Help with laptop recommendation

I'm torn between the Asus F8Sp-X1 and the Lenovo T61.

T61
Intel® Core 2 Duo processor T8100 (2.1GHz 800MHz 3MBL2)
nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M
2 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)
160GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim
PC Card Slot & Media Card Slot
Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (supporting Centrino Pro)
Integrated Bluetooth
6 cell Li-Ion Battery

F8sp-x1
Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 2.0G 667MHz 2MBL2
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650
3GB DDR2
250GB
DVD Super Multi
8-in-1 card reader
Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN
Integrated Bluetooth
6 cell Li-Ion Battery

So what do you think? Don't plan to play game. Plan to watch movies use Photoshop, MS Office. I like to use Vista, yes I'm a moron I plan for this to last 3-4 years. I also plan to lug it around a bit, but not too much so battery life and weight is important but not too much.

Does the Asus glare bother people much? That's one thing I am adversed about. Also how's the mouse pad and pad buttons on the Asus has it bothered any one over extended usage?

I do own an old IBM (when it was still IBM) T40 and I love it but it's out of date and need an upgrade.

 

Well i have a G1S from asus and i can say the Customer Support is really nice, Quick and easy. No problems from them at all. If your looking for something that will last, the F8 is the way to go. The video card is much better and ATi is really good for Video due to great HD video drivers. Also, the more Room u have on your PC, the better. 160GB runs out quick so 250GB is nice. The processors are almost identical. .1 ghZ slower, u wont notice a thing.

The Asus glare. Hm. Well i play games and watch movies a lot and my window is right above me with the sun blaring in. Really, it doesnt bother me much. Its not an intense glare but u see some white. Still, its a bit bothersome to have to tilt your Monitor a bit down but the best thing about asus monitors is that no matter what angle, the color and contrast stays true. At least for me lol.

 

going with tron on this one.

 

I'd side with the Asus. Currently Lenovo is having repair depot/manufacturing issues that are pretty bad. (I went through three faulty replacements before being issued a refund.)

Lenovo aren't what they used to be quality wise. (IBM) Still nice laptops though, I enjoyed mine when it worked.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Does any one seem to be having problem with the Asus's mouse pad? I'm referring to the F8's mouse pad. It is "roughened" which I like more the the "shinny" ones that HP and DellXPS comes with but is it responsive and such? I was able to play around with it at a local store but that's just for like maybe 10 minutes.

 

Well I don't know about the recent history of the Lenovo but the Thinkpads are reputed for build quality. On the other hand, the F8 is a budget, performance notebook. Granted, no problems have surfaced with its quality, but it's still a budget notebook.

Since you want your laptop to last 3-4 years, maybe you would like to ponder this a little bit more...

 

I think the thing i forgot to mention before was looking for something that was $1000 with a standard deviation of $100 (for shiping/tax). With that said it seems like the Asus will give me the most relative happiness per dollar. About the 3-4 years lifespan; have any Asus owners have their laptops for that long? And how does yours fair when it gets that old?

From personal experience, my T40 lasted 3 years without problem. In the 4th year (2006-2007) the left click died on the mouse pad but on Txx models they always have two sets of buttons so i lived. However, what I couldn't stand was battery degradation. I can't use battery for XP bootup any more. Plus, it's hella slow now, not talking about running programs, just XP bootup.

Either way, the main question is how does Asus laptops in general handle itself when its 3-4 yrs old?

 

You are right that many times ASUS notebooks have very good price/performance ratio (sometimes the best that you can find).

Noone can say how long the F8 will last since it's quite new (the entire line hasn't been around for 3 years). But as I said, there are no reported recurring build problems, so the prospects are good.

I did not have an ASUS laptop that lasted more than 3 years in a row, because my V6 is only 2yr2m old, and the M6 was in a car crash and has been repaired 2 years ago. But I fully expect the V6 to pass the 3 year mark successfully.

However, the recent ASUS notebooks aren't that good, in many people's opinion... But that says nothing about a particular model.