Digital Trends

Lenovo ThinkPad T60p April 17th, 2007 | by Jason Tomczak

Vista Ready

The Lenovo T60p comes with Windows Vista, so there's absolutely no confusion about whether or not the T60p is capable of handling the next gen operating system. For those who don't want to deal with a new OS, the T60p can be configured with Windows XP Home or Pro.

TrackPoint vs. TrackPad

Most IBM/Lenovo laptops come with the little red nubbin (TrackPoint) that is used for moving the mouse. I'm not a fan of the TrackPoint - at all. The Lenovo T60p, however, comes with the red button as well as a nice, moderately sized TrackPad for scrolling and controlling the mouse with the tip of a finger. I'm happy that the T60p gives users both options. Lenovo should be pleased, too, because it means more people are likely to buy the T60p.

ThinkLight?

The ThinkPad T60p has a keyboard LED lighting system that illuminates the keyboard for more comfortable use in low-light situations. It's called the "ThinkLight." The MacBook Pro has a sub-keyboard lighting system that illuminates the keyboard from underneath and through the keys. The ThinkLight is a small LED light not under the keyboard, but on the topmost bezel of the LCD screen. The LED light shines down onto the keyboard with what seems to be equivalent to a single candle power. While the LED aims directly at the keyboard, it illuminates a much wider area than intended. The ThinkLight is certainly a noble idea, but it really fails to impress.

Let Your Fingers Do the Locking

The T60p comes complete with a fantastic biometric security system. The fingerprint reader is located on the front-right quadrant of the laptop and is a little larger than the tip of a USB plug. Biometric security can be set for a single user, a user and administrator or multiple authorized users.

The Lenovo ThinkPad T60p Fingerprint Scanner

Graphics Card

The Lenovo T60p comes with a powerful 256MB ATI Mobility Fire GL V5250 video card. This is more than enough for any type of business application. It's sufficient for nearly all Photoshop tasks. Video editing and gaming are also a breeze with the generous 256MB of video memory. Very few laptops have more substantial video cards. Those that do are typically much, much more expensive and attract very specific types of buyers with exacting needs.

Built-in Bluetooth?

Sorry. The T60p does not come with Bluetooth as a standard item. You'll have to shell out a little extra cash for that.

Wireless Comm

While the T60p doesn't have Bluetooth built-in, it does have 802.11a/b/g as a stock feature. To get the newest, hottest, fastest 802.11n wireless card, buyers can upgrade for $249 more. $249 seems like a lot (and it is), but 802.11n is much faster and has far greater wireless range than 802.11a/b/g.

Drives

The T60p uses SerialATA (SATA) drives for higher speed data transfer. The T60p has an integrated hard drive protection mechanism that helps prevent damage to the hard drive if the laptop is ever dropped or suffers a jarring movement. When activated, the "HDD Active Protection System" spins down and cushions the hard drive to brace for impact. This can prevent data loss and physical scratches and other types of damage to the disk platters. Even if you don't understand how drives and drive protection systems work, trust us – you’ll want it.

The 8x DVD-RW/CD-RW drive is a necessity for on-the-road business. In the T60p, Lenovo supplied a removable "multirecorder", which is fancy speak for a drive that reads and writes many formats of DVDs and CDs including DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R and even dual-layer DVDs.

Additionally, the DVD drive can be removed to allow for an additional bay-shaped battery.

The DVD Writer