Macbook vs Thinkpad T61 - Which would you buy TODAY?

[rxblitzrx]

I need a laptop TODAY... meaning, I can't wait for a Christmas or Black Friday sale. If you had to choose one, which would you pick?

I know Leopard is supposed to come out soon, but I can't wait. It has to be purchased this week, or my brain will die. Please list the pros and cons. Thanks!

 

[TheStu]

IF you are a student, then I would recommend the MacBook

For $1000 you get the 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, ComboDrive, 80 GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, 1280*800 13.3" screen, and the ability to run OS X, Windows, or Linux, all legally.

For that same amount of money, you get a 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo, CompoDrive, 80GB hard drive, 1 GB RAM, 1280*800 14.1" screen, and the ability to run Windows and Linux legally.

From my perspective, the MacBook is a more capable machine. However, often Windows laptops (I have no other name for them) will be cheaper to upgrade from a base model, but generally the price difference between Apple and Non-Apple is much closer than you might these days. Although it is hard to get an exact match.

One thing that I would worry about with the T61 is the standard 4-cell battery. I couldn't find estimated times on their site, but my guess would be that it would be less than the MacBook.

 

[SexyK]

I personally would choose the T61 but both options have pros and cons. You could debate it until you're blue in the face, but here's my quick rundown:

T61:
- Input devices (stellar keyboard and choice of touchpad/pointing stick
- More configuration options (14in WS, 14in 4:3, 15in WS, tons of resolution options; choice of discrete or integrated graphics; HDs from 60GB to 200GB, 5400RPM, 7200RPM, etc; up to T7700 available; up to 4GB ram; this list could keep on going)
- Reliable and built like a rock
- Solid configurations in the $1000-$1100 range

Macbook:
- Stylish and light/portable design
- Nice looking glossy screen
- OSX support
- Crap keyboard (IMO)
- Much more limited selection of options
- Can be had fairly cheaply for a decent configuration

In my mind the T-series is just a more versatile choice and will hold up better in the long run, but the Macbook is a solid machine for a good price, so if it meets your needs and you don't mind the keyboard, don't hesitate.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: TheStu
One thing that I would worry about with the T61 is the standard 4-cell battery. I couldn't find estimated times on their site, but my guess would be that it would be less than the MacBook.

The 4-cell is the base battery and a poor one at that - but the 6-cell and 7-cells offer decent run time.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: SexyK
I personally would choose the T61 but both options have pros and cons. You could debate it until you're blue in the face, but here's my quick rundown:

T61:
- Input devices (stellar keyboard and choice of touchpad/pointing stick
- More configuration options (14in WS, 14in 4:3, 15in WS, tons of resolution options; choice of discrete or integrated graphics; HDs from 60GB to 200GB, 5400RPM, 7200RPM, etc; up to T7700 available; up to 4GB ram; this list could keep on going)
- Reliable and built like a rock
- Solid configurations in the $1000-$1100 range

Macbook:
- Stylish and light/portable design
- Nice looking glossy screen
- OSX support
- Crap keyboard (IMO)
- Much more limited selection of options
- Can be had fairly cheaply for a decent configuration

In my mind the T-series is just a more versatile choice and will hold up better in the long run, but the Macbook is a solid machine for a good price, so if it meets your needs and you don't mind the keyboard, don't hesitate.

See personally I hate the eraser nub, and don't like Thinkpad keyboards... so for me, the MacBook would win on that point alone (in a contest between those two). However, further between the two, the MacBook has a huge trackpad (have an ipod? It's about that big) as compared to the Thinkpad which is about average sized. Past that though, you are pretty much spot on.

 

[corkyg]

Just the opposite - I love the trackpoint and hate touchpads. Besides, I have over 25 years of PC experience that would be wasted on a Mac.

I would not hesitate to pick the T61.

 

[SexyK]

For the record, the keyboard bothers me more than than the touchpad on the MBs - not really feelin' the chiclet-style keys with almost no travel. As far as the touchpad vs. trackpoint debate, I'm an X-series user so obviously I prefer the trackpoint. The T-series is really the best of both world though, because you get both. I do like the double-finger drag on the MB trackpad though, nice feature.

You will be happy with either machine, I'm sure. I mainly lean toward the Thinkpad because of the flexibility and build quality (I also am among those who think the Thinkpads are good looking machines). If you prefer Apple styling and don't mind more of a "closed box" experience (from a hardware perspective), then you can't go wrong with the MB.

