Inspiron 1520/1420 buyers - why did you not choose thinkpads ?

With the price drop of thinkpads, they can be had for under $1000.
Why would you not go with them rather than the inspirons in the 14/15" market ?

Right now, you can get an additional 20% off by stacking AMEX tailormade statement credit, fatcash, and coupon
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=144350

 

Has there been an actual price drop on ThinkPads, or do you just mean with discounts, etc.?

-Zadillo

 

A] The thinkpads didnt offer a good enough GPU (NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M (128MB)!?!?)
B] The 160Gb Drive only went up to 5400 RPM
C] The T61p configured the closest to my Inspiron 1520 below comes out to $1682.00 BEFORE TAX AND SHIPPING even after the new sale price, $300 more expensive, for a lesser system, slower HD, & slower GPU
and
D] My last laptop was a thinkpad. And it was awful (it flexed and creaked like an old pirate ship, and the right hinge broke)

So with taxes and shipping, we're looking at $500 more for a lesser system. No thank you.

 

Uh what kind of question is this..? You can get way better specs for the same money and you can't get close to the same graphics power no matter how much you spend.

 

Actually you can get very similar graphics power. The T61 with a NVS 140m is extremely similar to the 1420 with an 8400mGS, and the T61p with an FX 570m is extremely similar to the 1520 with an 8600mGT. It's true that it is more expensive to go the thinkpad route, however.

 

Why WOULD we have chosen Thinkpads?

 

I did consider thinkpad T61 and I had to return it because it was defective. It was a beautiful computer, just had a sound card that didn't work, a stuck pixel and BAAD really bad leakage at the bottom of the screen.
Also there's no option to configure the 15.4 inch T61 with a quadro 540

 

Because I hate how IBM laptops look.

 

Good point.
With all the discounts stacked up the T61P could be had last week for $1485 AFTRE tax WITH a 5 year warranty.
Specs:
-2Ghz CPU
-WUXGA screen
-NVIDIA Quadro Fx 570M (256MB)
-100GB 7200 rpm drive
-1GB sodimm
-9 cell battery

Plus, the T61P has a metal rollcage all around.

 

8600M GT. Period.

 

Maybe people like Dell's Products more than ibm.

 

According to
http://www.tt-hardware.com/img/news5/news200707_11.gif
The Qadro FX 570M is much better than the 8600M GT

 

And is the Quadro FX 570M available on the 15.4 inch models?

It is only seemingly available on the T61p "Mobile Workstation" edition, and only at WUXGA, and the 160GB drive is still only 5400 RPM, and that T61P configured the same as my $1377 Inspiron 1520 comes out to...(drum roll) $2271 before tax and shippipng.

So yeah. If you want to spend $1000 more after taxes and shipping, and are happy at WUXGA only, then I suppose the thinkpad would be the choice.

 

For your particular config, yes, its not worth it. But for someone who does not want 2GB single sodimms, does not want completecare (but does want a 3 year warranty) etc, the price comes radically down.
I view WUXGA as a plus, not as a negative.
Finally, you've not considered SPP+coupon+fatcash+AMEX tailormade which combined take off around 20% of the price.

Look at my specs for the $1485 deal and find me an equivalent Dell 15.4" laptop that matches that. You may substiture WSXGA+ for WUXGA.

 

are you trolling? This a forum for dell enthusiasts and probably don't care thinkpads. If they did, they would go on the appropriate forum.

 

Are you trolling? Have you even read his posts? Trolls don't research their posts and post completely reasonable posts... plus he's got 937 posts and two little green bars.

 

I think he's trolling to students who use Amex, like WUXA, want a really high end graphics card but liminted ram, and no accidental damag protection.

Maybe that guy reads this forum for some reason. I dont know.

 

I am not trolling... just trying to figure out why a ThinkPad enthusiast is spending a lot of time on the Dell boards. I don't care how many green bars and posts he has.

What it would be alright for me to go on a Compaq Board and ask why people have not considered getting a Dell?

 

1) Thinkpads are ugly.
2) The Quadro lines are meant to MAKE games, not play them, and you will feel it in games.
3) Thinkpads are ugly.
4) Dell's are cheaper.
5) Thinkpads are ugly.

Style is semi-important to me. It's not so important that I would choose a piece of **** over a really nice laptop specs wise, but it does matter to me. And the new Dell's look pretty kick ass. I really wanted a Vaio, because IMO they are just gorgeous, but Sony didn't offer what I needed for the right price.

