Prime Notebook Computer Review

The ThinkPad X60s is the popular ultraportable ThinkPad X-series from Lenovo. It is the evolution of the former ThinkPad X41 notebook. The X60s is slightly deeper than the past X41. The X60s is light enough at 3.4lbs that easily palm it while walking around. The build of X60s is feels strong that mean it’s a sturdy built. The keyboard is spill proof, there are two drains that take liquid away from the keyboard and out the bottom of the notebook. Tough steel hinges provide a very firm screen opening and closing experience, and the screen absolutely will not wobble even on a very bumpy flight. A magnesium alloy material screen lid provides strong protection for your LCD screen. The minor things is the green LED display overlay on top of the notebook that is apparently glued on. The overall aesthetic look has changed. The power and volume buttons are now all silver in color and completely round and the ThinkVantage button is completely rectangular.

The ThinkPad X60s specs :

Processor : Intel Core Duo L2400 1.66GHz
Memory : 512MB DDR2 SDRAM (667MHz)
Hard Drive : Toshiba 80GB 5400RPM SATA
Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Graphics : Intel Media Accelerator 950
Screen : 12.1″ XGA 1024 x 768
Battery : 8-cell extended life
Dimensions : 10.5″ x 8.3″ x 1.11″
Weight : 3.5lbs

With the Core Duo 1.66GHz Low Voltage processor, ThinkPad X60s have a significant step up in performance. The 512MB of RAM is not enough in low virtual memory warnings and general sluggishness when there’s more than 5 applications open. Upgrade the RAM to 1GB is highly recommended. The hard drive in the X60s is the 2.5″. It’s able to upgrade to a 7200RPM variety. And it’s comfort to knowing that the hard drive can be upgrade to higher storage capacities and speeds.
Using Super Pi program to benchmark The X60s we found thr result are IBM ThinkPad X60s (1.66 GHz LV Core Duo) needs 1 minute 23 seconds to Calculate Pi to 2 Million digits. IBM ThinkPad X41 (1.50 GHz LV Pentium M) needs 2 minutes 2 seconds, IBM ThinkPad T43 (1.86 GHz Pentium M) needs 1 minute 45 seconds and Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (2.0GHz Core Duo) needs only 1 minute 18 seconds.

The 12-inch 1024 x 768 (XGA) screen of the X60s is a bright enough screen at full brightness. The screen is of the matte variety, it’s not a glossy widescreen like so many other ultraportables. Viewing angles are not so good, especially vertical. Horizontal viewing angles are much better and it’s fairly easy to get a wide viewing angle from the side.
The X60s keyboard are features a Windows key and Menu shortcut key. The feel of the keyboard is fantastic, every key provides firm feedback and each key feels individual. The pointing stick is great and makes it easy to navigate the cursor around the screen. The mouse buttons lose the red and blue stripes they used to have and become squared off rather than rounded. It’s also raised and have little bumps which makes them very easy to feel and use.

The X60s has a couple of vents and a fan to aid in pushing out warmth generated by the processor and other components. The fan and largest vent is located on the left back side, the fan gently blows warm air out in a very quiet manner. The X60s battery life is incredible. it’s about 5 hours and 59 minutes. Almost 6 hours.
The ThinkPad X60s comes with ports and inputs : 3 USB 2.0, FireWire Port, PCMCIA card slot, Monitor out port, SD memory card slot, Ethernet LAN port, Modem port, Headphone, Power jack, Microphone and 1 Expansion slot / docking station slot. It’s also have 4 forms of wireless built-in. They are Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, EVDO using built-in antenna located on the screen side and Infrared.

The X60s also have other great features like Fingerprint security for login to data protect at the system, One touch ThinkVantage button to manage power settings and Active Protection System for Hard Drive.

The ThinkPad X60s is a nice notebook. It have no Optical Drive built-in and gets little warm especially if used in the lap where bottom vents are blocked. The looking also a little bland. But it have a great feeling keyboard, incredible battery life, very sturdy casing, Superb wireless communication, Excellent software and hardware security features and Good number of ports for an ultraportable.