I'm Revisiting the ThinkPad T61 #ThinkPad #Shorts

This article is a transcript of a video that you can watch by clicking the thumbnail below. Hence, certain statements may not make sense in this text form, and watching the video instead is recommended.

Transcript

One of my early ThinkPads was the T61p, which I call a blind purchase, as I had no idea about the platform back when I picked it up. I remember being amazed at how the RAM modules were right beneath the palmrest that was secured with only a couple of screws. Fast-forward a few years, now that I’ve gone a little too far with around 50 ThinkPads across series and generations, I thought it was time to revisit that part of the timeline once again.

But then, I already have a X61s from that generation, which is quite slow with its low-wattage CPU, and regular X61 examples are very expensive and hard to find. So, to help me get over the trauma from the X61 tablet re-build failure, the only major model left from that generation was the T61.

If you’ve ever found it hard to find a notebook with the exact specs you wanted, you should be grateful that it wasn’t a T61, as there are just too many variations to choose from. There are two screen sizes between 14.1” and 15”, with several display resolution options. There is a “p” variant notorious for Nvidia GPU failures, which I’ve already touched. There are multiple CPU generations, not just performance tiers, and to make things worse, Lenovo also offered the T61 in widescreen form-factor with a 16:10 aspect ratio against the regular 4:3 of the regular, that too under the same model number. With so much variety, even buying batteries for these is challenging, as it is highly likely you’ll end up with the wrong one, as most of the time even the sellers aren’t sure of what they’re selling.

I wanted a 14 incher, and I had to go with a widescreen example, as you cannot practically find one with a taller screen anymore. With my experience with this generation of ThinkPads, some spare components, and with the help of Middleton’s BIOS, there’s a lot of potential with one of these, which is exactly what I plan to cover in an upcoming video, so stay tuned!