If my laptop was strictly for office work, sure, a Thinkpad would be an option, but it's not.

 

I think the original poster had a reasonable question, actually. Its just we have fairly obvious answers, and he didnt seem to like the answers.

 

Best laptop for price in 15.4" price range.

Reviews of each laptop.

 

I think design should have something to do with it. You want to have a laptop that is aesthetically pleasing which could create a desire to work with it. ThinkPads seem like big black bricks. The keys don't feel good to touch and the green mouse button in the middle is a distraction and difficult to use. Plus I have always had dells therefore I trust their product. IBMs have broken down on me.

That is why I don't have a ThinkPad.

Off to a Compaq forum to ask the same question.

 

FYI, I own a Dell Precision M90 laptop, its fricking AWESOME.
I also like thinkpads (I think they look gorgeous IMHO).
I've handled the inspiron E1505, and I would prefer a thinkpad over it.

 

I find the off center screen on the T61 really bizarre........ It's so strange I can't even think of anything else to say about that laptop.

 

Thats a nice rig jb1007, how much did it cost ?

 

If Lenovo had a t61 with a 8600M for $860 shipped I would have bought it.

 

Interestiing. It seems my preferences (in terms of screen, warranty, OS etc) tend to give me prices that are comparable to Dell. For other choices, Dell is the hands down winner.
I'm also taken aback that people find thinkpads to be ugly.

 

Actually, I love the look and feel of thinkpads- they're slick machines. Much thinner than these tubby Inspirons too.

 

You do know that those graphic cards are more for CAD rather than gaming. That's why I went with the 1520 instead of Thinkpads. If there was a Thinkpad that had an 8600m GT in it, I would have bought it in a second, hands down.

I really, REALLY love the looks of Thinkpads. They're beasts! Also, I love the black look of them, very professional (which is why I went with the jet black on my 1520).

 

They're built for CAD but AFAIK will still run most games with around the same performance as the 8M series... possibly even better for OpenGL games.

 

This is a little off topic, but an R61 with the same features is about the same price as what I paid for my D630. The biggest reason I chose the D630 was battery life. The R61 weighs about .2 or so pounds less than the D630, but the D630 has much better battery life.

 

Why did I chose a T61 over a Dell?? Because of 1 thing only Quality..if you are on the road a lot you cannot get a Dell because they do not last.

 

Once I start school, I will constantly be walking back and forth from school. I will walk several miles a day and I needed a durable laptop. An Inspiron laptop would not last under these conditions so I chose a Latitude. I talked to previous students and they told me Latitudes hold up just fine.

 

Would it not ?
I hear this all the time, but I am not at all convinced that they would fall apart from travel.
They are heavier, and clunkier, so they may be uncomfortable to travel with, but would they not last 3 years ?

 

I never tested if Latitudes are more durable than Inspirons. I think PC Magazine or CNET should find out. Better yet, lets submit this idea to Mythbusters. "Is a Latitude laptop more durable than an Inspiron laptop?"

 

I honestly don't see how you guys think the Thinkpads are "gorgeous" and "beautiful". They are flat black and have ugly colors on them (the IBM logo is ugly, the mouse dot thing in the center is obtrusive design wise). Not to mention they are square with pretty much no rounded anything. I'll give them the "classic" look, as they haven't changed since, well, ever. But they are far from "beautiful" IMO, because they aren't supposed to be. They are built for the work environment. The simplicity of them is not like that of a Macbook.

But hey, everyone has their own opinion.

 

^takes form over function obviously, but yeah thats your opinion. i dont really know why i bought a 1520... well i ordered it before the T61p was released so maybe thats why. i should have waited IMO for the T61p though. the config i was looking at would have been about $150 more but that is worth the quality IMO. this is my first dell and first laptop and i have to say i am not too pleased with the quality and build of it. the noise from the audio output is completely horrendous.

i probably could have gotten a good student discount and stacked a few more coupons on the thinkpad also.

 

I have both on order. I don't know which one I'd prefer... they actually have nearly the same hardware specs, but will take whichever one ships first and cancel the other one. I don't care in the least about the way the notebook looks.... I think all laptops are ugly. I don't get it. How can a computer be good looking? It just looks like a flat box. You can get different colors on the box, or more or less rounded edges on the box, but still, it's just a flat, nearly shapeless box. I don't really get it. I'm a car and sportbike enthusiast, and I think many cars and bikes look gorgeous.... but those have form... but maybe some computer nerds don't see how we see those as looking good... but eye of the beholder and all that I guess.

