M1530 merom vs. R61 peryn

Which one should I go with ?
Dell m1530
T7800,4GB,120GB(5400rpm),DVDRW,6CELL,15.4WXGA Truelife, NVIDIA Geforce 8600 GT
$1529
VS.
Lenovo R61
T9500,2GB,100GB (7200rpm).DVDRW,9cell,15.4" WSXGA+,nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M
$1500

Also, is build quality and customer support a CON when it come to LENOVO?

Thanks!

 

I'd go with this:

T9500,2GB,100GB (7200rpm).DVDRW,9cell,15.4" WSXGA+,nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M

Because of the disk and battery.

For the huge majority, build quality is not an issue.

 

I would suggest going with a T9300 instead of the T9500. The T9500 is only 100Mhz faster, but costs about ~$200 more. That's a lot of cash you'd probably be better off saving or spending on other components.

It's hard to say which one you should go for. It depends on what you want to do with it. I personally would greatly prefer a WSXGA+ screen over a WXGA. I also prefer Trackpoints to touchpads. As for the graphics card, I think the 8600M GT would tend to beat out the 140M. Though it may not really matter, depending on what you're going to be using the laptop for.

For the 2GB on the Thinkpad, is that one or two dimms? You'll probably be best off getting 1 DIMM of 1 GB memory, and then installing a separate 1GB or 2GB yourself. As for 4GB, most people don't need that much RAM and additionally, a 32-bit OS can't even take advantage of it all.

 

That's an odd comparison. The R series and the M1530 are different classes of notebook. Its like deciding between a stationwagon vs a sporty 2 door coupe.

The immediate competition from the Thinkpad line to the M1530 is the T61p 15.4" with the 256Mb Quadro 570M. T7800 is still kinda pricey on the T61p.

 

It really depends on what you plan to do with it. I agree with Morphy though, odd comparison.

I'd take the M1530 though as I think its a good all around machine. It has good video card for some decent gaming and the cpu is plenty fast.

And I'd say customer service is a con. Build quality is okay at Lenovo, but I think the M5130 is a much nice machine.