MP3 Player, Wave X, WV430C, 512MB

MP3 Player, Wave X, WV430C, 512MB
Manufacturer: WaveX
Product Type: CE

Editorial Review:
Product Description
Available storage capacity may vary.

Average customer rating: 4.0

One of the best performing laptops you can get at this time

Lenovo ThinkPad Z61t 9442 - Core Duo T2500 / 2 GHz - Centrino Duo - RAM : 1 GB - HD : 100 GB - DVD?RW (?R DL) / DVD-RAM - Gigabit Ethernet - WLAN : 802.11a/b/g - fingerprint - Win XP Pro - 14.1" Widescreen TFT 1280 x 800 ( WXGA ) - academic

Manufacturer: Lenovo
Product Group: Personal Computer
Binding:
ASIN: B000HS8MAK

Related Categories:

Notebooks

Product Description

The ThinkPad Z61t notebook computer is the ideal solution for frequent travelers who need high performance and a wide screen in a lightweight package.

Customer Reviews:

One of the best performing laptops you can get at this time.......2007-03-04

The Z61t is my fourth ThinkPad, the first since Lenovo took over from IBM. As with my previous ThinkPads, I recommend it, but I have reservations you should know about before you order yours.

I should also say that it is best to research ThinkPads at Lenovo's site, to find out what options are available and identify exactly the configuration you want. If you order from Amazon (or a 3rd party selling through Amazon, as would be the case if you buy the specific ThinkPad configuration on this page), be VERY CAREFUL to make sure you're actually getting the configuration you think you're getting, and check out the seller's return policies and "lemon" policies before ordering.

The Z series is the first ThinkPad series with widescreen displays. (However, the instant popularity of the Z series led Lenovo to offer their businessperson-oriented T series with a widescreen option for the first time).

The Z61t advertised on this page has a 14" display. The Z series also may come with a 15" display option. (It did for over a year, but in recent weeks has been removed from [...] website. Have they discontinued it? I hope not.)

The size is not the only difference between the 14" and 15" models:

(1) the 15" model is heavier by about a pound

(2) the battery in the 15" model is bigger than the 14" model, which may translate to longer battery life, but not necessarily, because the 15" model consumes more power than the 14" model.

(3) the 15" model has a glossy bright screen as an option, but the 14" display comes only in the standard matte finish. The glossy displays (you've probably seen them on laptops when browsing in Best Buy or Circuit City) are much brighter than the matte displays, and this is one area where ThinkPads lag the competition - very few ThinkPad models are offered with the extra-bright glossy display option.

For me, the lesser weight of the 14" model was more important than the brighter glossy display that can be ordered on a 15" model, because I lug my laptop to work every day.

ThinkPads are famous for having more comfortable keyboards than other laptops. This is one reason I keep coming back to ThinkPads. The Z61's keyboard is of typically high ThinkPad quality, and much better than the keyboards on Dells, Gateways, and HPs. However, I find it to be not quite as nice as the keyboards on the T series ThinkPads.

The Z61 series ThinkPads all come with Core 2 Duo Intel processors, the current state of the art for laptops. If you buy a cheaper laptop, you'll probably get a Core Duo processor, which is older and not as good as the Core 2 Duo, or even something lesser. This is fine for most folks, who do not need a powerful processor.

The Core 2 Duo comes in five different speeds: 1.66, 1.83, 2.00, 2.16, and 2.33Ghz. I got the 2.00 (the one advertised on this page), which at this time is priced at kind of a sweet spot. If you get a 1.66 or 1.83 processor, you save relatively little money, and give up a fair amount of performance because they have a smaller L2 cache than the 2.00. If you buy a 2.16 or 2.33, you pay a LOT more, but do not get a bigger L2 cache than a 2.00 ghz processor.

Battery: The standard battery with the Z61t is a 4-cell. Lenovo claims it runs for 3 hours, but in real-world conditions (i.e., not dimming the display, not slowing down the processor) it runs only about 2 hours. I paid extra to get the 7-cell battery, advertised at over 4 hours, but in real-world conditions I find it lasts only 3 hours or so. In contrast, my ThinkPad T42 has a 9-cell battery and lasts about 4.5 hours.