EDIT: Also, you get your choice of batteries with the Thinkpad. I would strongly recommend going with one of the larger options over the default 4-cell if you want to be able to spend a whole day taking notes without lugging the power brick. Weight and battery life were my main considerations in going for the X-series w/ 8-cell battery. ~3lbs and 6.5hrs of battery life is very, very nice if you're carrying the machine with you all day every day.

 

[rxblitzrx]

Wow. So much input, in so little time. Thanks for the opinions guys!

I'm going to stick with my original plan. The MacBook was REALLY tempting with a 13.3" screen. The screen is the MOST important part of a laptop for me. I wanted the new LED backlit Dell M1330, but they have serious quality issues from what I've read. I'd have to agree with the flexibility of Windows based systems. Even though I only use Photoshop and Office these days, there's just so much more software available for Windows over Mac.



Lenovo Thinkpad T61

INTEL CORE 2 DUO T7300
MS WIN VISTA HOME BASIC (Reinstall XP Pro)
14.1WXGA+ TFT
Integrated Graphics (longer battery life)
1GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 1DIMM (Newegg is cheaper. Manual upgrade to 2GB)
Fingerprint reader
80 GB HDD,5400RPM (less heat than 7200 rpm and longer battery life)
CD-RW/DVD-ROM COM,UBAYSLIM
PC CARDSLOT EX CARDSLOT
INTELPRO/Wireless ABG
INTEGRATED BLUETOOTH PAN
4 CELL LI-ION BATTERY (the 6 cell and 7 cell stick out. Will purchase separately if needed. I usually study longer than 4 hours at a time, so I'm plugged in 99% of the time.)

Final price after anniversary sale and employee discount: $847.85 + 30.00 (1 GB ram upgrade) = 877.85

 

[rxblitzrx]

BTW, I just found out about "repolarizing" laptop LCD's to make them work like Dell TruLife or Sony XBRITE. Does anyone know about this service? Is it really worth it?

 

[SexyK]

Originally posted by: rxblitzrx
Wow. So much input, in so little time. Thanks for the opinions guys!

I'm going to stick with my original plan. The MacBook was REALLY tempting with a 13.3" screen. The screen is the MOST important part of a laptop for me. I wanted the new LED backlit Dell M1330, but they have serious quality issues from what I've read. I'd have to agree with the flexibility of Windows based systems. Even though I only use Photoshop and Office these days, there's just so much more software available for Windows over Mac.



Lenovo Thinkpad T61

INTEL CORE 2 DUO T7300
MS WIN VISTA HOME BASIC (Reinstall XP Pro)
14.1WXGA+ TFT
Integrated Graphics (longer battery life)
1GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 1DIMM (Newegg is cheaper. Manual upgrade to 2GB)
Fingerprint reader
80 GB HDD,5400RPM (less heat than 7200 rpm and longer battery life)
CD-RW/DVD-ROM COM,UBAYSLIM
PC CARDSLOT EX CARDSLOT
INTELPRO/Wireless ABG
INTEGRATED BLUETOOTH PAN
4 CELL LI-ION BATTERY (the 6 cell and 7 cell stick out. Will purchase separately if needed. I usually study longer than 4 hours at a time, so I'm plugged in 99% of the time.)

Final price after anniversary sale and employee discount: $847.85 + 30.00 (1 GB ram upgrade) = 877.85

:thumbsup: You will be very, very happy with that system. Definitely do the newegg upgrade to 2GB and you'll be good to go.

As far as repolarizing, never heard of that one but I'd be curious to hear some details if anyone's got information... sounds interesting.

 

[coolVariable]

Ok sir. Stay away from the Lenovo. Now take a step back and look at other laptop manufacturers.
Yes, sir. You may touch that Dell Latitude!

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: rxblitzrx
Lenovo Thinkpad T61

INTEL CORE 2 DUO T7300
MS WIN VISTA HOME BASIC (Reinstall XP Pro)
14.1WXGA+ TFT
Integrated Graphics (longer battery life)
1GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 1DIMM (Newegg is cheaper. Manual upgrade to 2GB)
Fingerprint reader
80 GB HDD,5400RPM (less heat than 7200 rpm and longer battery life)
CD-RW/DVD-ROM COM,UBAYSLIM
PC CARDSLOT EX CARDSLOT
INTELPRO/Wireless ABG
INTEGRATED BLUETOOTH PAN
4 CELL LI-ION BATTERY (the 6 cell and 7 cell stick out. Will purchase separately if needed. I usually study longer than 4 hours at a time, so I'm plugged in 99% of the time.)

