Is this a Good Buy? Please advice

Hi All,

Well, I'm planning to buy a new notebook for myself and I have narrowed down my search to Lenovo T61, because I have heard many good things about them.

But now in Lenovo T61, currently there is a promotion going on and I'm getting about 600$ off on this configuration:

OS: Windows Vista Home Premium (Dont know how different it is to vista business)

No Finger print security

Graphics: Intel Graphics Chipset (not NVIDIA)
Screen: WXGA
Processor:T7300 2.00GHZ
Battery: 6 Cell Li-Ion.

Can you guys please advice about this configuration and if anything you would like to change. But in Australia, unfortunately we can't do custom selections about laptop parts. Please advice.

Thanks,
Harry

 

It depends on what you're going to use the laptop for. Can u give us some indication of what sort of programs you are going to use with the notebook?
Vista Home Premium will suit most (personal)users better then Vista Business i think, but if you are planning to do any serious gaming or 3D work the Intel Graphic chip is a no go i'm afraid. $600 off of course is very nice, and the T7300 is a very nice cpu to get.

 

WXGA is not a very high resolution screen, so that would be something I would want to upgrade to a higher res.

 

Thanks Mate.. Well, the laptop will mostly be used for normal personal use, music,videos etc, programming like java stuff (but not much,as I prefer desktop), light gaming stuff. So in all I'm not that much a heavy user.

The next T61 that is available is about 1000AUD more and it has NVIDIA, 100Gb hard disk (which is less then the one i mentioned earlier), has 9 cell li-ion battery and fingerprint reader and 3 years warranty. So is it worth thousand bucks more.

Also how much is the difference between 6 cell & 9 cell battery.Should I try & get a 9 cell battery, as I want a good battery back up time.

 

The screen is 15.4 WXGA.

 

In that case you definitely don't want Vista Business, go with Home Premium for your kind of use. 2Gb of RAM is advisable with Vista btw, otherwise the notebook will be a little slow. I don't know how much an Ausy $ is worth so i can't really say if it's worth that. If it's close to US $ i think it's a bit on the high side (although it does depend on what kind of nvidia card and cpu it has, as well as the amount of ram). The warranty package you mention is worth around 300 US $, the 9 cell and the fingerprint reader about another 300$.

It depends on what you are doing and what are the exact spec's of the notebook, but i guess it's reasonably save to say that the 9 cell will give you about 1.5 hour longer battery life when you're just doing some web-browsing and playing music, maybe 1 hour when you watch a movie.

 

Which is 1200*800. I'd probably end up going for the WSXGA+ 1680×1050, just a personal preference. However, if I was in a position where it was hard to find the WSXGA+ for a reasonable price, I would settle for the WXGA

 

what about Intel chipset graphics?

 

Also in 1400 AUD more, I can get WSXGA, 3 years warranty, Nvidia,T7500,160GB HDD, Intel wireless 4965AGN..

In 1000 AUD more, I can get NVIDIA,9 cell battery, 3 years warranty,fingerprint reader.

well I'm all confused

 

Considering the higher prices outside the US, have you considered a forwarding service? I've heard it saves a lot.

 

Can you tell me whats that forwarding service? Never ever heard about that.

 

I don't know the details - I've only heard about them. But they allow you set-up a USA address for a fee. You set that address up with your credit card and order the item to the US address (the forwarder). It gets shipped to the forwarder and they ship it to you.

Quick google search finds something like this: http://www.myus.com/

Mind you, I don't know if that company is letgitimate or not. I can imagine that some might want to steal your money.

It's just a thought, you'd have to check into it more with other Australians and see if it works for them and if it's worth the trouble. Also, it seems like the warranty would be a concern.

 

Hey Harry,

I think i'm looking at the same deal as you... you got your prices from the Lenovo EPP right? I'm pretty much in the same boat as you - contemplating whether the extra $1000 is worth it or not. Whether you choose the $1600 or $2600 laptop, they're both pretty good deals imo...Let me know what you've decided on.

Cheers,

Gary

 

Yes they are both good deals, but the problem with Lenovo Australia is that I can't customise my thinkpad and thats really bad. So in $2600 there are few bits missing, which are in $1600 one. The one that has almost got everything (except 9 cell battery) is about 1400AUD more...

 

So what is missing in the $2600 that the $1600 has and vice versa? and do you know how long it normally takes them to ship the laptop to you?
I personally haven't had any experiences with Lenovo, so I'd really want to find that out!

 

This means that for 400$ more you get a better screen resolution, a faster cpu, a larger hdd and a faster wireless connection. It sounds like a good deal to me, but you have to ask yourself if you need all that and if it's worth the money to you.

I've already informed you about the Intel Graphics card in my first post.

Again, it all depends on what you are going to use the notebook for. If you're only gonna use it for word processing and internet browsing you probably don't need the upgrades, but if you run a lot of heavy graphic applications like photoshop or modern games it's very welcome.

There are many different nvdia cards, just shouting nvidia tell us nothing, it's just a brand name. We need the exact name/number of the card to id it so we can tell you if it's any good or not.