One other note: the 7-cell battery sticks out the back almost an inch and adds about 9 ounces to the laptop's total weight, as compared to the standard 4-cell battery. (No matter what laptop you get, if you opt for the high-capacity battery, it will add weight and size to your laptop.)

I had one negative experience with this computer: My ThinkPad Z61t came with outdated versions of Lenovo's Client Security and Rescue and Recovery software applications. I could understand this if I bought from a retail store, because it might have been sitting in their stockroom for months. But my Z61t was custom built to my specifications after I placed the order. Why would they load an older version of their software on it?

I did not know at first that these applications were 1 version out of date. I played around with the security settings, and decided I didn't like what I'd done but I didn't know how to change it back, so I called Lenovo tech support. The tech said "oh, you have version 7. The new version is 8. You need to get that." Long story short, he was not able to provide support for the version of the software that came on my computer!!! Also, upgrading to the newest versions turned out to be much more complicated than you'd imagine. Well, it was simple when I finally figured out how to do it, embarrassingly simple, but the tech support people actually made it more complicated than it should have been: they referred me to several lengthy tech documents at [...] website. Hopefully, by now they are preloading ThinkPads with the latest versions of their software applications. You might call and verify this before ordering, to save yourself a bit of trouble later.

On the plus side, each of the 3 times I called tech support, I got through to a real human in just a few minutes, and the techs I spoke with were all located in the good ole' USA.

(I've gotten pretty good quality tech support from Indian tech people when my call was routed to a call center in Bangalore, India, but some people prefer to get tech support from the U.S., and Lenovo's tech support is based in Atlanta, GA)

I like that you can order ThinkPads without Microsoft Office or Works. Like many of you, I already own a legitimate license for Office so I do not wish to pay extra, and I do not want the hassle of removing an OEM verison of Works.

In fact, ThinkPads come with MUCH less "bloatware" than other computers. (Most of the bloatware that comes preinstalled on other computers are just trial versions that you could download for free, anyway.) The ThinkPad comes with google desktop and picasa (and these are not "demo" or "trial" versions, but "free" public domain software). And Thinkpads come with Lenovo's suite of security, recovery, and productivity applications, which are supposedly highly regarded (from reading reviews at cnet and pcmag). But you won't find trial versions of AOL or other crap that you don't want. The only trial version that I could find installed is Symantec anti-virus. If you already have other antivirus software you like, it is easy to remove Symantec.

ThinkPads typically cost more than most other brands. Before buying my Z61t last month, I priced a similarly configured laptop from Dell, Toshiba, and Gateway for roughly $[...] less each. (The exception is Sony, whose stylish VAIO laptops are even more pricey than ThinkPads.)

You pay more for ThinkPads, but you get more, too. ThinkPads have more and better security features than most other computers, and have good safety features, as well. The hardware inside the case is protected by something like a "roll cage." The case itself is stronger and sturdier than cheaper laptops. ThinkPad software detects rapid motions and parks the hard drive in nanoseconds, which protects your data in the event of a sudden impact. And ThinkPad gets higher scores than other laptop manufacturers in PC Magazine's annual service and reliability survey in all categories, from hardware reliability to tech support and everything in between.

Despite the few negatives I noted above, I am very satisfied and would buy this computer again. ThinkPads are so well-designed and a joy to use, compared to other laptops I have owned (Dell, Toshiba, Gateway - all of which I liked pretty well, but not as much as ThinkPads). My Z61t is configured with a 2.00ghz Core 2 Duo processor, lots of fast RAM, and a 7200 rpm 100gb hard drive which makes it one of the best performing laptops you can buy at this time. You should strongly consider the Z61t, but rather than take the particular configuration offered on this page, find out exactly what options are available and get it configured just the way you want it. Amazon offers the Z61t in several different configurations, and [...] website is great for finding out what configurations are available.

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