We need current 2015 opinions on this machine. Is the lack of reviews indicative of a laptop past its prime? Or is this the wrong place for it? And, that trackpoint where the trackpad is usually placed is an ancient piece of technology I don't even recognize.
On what machine? I have several X61 non-tablet as well as a X201. I use any of them every day. I don't use the X61 if I need a lot of processing power, doing a lot of things at once or just if XGA resolution is too much of a pain to deal with.
The lack of reviews is probably because there's nothing new to say. Everyone that has one loves theirs and isn't giving it up!
Most of the time I'm using my laptop, it's just browser, email and PuTTY (SSH). So long as I don't load up the browser with dozens of tabs of stuff the X61 with a SSD is a great machine to be using. Both X61's only have 2GB RAM in each, I believe. one might have 4GB.
I used to use my X201 every day but I use it less frequently now. I use the X61's more than the X201 actually. I'd say the vast majority of my computing I do on a T420 (8GB RAM, 512GB mSATA and 2TB HD in the drive bay), and the rest happens on one of my X series. If I'm traveling anywhere, I only take an X series with me.
Before I had my T420, I had a X220 with an IPS as well as mSATA+HD configuration. That was a killer machine. I wish I still had it sometimes. I don't really miss it because I have three other X series machines I love but if I was traveling as much as I used to I probably would still have it. I use my T420 as my main machine at home since it mostly stays plugged in and is bigger. I built three towers since I got my T420 but ended up selling all three because I just like using my T420 more... if anything happens to it I'll get a newer T-series.
For a long time I had a X61 dedicated in my studio to recording with an audio interface which had a CardBus/PCMCIA connection interface. That X61 rarely gets used anymore but it has a lot of sentimental value so I try to keep it safe, which means not using it as a toss-around laptop
If you like the X200, there's no reason not to upgrade to an X201. The improvement is immense and an X201 can be had very cheap. I've had mine for 2 or 3 years and paid $115 for it then.
Fun fact about the X201: It's the only post-C2D machine I know of with better XP drivers than Windows 7 64 drivers. IIRC with the X201 the webcam drivers for 7 were broken, built into 8, but the XP drivers worked perfectly... works well for me as I still like to run XP.
I used to have a T61p as a backup XP machine, that got destroyed and replaced by yet another X61, eventually I picked up another T61 widescreen on the cheap but sold that to a friend recently for what I paid for it as his Chromebook died and he had no other machines.
P.S. Trackpoints are life. Trackpoints are love. You get used to it and you'll never want to use a mouse again. It may be an old design but it's never changed because it's a damn good one. In fact I blame Dell for Trackpoints going out of style: they ripped off the Thinkpad trackpoint and made it a huge pain in the butt to use (they've all been incredibly stiff and non responsive and generally just miserable to use, whereas every Thinkpad trackpoint i've used has been easy and painless). I'm obviously biased but if you're considering an X series all you need to know is as soon as you use it, you won't miss that trackpad.
P.P.S. I didn't realize when I replied last to this thread, the thread had been bumped 6 and a half years! Incredible necrobump
@Ali Reyes! to answer your question, i've never seen a laptop with -good- onboard sound, thinkpad is nothing great but at least there's not noticeable noise like certain Dell or other cheap laptops. definitely get a USB DAC... ALL laptop integrated audio is bad.
