Need to upgrade from my T42...need help

Hi Guys,

I have had a t42 for ages now and it's been really great...very robust (i travel around quite a bit) and reliable.

I now need to upgrade...it's getting old and things are starting to break.

I was looking at the T61 and the T400/500's....


1. I read somewhere that the screen on the t61 is not that bright/crisp...is this actually true?
2. Is the T61 thin-ish.....one of the things i really liked about the t42 was that it was relatively thin...i mean i don't want anything like the macbook air but as long as it's near the t42 in terms of thickness that would be great.
3 I run a lot of finance, memory-intensive websites/programs where lots of prices are constantly changing...i guess it would be fine in terms of spec?

Lastly....what is a good second-hand price on the t61 nowadays? I 'm not really too sure...


Any advide would be very much appreciated as i have been out of the thinkpad world for a good few years. I just love their no nonsense approach, reliability and robustness....but since there are so many models i'd really appreciate a bit of guidance.


thanks

sam

 

Which T42 did you have? If you had a non-IPS screened T42 every screen on every ThinkPad will be brighter than your T42. If you had an IPS screen every screen except the 14" WXGA T and R series notebooks, which would only be slightly dimmer than the IPS. Since you got your T42 ThinkPads have gone widescreen like all other notebooks. That means no more 14" SXGA+ or IPS screen, except the tablets.

The new ThinkPads are not as thin as the T4x models, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. They're well built. My own T42 was starting to get a bit creaky by the time I sold it. If you want something really thin check out the X30x. They start just north of $1k in the Lenovo Outlet.

Any new ThinkPad will run circles around your T42.

The Lenovo Outlet sometimes has good deals. The Marketplace forum on ThinkPads.com is a good option for used ThinkPads. They tend to be much more descriptive/honest about what they're selling than eBay. eBay and Craiglist are other options.

 

I'm a bit confused regarding the widescreen and normal screen situation with the t61...in some pictures the t61 appears to have about half an inch of plastic either side of the keyboard...and then on others it has no plastic there...the keyboard just goes to the edge. Is this the difference between the 14 and 15 inch versions or am i just getting confused?

 

The 14" T61 was the last T series notebook offered with a standard screen. They were offered in widescreen as well. If you're concerned about the screen quality, you'll get the same crappy that your T42 had and as my R60 has. Since not as many standard screened T61s were they command a bit of a premium on the used market. The 14" T61ps with the 570m GPU are even harder to find. They were the last premium notebook from a major manufacturer since the Pentium M days. You find them with Penryn CPUs, which will offer very good performance.

 

this is the one i am after:

http://www.egyptlaptop.com/images/T61.jpg

but i keep seeing this one:

http://blogs.technet.com/blogfiles/...T61PWin2008hyperVandX61T_B23/lenovoT61P_2.jpg

...i know it seems like i am being anal but in the first one....the screen seems wider and is slightly offset...this is the one i want. I just don't want to end up buying the second one...which seems different

 

It looks like the second one hides it a bit, but all the screens on the T61 are off-center, standard and widescreen.

 

The top pic looks like a T61 14.1" widescreen model. The 15.4" widescreen chassis has over 1" of bezel on both left and right side of the keyboard.

The bottom pic is a T60 with standard aspect ratio display. I believe it is a 14.1". You can see the T60 on the label near the right hinge.

 

Which resolution your T42 have?
T61 with standard screen IMO have a even crap display than the T42, I own a SXGA+ T61 and definitely there's a lot of backlight bleeding.

T400 14.1" Widescreen with LED display offers a much clear and bright picture than old T61's with CCFLs

Take into consideration your budget to see which one fits your need the most.

 

Also, you shouldn't rule out the x200. I switched from a T40 to an x200 and have not regretted the decision.

If you can make do without the optical drive, don't play games, and are satisfied with a slightly smaller screen the x200 can be a very good option. The keyboard on the x200 is the same size/quality as your T42, and the overall width will also be comparable. The CPU is more than adequate and you will appreciate a tremendous improvement in weight and battery life.

To a degree though, this depends on the exact config of your T42. My T40 only had an XGA display so the transition to a 12.1" WXGA was very easy. If you are used to a 14" SXGA+, the reduction in resolution may be harder to handle.