Final price after anniversary sale and employee discount: $847.85 + 30.00 (1 GB ram upgrade) = 877.85

Hrm...

Looks okay, but I would get Vista HP, 2GB RAM (even if you run XP), and a bigger HD!

 

[rxblitzrx]

Originally posted by: SexyK

Originally posted by: rxblitzrx
Wow. So much input, in so little time. Thanks for the opinions guys!

I'm going to stick with my original plan. The MacBook was REALLY tempting with a 13.3" screen. The screen is the MOST important part of a laptop for me. I wanted the new LED backlit Dell M1330, but they have serious quality issues from what I've read. I'd have to agree with the flexibility of Windows based systems. Even though I only use Photoshop and Office these days, there's just so much more software available for Windows over Mac.



Lenovo Thinkpad T61

INTEL CORE 2 DUO T7300
MS WIN VISTA HOME BASIC (Reinstall XP Pro)
14.1WXGA+ TFT
Integrated Graphics (longer battery life)
1GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 1DIMM (Newegg is cheaper. Manual upgrade to 2GB)
Fingerprint reader
80 GB HDD,5400RPM (less heat than 7200 rpm and longer battery life)
CD-RW/DVD-ROM COM,UBAYSLIM
PC CARDSLOT EX CARDSLOT
INTELPRO/Wireless ABG
INTEGRATED BLUETOOTH PAN
4 CELL LI-ION BATTERY (the 6 cell and 7 cell stick out. Will purchase separately if needed. I usually study longer than 4 hours at a time, so I'm plugged in 99% of the time.)

Final price after anniversary sale and employee discount: $847.85 + 30.00 (1 GB ram upgrade) = 877.85

:thumbsup: You will be very, very happy with that system. Definitely do the newegg upgrade to 2GB and you'll be good to go.

As far as repolarizing, never heard of that one but I'd be curious to hear some details if anyone's got information... sounds interesting.

Check the new thread in this forum on Repolarizing LCD - Worth It?

 

[DarkThinker]

Lenovo are right now on their website having 15 anniversary sale, up to $500 savings on T61 and T60. I would jump on it now if I were you. Prefereably go with a T60p if you have gaming needs of some sort, otherwise take the T61 sale deal.
You will be saving much money over mac.
Plus if you are already a PC user, why switch to mac while you can get equal if not higher quality product?

So T61 hands down.

Also, you might not be a Linux user, however if you are it's a big pro , it is a Thinkpad and that means almost %98 of the hardware will work out of the box under Linux, and the rest is easy.
Now if you are a Linux user you can customize almost everything on it to look like a mac and function like a mac, also you will get to dual boot for fun and profit.
Heck if you want to run Linux and live near by, I would be willing to setup everything for free for you

DarkThinker

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: DarkThinker
If you are already a PC user, why switch to mac while you can get equal if not higher quality product?

DarkThinker

Junk rig...

 

[22hertz]

I was deciding between these two a few months ago myself.

What I ended up buying was a Macbook Pro. I am extremely happy with my decision!

Before this MBP I had no experience with Apple or OSX. My Aunt works for IBM and could have gotten me a sweet deal on the notebook of my choice, but after playing around with them I decided to give apple a try.

Here is what I have found with the MBP.

First resell value is very high. If you dont like it, sell it. You will get most of your money back.
But I have found that I have not had to load the first driver for anything. My MBP recognizes my printer, my sisters printer I hooked up once, my camera...anything I have had hooked up was recognized and worked.
This notebook is very fast to. I hear thats basically OSX doing its thing. Im impressed.
I dont hear any fan noise from this notebook...and what just amazes me the most is everything just seems to work without fiddling like I have to do in windows.

Now Im not a windows hater, I actually used to think Windows was pretty good and couldnt understand why everyone seems to bag on it, but after my experience with OSX I can see how bad windows is.

I have found everything I needed to have so far work on this MBP. There seems to be a comparable program for everything. There also seems to be a few things Windows doesnt have that I can get for my mac.

The keyboard is wide and has good feedback (and is backlit
The screen is very nice.

I may be typing all this in the wrong place, since I know you said you were looking at a macbook and not the pro, and Im not too fond of that keyboard either, but let me tell you after using OSX for a couple weeks I am hooked. So much so Im going to sell my recently built PC.

