One of our biggest complaints about the T60 was the lack of port options. Thankfully, the X61 improved that….a little. The X61 added Firewire 400 (4pin) and features 3 USB 2.0 ports, dial-up modem, Ethernet, Mic in, VGA, line out and an SD-Slot. No TV-Out, which is pretty useful on laptops, and no DVI, so you’ll have to live with VGA.
I was overall very satisfied with the hardware in the X61, most of my problems were actually associated with the operating system, Windows Vista. I have switched most of my systems to Vista over the past few months. Vista has seemed to bring nothing but problems. If you are comfortable with XP, I would recommend skipping Vista and just selecting XP, you will end up with less problems, and better battery life.
Dell and several other big-name PC-makers are known for loading their systems with all kinds of extra junk when end-users get it. Lenovo, while certainly better then Dell, still load the systems with a few trials: Office 2003 trial, Norton Protection trial.
Worth noting, due to the small size of the X61 it’s not possible to include an Optical drive. To fill this gap Lenovo sells an add-on UltraBase X6 for $200 extra + $70 for the Combo drive… $270 seems like a pretty steep price to pay for the ability to dock your laptop.
Verizon WWAN was included in my review unit. WWAN allows you to access broadband via EV-DO from anywhere…well…almost. My area doesn’t have EV-DO service, so I was unable to test this feature.
Overall
Overall The X61 is a premium quality, ultra-portable laptop, designed with business-class users in mind. The advanced security features reinsure me that my data is safe. If you don’t love Vista you might opt to get XP instead. Lenovo put some serious thought into the design of this notebook, and it shows! Editors Choice!
Overall Rating: 9.5 out of 10 Loops
Pros
- Quality components
- Solid Build and Durable
- Feature-set
- Verizon WWAN built-in
- Both XP or Vista available
Cons
- UltraBase is expensive
- Some glitches (mostly Vista related)
News Archive
|
| Article |
| Lenovo on the Radio |
| Lenovo Product Review Awards 2007 |
| Australian PC World, August, 2007: Dynamically Enhanced - Lenovo ThinkPad T61 - Four Stars |
| The Australian, 17/07/2007: ThinkPad R61 Comparision |
| Article in The Australian: High Stakes for Lenovo in Games |
| Interview in The Australian: Lenovo CEO Bill Amelio |
| National Business Review: It's make or break time for IBM buyers |
| Reseller News, 29/06/2007: Review ThinkPad R61 and T61 |
| PC World Review: The new ThinkPad T61 |
| Dual hard drives, lithium metal batteries.. Take a glimpse at what your Lenovo Notebook will look like in five years with Lenovo expert Ken Lewis. |
| PC Authority: 5 Star review of the ThinkPad X Series Table in. |