Lenovo ThinkPad T60 2623 review (Core Duo 2 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB HDD)

The first new iteration of the ThinkPad T series since Lenovo bought the ThinkPad business from IBM, the ThinkPad T60 retains its trademark design but adds in the latest components, including Intel's Core Duo chipset and a handful of new features. Unlike its more consumer-focused thin-and-light counterpart, the wide-screen ThinkPad Z60t, the ThinkPad T60 is built for large-enterprise business customers, incorporating a deep supply of connectivity features but few multimedia extras. With a starting price of $1,700, the ThinkPad T60 is considerably more expensive out of the gate than competing models, such as the Dell Latitude D610 and the HP Compaq nc6140, but offers a sturdier design and superior configuration options (Dell and HP have yet to upgrade all their business offerings to the Core Duo platform), as well as excellent performance and a comprehensive array of features. As we did with the ThinkPad T-series model before it, we recommend the T60 to any serious business that can't afford to scrimp on its laptop fleet.

Depending on how you configure it, the ThinkPad T60 weighs approximately 5.5 pounds and runs 10.5 inches deep, 13 inches wide, and a hair less than 1.5 inches thick--virtually the same dimensions as the previous ThinkPad T43 model. The extended 9-cell battery included with our unit brought its weight to 6.2 pounds and added 0.75 inch to its depth; its compact AC adapter added just less than another pound. There are many more-portable laptops on the market, even within Lenovo's portfolio, but the ThinkPad T60 is light enough for occasional travel and movement around the office.

The ThinkPad T60 is extremely well designed and features thoughtful touches such as sturdy steel hinges, drain holes for accidental spills onto the keyboard, and--new to the T series--a shock-mounted hard drive and internal roll cage that holds components in place. The excellent keyboard offers a comfortable layout and features the traditional red eraser-head pointing stick, as well as a sufficient-size touch pad, each of which has a set of mouse buttons. Above the keyboard are three handy external volume controls--the extent of the ThinkPad T60's dedicated multimedia controls--and a blue ThinkVantage button, which summons Lenovo's excellent system support and help utility.

Like the ThinkPad T43, the ThinkPad T60 can be configured with either a 14-inch or 15-inch standard-aspect display and a variety of native resolutions. Our test unit, featuring a 15-inch display with a fairly fine, 1,400x1,050 SXGA+ native resolution, looked crisp, clear, and reasonably bright; still, we prefer the wide-aspect display found on the ThinkPad Z60t. As with most business-focused systems, the ThinkPad T60's speakers sounded clear but, even when maxed out, soft and relatively flat.

When it comes to ports and connections, the ThinkPad T60 keeps it basic. You get a VGA port, headphone and microphone jacks, slots for Type II PC Cards and ExpressCards, and three USB 2.0 ports--one more than the ThinkPad T43 but still short of the Latitude D610's four--and a DVD burner in its swappable bay. On the other hand, the ThinkPad T60 has basically all of the networking connections a businessperson could want: Gigabit Ethernet, 56Kbps modem, Bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g wireless, and EV-DO WWAN. A handy switch on the front edge turns all wireless radios on and off. The ThinkPad T60 lacks a number of multimedia connections, such as FireWire, S-Video, and a media card reader--features that aren't crucial to typical productivity work, but which are found on other business-class thin-and-lights. Security features abound, however, including a fingerprint reader and an Embedded Security Subsystem--a hardware security feature that is similar to a Trusted Platform Module.

Our high-end test unit, priced at $2,599, was configured with a solid set of components, including a 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo T2500 processor, 1GB of speedy 666MHz DDR2 SDRAM, a midrange ATI Mobility Radeon x1400 graphics card with 128MB of video RAM, and a SATA 100GB hard drive spinning at 5,400rpm. Unsurprisingly, the ThinkPad T60 turned in a strong score on CNET Labs benchmarks, performing as well as the other similarly configured dual-core systems we've seen and significantly ahead of the previous generation of Pentium M-equipped business laptops. Our ThinkPad T60 test unit shipped with a high-capacity 9-cell battery (which adds about $160 to the price) that lasted just shy of 6 hours in our drain tests, which is about as good as it gets for a thin-and-light laptop.

Depending on which configuration you buy, the ThinkPad T60 is backed by an economical one-year or lengthy three-year warranty, during which you must carry in your system to an authorized repair center; upgrades for longer terms and onsite repairs are reasonably priced. The company's support Web site includes a handful of troubleshooting topics as well as the expected driver downloads; the site lacks interactive features such as customer forums or the chance to chat in real time with a technician.