[ltp] T61, Lenovo quality, Linux pre-installed, alternatives

[Richard Neill]

Ben Pearre wrote:
> I'm torn.  I need a new laptop.  Thinkpads have served me well, but is
> it time to move on?  To what?
> 
> But it's time for a new laptop.  I've been lurking here for a while,
> and reading countless horror stories of Thinkpads dying, being too hot
> to touch, sucking power as if it were beer, buttons randomly not
> working, of Lenovo failing to be at all useful and even being
> downright hostile, of general incompetence throughout the company.  So
> I wonder what many of you are wondering: is it worth it?
> 

Almost all the current thinkpad issues relate to either ACPI or to WiFi.

The latter is quite easy to solve - just make sure you get a mini-pci
card that is properly supported by a free driver. There's usually a
choice; the one in my T60p worked great out of the box.

ACPI affects:
  - some of the special function keys
  - suspend-to-ram
  - battery life.

There's also sometimes an issue with embedded graphics - I recommend you
go for an Intel GPU if possible, since there is a proper open-source driver.

The main problem here is battery life. It may well not be such an issue
- it depends how you use your laptop. I use mine as a "portable
desktop", so the battery life doesn't concern me so much.

Also, all the issues are basically soluble - just that you may sometimes
have to work a bit harder.

As for build-quality, it's still pretty good, though I think the X31 was
probably the peak of quality for thinkpads.

HTH,

Richard


P.S. No one, AFAIK buys a Dell by choice. The corporate purchasers tend
to inflict them!