Like I said I could have gotten a sweet deal on a Thinkpad, but chose to go with the MacbookPro, and I was thinking the hour after I bought it what the hell did I just do, Im going to regret getting a non-compatible computer, but after my experience I am soooo glad I took the chance and found out how great OSX is.

If you like to tinker then the MAC is not for you. Its true that there really is no upgrading, except for RAM or HDD, but I like how the MAC was designed and built with an operating system in mind...no driver fiddling and everything works seamlessly.

And there is bootcamp for my engineering programs I already have for Windows.

Goodluck with your purchase. I know it can be daunting to decide as it was for me, and thought I made a mistake right after I bought it, but turned out to be one of the best decisions I have made (better than the girlfriend thats for sure

Later man

 

[rxblitzrx]

Lots of support for the Mac, here on Anandtech. I've been able to pull up some Google stuff on MacBook LCD issues. Apple got sued?? The last thing I need is another jacked up LCD on my laptop. That's the reason I'm having to get a new laptop in the first place!

After I graduate, I'll probably consider the Mac a little more carefully. Right now, I don't have time to learn everything over on a Mac. I probably won't even switch to Vista for the next two years just to avoid the learning curve there.

 

[TheStu]

The lawsuit that I think you are referring to is taking Apple to court because although they market the laptop displays as having 'millions' of colors, they really are only capable of 262,000 colors since they are 6bit panels. Furthermore, the method that they use to simulate the additional colors, dithering, is allegedly done better on Windows.

Now, a couple of things to keep in mind.

Whether or not dithering it better in Windows seems to be an entirely subjective test, however easy it might be now that Macs can run Windows.

There is not a single LCD panel under 19" in size that supports more than 6bit. Not a single one. This is not Apple putting 6bit when everyone uses 8bit, this is Apple falsely advertising, and that really is all it is.

And why are you so shocked to hear that a corporation got sued? Everyone gets sued, or sues someone.

 

[rxblitzrx]

Originally posted by: TheStu

And why are you so shocked to hear that a corporation got sued? Everyone gets sued, or sues someone.

Maybe I shouldn't have used so many ??? marks. I was just curious to see what the issue was with the LCDs since that's the most important buying factor for me.

 

[rxblitzrx]

Just wanted to share that my T61 finally shipped today and will be arriving on Friday. Just enough time for me to play with it over the weekend, then send it in for the PixelBright mod on Monday.

 

[slugg]

<--- proud owner of a t61

 

[rxblitzrx]

Originally posted by: slugg
<--- proud owner of a t61

I have acute enviness right now... until Friday.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: slugg
<--- proud owner of a t61

I though these Thinkpads are made by Lenovo now, by slave labor in communist China, not IBM... just like everything else.

How can you be proud of that? Do they have better slave laborers?

Do you have a Lenovo Thinkpad or the real thing? Just curious...

 

[SexyK]

Originally posted by: VinDSL

Originally posted by: slugg
<--- proud owner of a t61

I though these Thinkpads are made by Lenovo now, by slave labor in communist China, not IBM... just like everything else.

How can you be proud of that? Do they have better slave laborers?

Do you have a Lenovo Thinkpad or the real thing? Just curious...

lol, believe it or not, contrary to the what many think, there are some responsible/competently run companies in China. Also, not everyone in China is a slave laborer :light:! There's no reason not to support Chinese companies that have high standards and stand behind their products. Lenovo even has english speaking techs and sales associates that are based in America which is more than most American companies can say.

If you are going to slam a company, do it because they offer a crappy product or don't support their product, not because it's made by a Chinese company.

<----- Proud owner of an X61

 

[DarkThinker]

Originally posted by: SexyK

Originally posted by: VinDSL

Originally posted by: slugg
<--- proud owner of a t61

I though these Thinkpads are made by Lenovo now, by slave labor in communist China, not IBM... just like everything else.

How can you be proud of that? Do they have better slave laborers?

Do you have a Lenovo Thinkpad or the real thing? Just curious...

lol, believe it or not, contrary to the what many think, there are some responsible/competently run companies in China. Also, not everyone in China is a slave laborer :light:! There's no reason not to support Chinese companies that have high standards and stand behind their products. Lenovo even has english speaking techs and sales associates that are based in America which is more than most American companies can say.

If you are going to slam a company, do it because they offer a crappy product or don't support their product, not because it's made by a Chinese company.

<----- Proud owner of an X61

QFT


<----- Proud owner of a T60