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"wonderful ultra-portable" on by kalev hinrich
Pros: one of the most powerful ultra-compact notebooks on the market (Centrino Pro), excellent keyboard, lightweight and small, lengthy battery life, low voltage processor, etcetera
Cons: screen resolution, aspect (4:3 instead of widescreen), and no LED, no optical drive, the 8-cell battery sticks out the back a little, incredibly ugly (but it's a ThinkPad)
Summary: 1.8 ghz, LV
3 gigs of RAM
120 5400rpm HD
1 gig turbo memory
Vista Business 32 bit
With all the negative reviews on here, I was kind of scared when ordering the x61s, but I haven't had any of the trouble mentioned elsewhere: No Lenovo shipping delays (mine arrived two weeks before it was supposed to be shipped), no "blue screens of death" due to the turbo memory drivers, and no hardware breakdowns. Mine works fine, and I'm even using the scandalous Windows Vista.
Battery life is one aspect that was perplexing at first because everyone was reporting different numbers, and I wish to clear up some confusion. I have the 8-cell battery w/ Vista Business, and I can get about 5-6 hours surfing the net, typing on a word processor, listening to music, etc. But, if I turn Aero off (the fancy display settings of Vista) and use the traditional Windows view, turn off the wireless, mute the volume, and use battery stretch, I can get over 9 hours while typing on Microsoft Word. That's incredible.
The screen is the weakest part of this laptop: it has the normal 4:3 aspect, no LED backlighting (it isn't an option), and relatively poor resolution (although it doesn't look that bad given the incredibly small screen). I don't mind the resolution or standard aspect ratio since I use mine for mainly word processing and surfing the web, but a LED backlight would be nice . . . it would significantly improve the battery life even more. This will probably be the next thing updated on Lenovo's new line of laptops.
This laptop is intended to be a business and travel laptop. I'm a grad student who needed a functional, word-processing laptop with a long battery life. I'm on the go and spend many hours in the library, in public parks, and in coffee houses studying and typing papers. This was the ideal laptop for me, and I'm not sad I bought it. If you want to do video/audio editing, get a MacBook. If you want an entertainment laptop, get a desktop replacement. But if you need a small work-horse which gets incredible battery life and absolutely mops-up on the benchmark testing, get this one. It's not pretty like the MacBooks (as all my Mac friends consistently remind me), but it sure gets the job done. I chose functionality over aesthetics. It's an absolutely wonderful ultra-portable notebook. -
"Solid, Powerful,Deluxe!" on by tombigelow
Pros: I have used many different tablets and this is THE BEST. It has all the important features you need with a quality feel. It's as powerful as a workstation, with solid performance and the perfect size!
Cons: None so far.
Summary: This machine is the perfect size, keyboard has a great feel, has lots of buttons for quick launch, lock on the power button and the touch screen works perfect. I can't say enough positive comments. I never thought I would like a tablet so much but this one is the "bees knees".
I configured it with all the options, the price was great and it arrived 2 weeks early. It shipped in 1 week!
Try one out with the touchscreen, you will love it!! -
"Nice ultraportable. Packed with good stuff!" on by Rollbg
Pros: Small & Lightweight, stable and powerful, good keyboard size
Cons: Short battery life, Dim screen, build not great
Summary: This is my first laptop and my understanding is that laptops should be portable. This is a really small and lightweight laptop but not small enough to become uncomfortable for prolonged use. So far it has been very stable and the OS is running easily. I was happy to get this machine with XP Pro and not Vista!
What I like: small enough to always carry it around with me. Has everything connectivity you need - LAN, WiFi, Bluetooth. SD card reader for my camera and 3x USB. HDD is big enough and keyboard is normal size so you can actually work on this laptop with not much of a compromise.
What I don't like: The standard battery has very short life - 2 hours will be the max! You have to buy extended battery and the laptop becomes much heavier and bigger.
The screen is not very bright. I don't care that it's not wide screen but it could be brighter. You will not get great sound from this little fellow but what do you expect from an ultra portable with single speaker.
The build quality is not great also. The back side of the screen especially when the laptop is closed bounces back like it's made from cardboard.
Overall I am happy with my purchase. It definitely was not cheap!! However it provides all the functionality I need in a small package. Of course all is not perfect but after all it never is
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"Spectacular travel machine" on by Andrew Wolfe
Pros: Fast, Lightweight, good keyboard, solid feel
Cons: No DVD, ports in funny places, limited screen resolution
Summary: This is a great travel machine. I get 3-4 hours from the small battery and up to 9 from the 8 cell for MS Word type activities. Most of the complaints people have are Vista problems. I just run XP pro on mine.
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"Featherweight with PUNCH!" on by lancelot916
Pros: super light, fast, well designed, no optical (i like that), brilliant display,
Cons: no widescreen, fugly, miss touchpad - although nipple is good
Summary: I thought I'd never buy a thinkpad. They are f-ugly and they make me yawn. Plus NO TOUCHPAD! Who likes using the red nipple? Well, you actually get used to it in minutes.
No where else is there a 2.6 lb. laptop that performs THIS well at around $1000. After configuration it came out to $1200 (upgraded to 100GB 7200RPM HD, 2GB RAM, and Bluetooth). This thing is lightening fast. Sony starts at $2100, Fujitsu is a rip off, and no one else comes close.
My only gripes are that I wish it was widescreen, s-video out, and 4 in 1 reader vs. just SD reader. Some say the speaker is weak but actually it's quite loud. No bass really but it can project.
Vista is still quirky.
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