Intel's Core Duo Launch - Notebook Performance Revealed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 5, 2006 8:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Lenovo T60 - Usability
Moving beyond the specifications and the ports on the T60, we get to honestly one of its biggest selling points - the keyboard. The keyboard on the T60 is absolutely stellar, with tactile feedback and key positioning among the best in the market. Much like the T and X series designs of the past, there is a keyboard light that is accessible using the Fn + PgUp keyboard shortcut. The light is mounted on the frame of the LCD panel and does a decent job of illuminating the keyboard. The effect is better than having an unlit keyboard, however we do prefer Apple’s fiber-optic lighting system if given an option.
After Lenovo took over the Thinkpads finally got a Windows key, which had been kept off of their designs by IBM as a way of preserving the size and feel of the left CTRL and ALT keys. The inclusion of the Windows key results in a mixed bag of feelings, those who didn’t mind mapping it to another key on older Thinkpads will be displeased while those who sorely missed it will be ecstatic beyond belief. We’re not fond of it, but others may not share our sentiments.
Also in the usual Thinkpad tradition, there’s a blue ThinkVantage button at the top left of the keyboard that will allow you to interrupt the normal startup of the machine and do anything from restore the entire state of the system back to its factory defaults, change boot devices or access the BIOS. While the ThinkVantage button was functional, the necessary software wasn’t present to allow us to test the functionality of the pre-boot loader. We’ll obviously look at ThinkVantage and other similar features once we have final shipping hardware (and software) in our possession.
Given that it uses a 14.1” 4:3 display, Lenovo had a large enough footprint on the T60 to include both a trackpad and TrackPoint on the system. Given how much of a passion users have for one method over the other, including both whenever possible never hurts - especially when you pair it up with an excellent keyboard. The TrackPoint stick is paired with three buttons, the middle which can be held down to turn the pointer into a virtual scroll wheel.
As with previous T series notebooks, the T60 does feature a fingerprint scanner and software that allows you to simply scan your fingerprint instead of having to type in Windows passwords. The supplied software will also manage website passwords for you, once again requiring just a finger swipe instead of remembering and typing in your password. The fingerprint scanner functionality has been on previous Thinkpad notebooks and unfortunately we didn’t have access to the shipping software for this review, so once again we will have to save our evaluation of the technology until a production level notebook is ready.
All in all the Thinkpad T60 was pretty much what we have come to expect from IBM, which is good to know since it is now manufactured by Lenovo. From what we’ve seen, the T60 looks to be just as strong as previous Thinkpad notebooks and now armed with Intel’s Centrino Duo platform, it could very well become one of the notebooks to get in 2006. We’ll reserve final judgment until shipping hardware is available, but so far it is looking promising.
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OvErHeAtInG - Saturday, January 7, 2006 - link
You hit the nail on the head. The increased power consumption would not be worth it. And IIRC was pointed out in the article, higher memory freq would provide a really minimal performance increase since the FSB is already lower bandwidth than that.psychobriggsy - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
Did anyone else notice the strange mention of three compaq laptops on page 13 IIRC of the review?Anyway, this looks like a good product from Intel which will keep them ahead in mobile areas for the foreseeable future. AMD may catch up of course, but we will see what they offer later this year. I'm sure that revision F will be good though, and DDR2 will reduce power consumption on AMD notebooks a bit more.
Stolichnaya - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
Looks like the 'i' is going to crash on it's left side any time...nserra - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
You are all dreaming here, thinking that amd can release a processor (platform) as good as this for the notebook area. The only extra is the 64 bit.They lack all the others, and primary ones:
-Good platform from one of their partners.
-Low power chipset to couple with the processor.
-Brand recognition....
nidomus - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link
coughfanboycoughBrucmack - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
I'm normally not a spelling nazi, but this is the second time I've seen this on Anandtech, and it's really annoying...On page 5, the word you're looking for is "segue", not "segway".
Shark Tek - Thursday, January 5, 2006 - link
Great package but I don't have money for it :(http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1908402,00.as...">Dell Inspiron E1705
Type: Gaming, General Purpose, Media
Operating System: MS Windows XP Media Center
Processor Name: Intel Pentium M T2500
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
RAM: 1024 MB
Hard Drive Capacity: 80 GB
Graphics: nVidia GeForce Go 7800GTX
Primary Optical Drive: Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW
Wireless: 802.11a/g
Screen Size: 17 inches
Screen Size Type: widescreen
System Weight: 8.2 lbs
Calin - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
But that isn't a portable laptop, is a towable one :(Shark Tek - Thursday, January 5, 2006 - link
That power consumption will be equal or better than previous Pentium-M generation. Now lets wait for AMD what they have to offer when they launch the Turion64 X2.They wont be sufficient to compete with "Core Duo" the only real advantages over intel are 64 bit support and cheaper cpu prices, nothing else.
Intel will leap forward a few more years in the mobile market.
Viditor - Thursday, January 5, 2006 - link
Keep in mind that you're just making an "enthusiastic guess" here...
AMD has started a new process of strained silicon on their 90nm chips which is specifically targeted at reducing power and increasing effeciency.
These are released in new steppings rather than new architectures (remember Rev E cut power requirements in half compared to previous generations of 90nm chips).
Even more important is the platforms...remember that the Turion isn't even 1 year old, and the platform designs are still minimal at best. It would be foolish to discount AMD at this point.
That said, Intel deserves hearty congratulations on the duo and it's platform! 2006 is going to be an interesting year...!