Digital Trends

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

Setup and Testing

Setting up the T60p is quick and easy. The T60p is fairly self-sufficient, so Lenovo doesn't have to include many accessories in the product packaging - just the laptop, battery, power brick, modem cord, replacement TrackPoint nubs and the Windows Vista DVD.

Setting up Windows Vista on the T60p is pretty fast, thanks to the Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB RAM and SATA drive. The length of time between removing the T60p from its packaging until Vista is up and running is negligible - in my case, it was done long before my fresh cup of coffee got cold.

A cold boot revealed that it takes approximately 44 seconds for the Vista desktop to appear, and 1 minute 8 seconds for the entire OS to load and for boot-related hard drive activity to cease. That's pretty fast, especially considering the nature and size of Vista.

With 2GB RAM, applications like Word, Excel, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Picasa open in about 2 seconds. With 4GB of RAM, these apps open almost instantly. Other programs like Photoshop and Flash Professional open in about 6-8 seconds. By ditching the sidebar gadgets and tweaking some performance options, Vista and other programs seem snappier. The overall performance of the T60p is impressive.

The T60p is probably overkill for most casual users (you know the type – e-mail, web browsing, music & home photos), but it's better to have too much power than not enough.

The only thing I found annoying while using the T60p was the internal fan. It runs constantly and it's a little louder than I'd expect. Of course, the fan keeps the laptop running nice and cool - barely a degree or two above room temperature. Even idling, my MacBook Pro feels warm in comparison.

Conclusion

The Lenovo T60p is an excellent laptop with tons of positive features. It's fast, relatively battery-efficient and has a gorgeous 15.4" widescreen LCD with an impressive 1680x1050 screen res. The Hard drive and RAM are upgradeable post-purchase and the built-in DVD burner covers all the popular CD and DVD formats. What can't be upgraded or enhanced internally can generally be added as a peripheral. The T60p is a very complete package and it is very reliable.

Lenovo ThinkPad laptops are typically marketed towards executives, professionals and mobile "road warrior" types whose careers and economic futures depend on fast, reliable and robust equipment. The T60p is a machine that will satisfy those types of critical needs while still allowing for fun and creativity in between megamerger negotiations.

I would absolutely recommend the T60p for corporate and personal use.


Pros:

• Vista capable
• Super fast Intel Core 2 Duo processor
• Amazing 4GB RAM capacity
• Respectable battery life
• Biometric security

Cons:

• A little heavy
• Thick LCD bezel
• 802.11n and Bluetooth not standard
• No FireWire ports