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GCN Lab Review: Lenovo ThinkPad T60 2523-D2U

By Greg Crowe, GCN Lab Staff

Pros: Superior performance
Cons: A bit pricey
Price: $1,999
Performance: A
Battery life: B+
Features: B
Value: B

The ThinkPad T60 is a finely tuned machine—and the best evidence in this review that raw performance comes down to more than just gigahertz. Despite one of the slowest CPU clocks in the review (1.66-GHz) and just 512 MB of RAM (as opposed to 1GB), it managed to post the best performance marks of our roundup. Its GCN/Alterion benchmark score of 7,878 was 6 percent higher than average and a full 12 percent higher than the slowest system we tested. Maybe it was the ThinkPad’s ATI Mobility Radeon X1300 graphics chip that gave it a boost.

With a nine-cell battery, the ThinkPad turned in a battery life of three hours 33 minutes. That’s respectable, but we were hoping for a little more in light of HP’s ability to get more than three hours from a six-cell battery.

The rest of the unit is fairly strait-laced. It does have an integrated fingerprint reader, an extra PC Card slot and a choice of pointing devices (track point or touch pad), but not much else in the way of flashy extras. For instance, with only two USB ports, we expected to see something like FireWire.

What it does have are less visible perks such as the Active Protection System, which Lenovo calls “airbag-like” as it senses sudden motion and stops the hard drive to protect data. The ThinkPad also has a nice keyboard light that can illuminate the keyboard in dark places.

Overall, the ThinkPad presents a highly mobile package, weighing in at just 5 pounds, 8 ounces. Unfortunately, it’s no lightweight on budgets. For what it includes, $1,999 is a bit expensive. But that’s what we’ve come to expect from ThinkPads. If you do pay the extra, chances are you’ll be very pleased with your choice.

Lenovo International, Purchase, N.Y., (866) 968-4465, www.lenovo.com