D430 or X61: why?

I'm looking to purchase another notebook and it's a toss up between these two. Which would you choose and why?

 

If the D430 still uses 1.8" hard drives like the D420, I'd certainly go for the X61. The 1.8" form factor is very limiting if you want to upgrade the HD (slower, lower capacity, more expensive, less places to order, ...).

Apart from that, the main difference seems to be the display. The Dell does have a higher resolution widescreen display. But I find the advantages of a small widescreen questionable: the resolution is still too low to use two documents or browser windows side by side comfortably. Still, it's better than the ancient 1024x768 standard on the X61.

 

If you can swing it, the SSD hard drive option on the will offer you better performance than the 2.5" drive on the ThinkPad.

 

that's the thing, I can't justify spending that much for the solid state. My mind is so confused now, I just found out I can get an awesome deal (see my other thread about the M1330) on an M1330.

I really wanted either the D430, X61, or the M1330... I can get all for a hefty discount besides the X61. ($1200 for fully loaded D420, $1350 for loaded M1330 besides CPU all with 3 year complete care warranties).

 

If it matters, I think the X61 doesn't have a touchpad... just the pointing stick.

 

This is funny, considering you bought like what, 4 laptops...

 

Well, come on $600 bucks for a hard drive? No thanks

 

$1200 * 4 =~$5000 for 4 extra laptops? No thanks

 

It's a passion