8. The Z60m Is A Fortress Notebook

Like its big brothers, the Lenovo Thinkpad Z60m comes equipped with a bundle of some of the best, easiest to use comfort and security features available anywhere. All of these elements are part of the "Thinkvantage" offering. You can use the Thinkvantage features on a Thinkpad simply by pressing some of the buttons on the top part of the keyboard deck. As soon as you hit one of these keys, a window opens on the desktop, and you can proceed to take advantage of the individual functions they make available.

The blue button provides immediate access to all Thinkvantage functions.

For example, the Z60m includes a fingerprint sensor that does more than manage system login. In combination with a TPM chip that may be installed in the system (not in all Z60 models, however) the notebook turns into a sort of data vault. You can also configure the system to require a combination of a pass-phrase and fingerprint reading for authentication, and also use Utimaco SafeGuard to create a so-called "private disk" that may be accessed only with a fingerprint reading or a passphrase. In addition, all data on the private disk is encrypted. All of this makes data in these special areas on the hard disk as safe as Fort Knox.

For every (security) problem there's a solution

Lenovo has also taken steps to deal with the problems that could arise if and when files are damaged or lost. In that situation, the system's Rescue & Recovery software can help to restore such files, as long as you've made regular (automatic) backups from which to extract them.

Utimaco's Private Disk provides an individual file vault

The backup image and the restore manager consume 4 GB of the Z60m's 60 GB hard disk

There is no separate operating system CD included with this unit for installing Windows XP by itself. However, because the notebook includes a Windows XP Professional license as part of the package, you can work with a copy of such a CD. (The license sticker on the notebook is the physical license, not the media on which the installation files reside.) You'll also find a complete backup of the original system image in a hidden restore partition on this machine. Restoring this image takes about an hour to complete. Smaller incremental backups, by comparison, take only a few minutes.

The Assistant software can restore the complete notebook installation.