My first laptop, a ThinkPad

Hello all,
This forum is one of a few things I visit every day, without
giving it a second thought. Until now I was merely a silent visitor
from someplace, but now I'm a proud owner of a ThinkPad and
will be taking active parts in this IBM/Lenovo section, I hope.

Well, I'm from India and let me tell you it isn't very easy to buy
a laptop here. These cost much more than their US brethren,
sometimes even more than 1.5x times. Originally I was to upgrade
my existing desktop to a new AMD X2 and a shiny new ASUS
A8N32-SLI Deluxe board with 2GB of DDR-RAM and much more.
But then, a cute little ThinkPad caught my attention and it
didn't take me long enough to call a dealer for more information.

My machine is the last one in the list: Click to see
I paid INR 67,000 or USD 1450 (approx). Is it a good price for
this machine?

It's a shame that I don't have my digital camera with me right
now, or I would have littered this forum with pics.

Strangely enough, the dealer didn't know that even this R52
came witha biometric fingerprint security scanner. He was quite
sure in telling me that this feature was available only with the
T series. Ultimately when I opened up the box, you could see
the expression on his face. Gotcha!

Since it didn't come with a DVD-Writer, I had to get a 5.25"
external enclosure (USB) for it. Firewire version was not available
at that time, and I din't want to wait for them to arrive. And,
I've already burnt the Recovery DVDs.

There are some issues I'm concerned about right now:
(1) I want my laptop battery to last as long as possible. Mostly
I'll be near a wall-socket anyway, so should I take out the battery
and place it someplace else, like in fridge at 40%?

(2) The CDRW/DVD combo drive is of the usual bare-naked tray
design, which I've always desliked. A slot-loading one would
have been ideal. Anyway, should I take some extra precautions
in using the optical drive? Again, I'll be using my LG GSA-4167b
DVD-ReWriter drive attached via USB most of the times.

(3) I'm one of the kind who prefer working late at night. Since,
I'm a CS student, I (used to) work at my desktop for prolong
hours. Given that a laptop is primarily a portable machine, is it
good for me to work on it for more than 8-10 hours a day?
Please note that I want this laptop to last as long as possible.

(4) What are the essential accessories to use with a desktop
replacement laptop? Remember, being a desktop replacement
for me, my R52 will seldom leave my table at home. And it isn't
exactly a lightweight kind, at least not in the class of 12" SONY
and the likes.

What I liked about my ThinkPad:
(a) Solid and sturdy design and feel.
(b) UltraNav, ThinkLight and 3yrs warranty.
(c) Biometric fingerprint security scanner.
(d) VERY good keyboard, and this is from a mechanical kerboard user.
(e) Metal hinges and their rigidness.
(f) It's VERY pleasing to my eyes. C'mon people, it looks better than all SONY, Toshiba, Acer or anything else. :buyIBM:

Thanks and regards.

 

Since you will be plugged in most of the time, you won't be draining and charging your battery often, and as such, it should last just as long (or almost as long) as if you did store it separately in a fridge.

Of course, if you only plan to use the battery like once a month, keeping it separate and only attaching when needed won't be too big a hassle. To me, the occasional need to unplug the laptop while it's working (or just the lack of desire to connect the power cord every time I turn it on, since I do move it around) serves as sufficient reason to keep the battery always in. I try not to do really small charge-discharge cycles, i.e. I let it fall from 100% to 30%-60% (sometimes to 10%) and then I charge it to full again.

Another advantage of keeping the battery in is that it serves as a backup in case power fails or the power cord gets disconnected by accident.

What I can say is that I have an older laptop, that has been with me for 3.5 years now. The battery wasn't removed even once, and I did use it occasionally (although it was plugged in at least 90-95% of the time), and after 3.5 years the battery is as good as new and still lasts for the 3 hours it lasted when it was new.

Be nice to it and it will serve you for years, even if you use it 24/7.
And, no, it's not good for you to work on it for more than 8-10 hours a day, but it's just fine for the laptop.

Well, let's see.

For some types of work, you may want a mouse. If you intend to play games on it that make use of the keyboard, an external keyboard is also needed. All laptop keyboard suck for gaming.

If you want to enjoy sound - external speakers are a must. 2.0 or 2.1 (with subwoofer) is what you need.

You got that right. All those "cool looking" machines look like flashy cheap plastic kiddy toys. A Thinkpad is a Thinkpad.

 

Congrats on the new machine. Without a machine type & model, it's hard to say since the price of the R52 differ greatly based on config.

No. It's not necessary and you might have a moisture problem when it warms up in your laptop.

Not sure what you're asking. The optical should work fine with normal use. Btw, R52's opticals are in a "Ultrabay Enhanced" bay. So you can put a different drive in there or even a second battery to extend battery life.

I leave my Thinkpad runing for days and rarely have a problem...and it's several years old.

I think the best accessories for any notebook are a flat panel monitor and a port rep.

Good luck with your new Thinkpad.

 

Congrats! For a budget laptop, the R series is, IMO, the best buy there is, when you consider how durable the things are.

Nooorm, the last one in the list he linked was 1860-A33. Not familiar with that type/model, and it's not a US model (read: might not be in tabook). US models end in U.

 

hey Yamaraj, well glad you were able to visit the forums and get help from the posts here and congrats on getting a ThinkPad, I automatically have more respect for those that do

As the others have said, avoid putting the battery in the refrigerator -- it is best to store a battery in a cool dry place, but if it's indoors that's good enough and a Lithium Ion battery won't gain anything from being kept really cold.

I use my ThinkPad X41 day in and day out for over 8 hours each day almost every day, plus I carry it around a lot, open and close it a lot...it holds up just fine, an R52 will be fine if it's used a lot each day on a desktop. I think you got a pretty good deal on the R52, it's too bad electronics are so expensive there in India and you have to spend so much of your hard earned money on them -- I guess we should feel lucky in the U.S. that laptops are relatively cheap.

Well, good luck with the R52!

 

Yeah, I am a fan of big external LCDs. At one time I would have suggested getting an external keyboard, but I don't find myself pounding on the control-C key as much as I did 20 years ago. (And its NOT because my code has improved.)

 

hmm... mouse is obvious. a 2nd screen + external keyboard would sound like they would eliminate the point of having a laptop

 

Actually, I don'y miss my optical scroll mouse any longer. UltraNav is more than sufficient
for my needs. And I'm not exactly a gamer, in fact never liked anything besides AOE-II.
I'll consider a 2nd screen next year, as for now the 15" TFT is more than enough. And,
it's gentle to my eyes, when I compare with my 19" CRT.

Nooorm, I was worried about the exposed lense of the Combo drive of my laptop. It looks
much more vulnerable than its desktop siblings. Anyway, I'm now using my DVD writer
through USB, so I shouldn't be worried about the laptop's combo drive and its lifespan.

dr_st: Absolutely, everything looks like a cheap plastic toy when there's a ThinkPad around.

I thank everyone for so many kind suggestions and answers to my questions.
A memory stick is the first thing I'm looking forward to add to my laptop. I think
a 512MB stick would suffice. Currently, my desktop runs 1GB of DDR400 and mostly 50%
of it freely available all the time. How many momery slots are available in an R52? And
what's the maximum each slot can take at a time? I mean 512MB stick or 1GB stick per
slot should be okay?

 

That's so nice.
Congrats on your new ThinkPad! Im sure that it will last you long (if you take good care of it so be nice to it).

To answer your question on how many memory slots are available on the R52, there are 2 slots available (one is on under the keyboard and the other one is on the bottom of the ThinkPad).

Good luck with your new ThinkPad!