A happy Thinkpad X61s owner since 2005 now looking for a new laptop, I was interested to read what TR said about the X61s and its Dell D430 competition back then. I see that the Dell was overrated and the X61s heavily marked down. Incidentally the X61s was already 2 years old before TR reviewed it in December 2007, and I think the D430 was newer.
The review does mention the strengths of the IBM, which are the design, compact size, ruggedness, long battery life, keypad etc. These qualities were legendary among serious mobile users. Yet "Design" scores only 8. The Dell design was by comparison mundane, for the most part without these qualities; the Dell is not even given a score for "Design" but instead a 9 for "Features" :-) Ha !
Then the X61s is systematically marked down to 7 for "Performance", and "Value" even though it was of comparable performance to the Dell and significantly less expensive. The Dell ends with an overall 9 while the X61s gets only 7.
Such a result is frankly bizarre, and makes me seriously doubt the value of "Trusted Reviews" opinions. All it requires to get it wrong is for the reviewer to have a bad day and mark 7 instead of 8, or to be feeling generous and systematically give an extra point.
No, I didn't find a new computer by reading TR reviews. But then as an experienced user I wanted the modern equivalent of the X61s - compact size, ruggedness and long battery life. Surely these are by definition the fundamental qualities of a portable computer - not screen size, raw power and the kind of bulk that is appropriate if "portable" only means you can actually carry it from one room to another.
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