Just got a new R61i from Circuit City

Hi guys. I just this morning traded in my week-old Toshiba for a new Lenovo R61i from Circuit City.
I LOVE the solid feel of this thing! Sorta takes one back to the days when computer design was mil-spec and the plastic was industrial strength - unlike the current wave of glossy effete latte-machine 'aesthetic'.

I suspect it's very much the low-end of things for IBM, but I am pretty well impressed and I think it will do me nicely for a while.

I was a bit disappointed to find it had only a 1.5GHz processor (T5250) in it when I got them to open it at the store, but I badgered and got a written promise to upgrade to the 1.66GHz? T5450 version when(if?) they get any. Fingers crossed...

Have any of you guys got one of these little wonders? Will I be sorry later on that I didn't go elsewhere and spend more on a better-endowed Thinkpad? (Unfortunately I had to deal with CC, else I was faced with a substantial restocking fee.)
Oh well, for the money (just $250 more than the Toshiba) it seems like a pretty sweet deal so far! I just hope it doesn't start feeling too slow...

I'm minimizing Vista, and running Passmark tests. It did at least come with 2GB of RAM - that should help a bit.

Any feedback on the relatively slow processor, and what I might be able to expect out of this machine?

Thanks!
Dave

Hi there NE.
I was on the phone to CC just now trying to get a feel for whether they'd ever be getting their advertised 'R61i with a 5450 processor'.
Of course, nobody had a clue, and they sure weren't giving any guarantees over the phone. I asked whethe I qualified for a full refund then, and the guy said that would be the manager's call.

Technically, I have six days to decide, but I'm damned if I'm gonna dump all my recent work, restore the OEM software, and go begging for a refund on the off-chance the manager's in a good mood.

I'm pretty much feeling like I own it, and that OK. It's a damned good machine for the money (once I get the blasted rebate!)

Actually, I've been tweaking it pretty good (Vista geek tweaks) - it got a PCMark05 score of 3349,and a Passmark score of 385.3. (Windows gives it a 3.5 based on the slow video card, but all the other hardware rates 4.5 and over.)

Cheers
Dave