 

I actually dont like the look of MBPs. Thinkpads are flat and black and thats the beauty of it. They look like finely crafted poweful looks.
I also love the fact that the mouse has 3 buttoms.
MBPs and the inspironE1505 are like "LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME"
I like the looks of the D830 also, but havent actually seen it in person yet.
I think I'd also like Vostros, but thay are a bit fat.

 

If I farted money and wanted a santa rosa notebook it would definitely be a macbook pro. The best design out there to my eye.

 

IDK. I know people who had experiences with Dell in the past and had good ones (despite all the negative I hear everywhere else).

We also get a discount (small business, not just student) so that influenced the decision as well.

Dell also redesigned the 1520s and after using it for a few days, compared to my friend's last-gen model, it is really sturdy and fast performance wise.

I also chose it because it has a very good GPU, 8600M GT.

 

I don't know lot about thinkpads but they all look the same to me. I visited their website but the only difference you can tell apart from each different laptop is probably their width. IMO, I'd rather have different model as to distinguish the contribution ($) and the spec difference. For example for those who know the model line trend or know a lot about laptops would know the difference between xps, inspiron, latitude, vostro and so on. However, thinkpads would look all the same unless you can see the size difference or something.

 

simply becoz i am neither filthy rich nor was i born with a silver spoon right up my a**. dell offered value for money along with one of the best gpus and i went for it without a second thought!!

 

I wanted to get a 14.1" for a few reasons, and the thinkpad T61 has a off center screen. wtf? lolz

And dell is cheaper. Having enough money left for food+rent is GREAT.

 

The 570m actualy benches higher then 8600GT from dell because it's ddr3, and it doesn't take anymore then drivers to turn a quadro card into a geforce. The same goes for the new 8x00 cards which you can turn into quadros with a simple rivatuner soft mod.

I was looking at getting one until I sat on hold for an hour waiting for a sales person. Also the 1920x1200 15.4" would've been a little big for me.

 

For me, thinkpads are classically beautiful in that I've never tired of their looks. That's not the case with certain other machines when six months later, you say to yourself, jeez, what was I thinking.

However, I do like the new Inspirons, esp the 1420's. But not sure if I like their rounded edges and all that silver trim. And I wish they were a bit thinner. Their feature set works for me though.

Actually what I really wish is that I had a Thinkpad T61 and an Inspiron 1420 in front of me right now so I could decide which one to buy. Yesterday, I spec'd both for around $1150 each, excl. warranty upgrades, etc.

Good post wearetheborg. Much appreciated.

 

I sold Thinkpads last summer in my campus bookstore to students and faculty. My school had a special education program set up with Lenovo that gave people associated with the school pretty darn good discounts. Typically the only models we stocked and sold were the T60's, T60p's, and one of the Z models. After giving the same speech over and over again about the rigidity of the notebooks, what they are capable of, their servicing, and just overall performance I became very impressed with them. I really got down to the nitty-gritty because well I had per what my job entailed, esp when we had IT members come in and ask questions that we wouldn't get with parents or students. The overall construction and durability of Thinkpads definitely give them the nickname "tank-pads" as I have heard on several occasions. But now knowing the intimate details of IBM's I was able to really compare them to Dell machines, then and now. With that durability of IBM comes price increases which far surpass those of Dell. That is not to say Dell isn't durable, but in comparison IBM is more durable from my experiences. What Dell has going on for them is the idea "you pay for what you get." They are a value system maker above all else and that is certainly reflected by them.

To answer the OP's question, I chose Dell ultimately for price and familiarity. I've had Dell laptops all my student life (1420 is my 3rd) and not once have any of them let me down in any way; I am an avid Dell purchaser and supporter. I think they do great things for what they charge customers for their hardware. The specs at the prices offered can not be beat used in conjunction with the support and warranty services.

 

I'll also say that only for me personally, only recently have thinkpads become more attractive than dell due to their price cuts, and the available stackable discounts.

ArchAngle, I'd also recommend you consider warranty into account. I believe Lenovo has a 3 year warranty for $100, where as dell has it for $200-250 I think.

 

Thinkpads are similar to Latitudes. A Latitude is as durable as a Thinkpad.

 

I got an Inspiron, and I will not be carrying my laptop everyday, but I will bring it to classes on some occasions. But if my Inspiron 1520 does break down, then I'll just get a new one shipped to me for free (<3 accidental damage warranty).