Lenovo ThinkPad R61
Slim size and light weight make the R61 ideal for taking on the road. Its battery life is unimpressive, however.A classic ThinkPad, the R61 is full of nice features you don't usually find in a laptop, such as the ThinkLight, an LED that illuminates the keyboard. The R61's 14.1-inch screen and 5.8-pound weight make it an ideal travel companion, too. For a work-oriented notebook decked out with all the trimmings, this model is hard to beat.
The first-rate keyboard includes both a touchpad and an eraserhead nub, as well as dedicated Internet forward and back buttons. An integrated fingerprint reader, located in the right palmrest, makes log-ins a breeze once you set it up. You can hot-swap devices--the dual-layer DVD drive or an extra battery, among others--in and out of the right-side modular bay with one hand. On-screen documentation and system recovery utilities are just a button press away.
The 2.2-GHz Core 2 Duo T7500-equipped R61 performed admirably in our speed tests, with a WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 80. The R61's 3-hour, 19-minute tested battery life is good.
The $2004 ThinkPad R61 is a nicely designed machine that deserves consideration as a travel-worthy portable.