Is this a good configuration for a college student?

Is this configuration good for a college student?


Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T8100 (2.1GHz 800MHz 3MBL2)1
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium12
15.4 WXGA TFT
NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M (128MB)
2 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)8
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
120GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm4
CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo 24X/24X/24X/8X Max, Ultrabay Slim5
ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wi-Fi wireless LAN Mini-PCIe US/EMEA/LA/ANZ10
Integrated Bluetooth PAN
9 cell Li-Ion Battery60
6459: Express - 1 Yr Depot Warranty7
40Y9213 1 Year ThinkPad Protection

I could have upgraded the wireless card (Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (supporting Centrino Pro) [add $35.10]), the expansion slot (PC Card Slot & Smart Card Slot [add $19.50]), display (15.4 WSXGA+ TFT [add $58.50]), and turbo memory (Intel Turbo Memory 1GB [add $39.00] --- heard people had problems with this).

Should I upgrade any of these options? My daughter will be in the Education Program. Or should I configure a R61 instead?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

P.S. I don't understand what the difference is between the wireless cards, and I don't know what a smart card is. If you could elaborate...

 

For college use, I would recommend you get a R61 or T61 14.1" instead of the 15.4". Both are lighter and thus easier to carry around. The 14.1" models also have the same resolution screens, so you won't be losing any screen real estate.

I'd recommend the T8400 processor...it's a relatively cheap upgrade that gives you 10-15% extra CPU performance. Definitely worth the small price.

Does your daughter play games or do 3D graphics work? If not, you can save money and gain better battery life by getting the integrated X3100 graphics instead of the NVS 140M.

I would also recommend you configure the laptop with a DVD-RW drive instead of a combo drive. Having a DVD burner makes backups much easier and is not an expensive upgrade.

You don't need a smart card slot; that's a feature mainly for businesses. Just get the PC card slot and Expresscard slot or PC card slot and memory card reader.

The AGN wireless card is not necessary unless you or the school uses Draft-N routers. Most places still use the older B or G standard, so having the regular ABG wireless option is fine.


Also, are you buying this from the education program? With all of the Lenovo coupons currently out, you could probably get a better deal straight form Lenovo instead of through the school.

 

I'd also recommend a 14'' screen with integrated graphics and buy the 9-cell for it. You'll get a lot more battery life and you'll notice the weight difference. Power wise it's fine. I think as a student you'll want lots of HDD space but external hard drives are so cheap these days it's better to get the largest, fastest internal you can. And then buy a large external hard drive too.

 

I have a T61, and I'm a college student, and I couldn't be happier with it.



The configuration is pretty good, however, what does your daughter do with computers? The graphics card upgraded is nice, but if she doesn't game or render things with AutoCAD and such, it wouldn't be of much use to her, and it'd drain the battery faster.

As for your questions of what to upgrade to:

The difference in the wireless cards is that the ThinkPad 11a/b/g supports up to wireless G, and the Intel WiFi Link 4965AGN supports up to wireless N, which, if she's connected to a wireless N router, will provide better speeds and range. However, most routers now are still G, so it wouldn't make much difference. Unless it's a necessity, I would stick with the ThinkPad 11a/b/g.

The PC Card and Smart Card slot aren't something she'll most likely need. Smart Cards are similar to those Visa cards in Europe that have the little chips in them ( like so), and are usually used for ID badges and such. She probably won't ever need to use her laptop for stuff like that, so it's not needed.

The screen resolution (WXGA vs WSXGA+) depends on her personal preference and what she'll be using the system for. If she has problems reading smaller text, than the WXGA version may be the better way to go. If she has no problem reading smaller text and plans on using the system for spreadsheets or design, WSXGA+ would be a better option.

Here's an example from my system on the 'screen real estate' difference between WXGA and WSXGA+:

WXGA.

WSXGA+.

Turbo memory isn't really worth it. Even a friend of mine who works for Intel told me to save my money when I asked him about it. It also did cause problems awhile back, with Bluescreens and the like. Not sure if there's still the problems, but again, I don't think it's worth the money.

And I'd say stick with the T61. Mine's been running for a year without problems, and I love it. It's a very good machine.

I hope this helps! If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask.

 

Thanks for your help!

I agree that she should get the 14.1", but she seems to no better than her mom. I'll upgrade to the T8400 for sure. Also, she doesn't play games or use any 3D graphics. She may watch movies on it from time-to-time.

I am not buying it from the education program. I am using a coupon code that will give me 10% off. This configuration came to $1053.98.

One more question I forgot to ask about--What is bluetooth on a computer? I know what it is on a cell phone, but how would it be used on a computer?

Thanks again!

 

I definitely agree with the 14.1" screen. However, my daughter believes she needs the 15.4" screen. Maybe now I can show her these replies and she will believe me.

I wondered about the 9-cell. I worried that it would make it really heavy.

 

Yeah! What 995GT2 said!
I say: "Extended warranty!" I don't know about Lenovos' warranty, but read up a bit about it before going for the extended warranty.

Why the extended warranty?

Your daughter will be using this almost every day she's at school! If something goes wrong with it... You, and more than likely she, will want to get it fixed as soon as possible. SideNote: Always make backups, restore points and backup the data 'remotely' (outside of the laptop: ie: cd's, dvd's, external hd's).

In a situation where the 'bad part(s)' are covered:
Without the warranty you could be out hundreds of dollars...
With the warranty, it could be just a matter of days before she gets it back in full operational condition.
In a situation where the 'bad part(s)' are not covered:
Your out some money in both cases.

Many extended warranties cover a great deal, Best Buys' extended warranty covers even accidental damage!!! Bandit (my terrorist cat) terrorized my laptop... Days before the HP warranty was going to expire. They sent it to HP under their warranty, and within 5 days it was back home, like brand new

 

I'm currently a graduate student, and my T61p has served me very well in it's short existence thus far. I would tend to agree with your daughter on the screen size, however. I use a 15.4" WSXGA+ display and the text is already quite small. I can't look at the monitor for very long without strain. Going even smaller to 14.1" may make the text even more difficult to read. You can always decrease the resolution to make the text larger, but everything does not look as nice when this is done. Just something to think about before you make your decision.

 

You have helped a lot!
I will nix the graphics card since she isn't doing any of the things that you mentioned. I really appreciate the screen shots. I don't know why the WSXGA is an ugrade. It seems that most people would stick with the basic WXGA. Thanks for addressing the turbo memory. I've seen a lot of posts dealing with it on here, and so I was concerned about it. I need a notebook with as few problems as possible.

Thanks Again!!

 

I did include an accidental warranty for one year. I may extend the warranty out to two years.

 

I will definitely be sticking with the WXGA.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

Unless she has graphics design classes, all she'll really need is anything capable of running a word processor and a web browser.