 

it can only be one of two cards if he's getting a t61...either the quadro NVS 140(t61)or the quadro fx 570M (t61p). the latter is a huge increase in performance.

 

Thanks Guys. Allright let me tell you all the three options and there respective prices:

Option 1 (Price 1,899AUD): 15.4 WXGA, T7300 2.0GHZ,Intel graphics chipset,120GB HDD, 1GB RAM, Intel wireless 4965 AGN, one year EXS Warranty, 6 cell battery, no fingerprint security

Option 2 (price 2969 AUD): 15.4 WXGA,T7300 2.0GHZ,NVIDIA NB8M-GS,100GB HDD,1GB RAM,Intel wireless 3945ABG,3 years warranty,9 cell battery, fingerprint reader

Option 3 (Price 3299 AUD): 15.4 WSXGA,T7500 2.2GHZ,NVIDIA NB8M-GS,160GB HDD,1GB RAM,Intel wireless 4965 AGN, Three years parts & labour, 6 cell battery, No fingerprint reader.

As you can see some or the other thing is missing from all the three configurations. So can you please suggest which one to go for and are the last two, worth more then thousand bucks.

Thanks

 

I got a Vaio FZ190 with nvidia 8400gt abd have problems runnung photoshop.
Image gradient for example has heavy lines in all shades. This only happens after a jpeg file is open. I reinstall video drivers no help. Thinking about returning the Notebook. Otherwise it looks grreat and runs fast. My problem is that I need the PS3 to work.

 

can anyone, pleasealso let me know how hard is to to upgrade the RAM of thinkpad T61. All the models that i mentioned above have 1GIG ram and i want min 2 gig. Any thoughts?

 

The RAM is a simple swap from the bottom pretty much.

Just did some AUD -> US conversions, if the listed differences are only that much, the last 2 options are a COMPLETE rip-off if you don't need discrete graphics.

In my opinion, Option 1 -> Option 2 ~ 400-500 AUD at most (Mainly cause of discrete graphics, and 3 year warranty). If you play games the card would be a nice boost and assuming this 100GB HDD is 7,200 RPM, this would be your best bet though. As for Option 3, the WSXGA is a nice touch, processor isn't bad either, if you want a higher resolution (and prefer the discrete graphics) then it's up to you.

If it was up to me, and i needed an actual graphics card, i'd go for Option 3 else, just stay with Option 1

 

Thanks mate.. I think i will stick with option 1 too. but would increase the RAM from 1 gig to 2.

The original price of option 1 is 2400 AUD but they are running a special of 600AUD off.so thats why its for 1899AUD. So i think its better deal....

& I totally agree, thinkpads prices in Australia are complete rip off and even worse, you cant customize anything....

 

Guys,

At about the same price as Lenovo (option 1 described above), I'm getting a Fujitsu lifebook E8410C Series. It has got

WSXGA Screen
2 Gig Ram
T7300 2 GHZ procesor
2 year warranty
160 Gb HDD

What are the your inputs/suggestions on this? Is fujitsu a good quality laptop.

Cheers,
Harry

 

That's like asking is a Lexus or BMW a good car?
Fujitsu notebook reliability is the best imo. They use the best quality parts and they're all made in Japan.
If they had come out with a workstation class notebook I'd would have gotten a Fujitsu without a second thought instead of the Thinkpad. Instead I have the T4220 a tablet which I use for normal everyday use.

They're not the most powerful notebooks on the market but if you want quality, reliability and not planning to run graphic intensive apps and willing to pay for it Fujitsu should be at the top of the list. The only major downside is Fujitsu also cost quite a bit more than the avg notebooks.

 

Thanks Morphy,

The reason why i asked that was that I have never ever owned Fujitsu laptop and in fact none who knows me has ever owned one too, So thats why I don't know much about Fujitsu.

The only thing that i don't like about Fujitsu E8410C series is the color of the keyboard, that's white. Also going by the reviews, there quality is sometimes a big let down. So don't know if they have improved on this.

Yes, I will be ordering Fujitsu. Hopefully it will be good.

 

The configuration & the pricing that I'm getting is


Fujitsu E8410C

Microsoft® Windows® Vista Business
Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2GHz Processor
Mobile Intel 965PM Express Chipset
NVIDIA GeForce 8400M 128MB Dedicated
2GB DDR2 667MHz Memory
No Turbo Memory
160GB 5400rpm Hard Drive
DVD±Rewriter Double Layer
15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) No Anti-Glare
Web Camera
No Fingerprint Reader
VGA, S-Video Output
Battery Life: 8-cell Li-Ion 5200mAh

Price $ 2,195.00 AUD

& the Lenovo that I was about to buy was this configuration & price

Lenovo T61: (Price 1,899AUD)
Windows Home Premium
15.4 WXGA,
T7300 2.0GHZ,
Intel graphics chipset,
120GB HDD 5400 rpm,
1GB RAM 667 Mhz,
Intel wireless 4965 AGN,
one year EXS Warranty,
6 cell battery,
no fingerprint security


Cheers

 

Their Lifebook series is very good, esp the ultraportables. Might be best to ask in the Fujitsu forums for more feedback.
edit : nm noticed you already did
G'luck!