T400 / T500 / W500 Up!

And I definitely understand that Thinkpads are built to last, I am not arguing that. You are correct about Asus/Sager rigs being built for gaming but I disagree about it lasting only 1 or 2 years. If you're talking from a gaming standpoint of longevity then I guess you're right as you would probably need to upgrade to a new laptop to play the latest games. If you're talking from a quality standpoint, you couldn't be more wrong. Sure they don't touch the build quality of a Lenovo, but they will last you a solid 3-4 years if you know how to take care of your notebook (and don't care about upgrading your GPU every year), not to mention the fact that Asus has better warranty than Lenovo. And I don't understand this silly assumption that for some reason you cannot do office work on a gaming rig. I mean I guess it's not ideal as you would like to have a more solid looking laptop but you're getting literally the same exact specs (even better in Asus/Sager) AND you can play games and do your office/school work. Anyway, what it boils down to is: why pay hundreds more for the same exact thing?

 

"but they will last you a solid 3-4 years if you know how to take care of your notebook "
A thinkpad will last 10 years with good care...

"And I don't understand this silly assumption that for some reason you cannot do office work on a gaming rig."
Because you will be paying for a graphic card that wont be needed.

 

Not that it will last a long time, but you happen to spill water on the keyboard or accidentally drop the notebook, your first wish is to save the data and stuff.

 

Weren't the new Thinkpads supposed to have the red strips back on the mouse buttons? I don't see it in the pics.

 

Doc Z, according to your logic, every company should only make one model, since apparently there is no difference between a gaming notebook and a business one. Screw portability, battery life and ease of use in a mobile world, there should be just one to rule them all.

Latitudes and XPS? Redundant. Pavilion and Elitebook? Redundant. Apparently, they are the same.

Or, you could simply acknowledge that different notebooks are built for different purposes. Asus- built to game. Thinkpad- built for business. If, for whatever reason, you want to outfit a business designed notebook with the latest and greatest component in order to game on it , then expect to pay a premium because it is really two-in-one: built to last and game.

And are you really getting the exact same specs between a gaming and business notebook? No, you can get similar components, but the specs of the chassis, design, management, etc. will be radically different. Look at the SL series, it can have similar components to a T series, but the consensus is that it is a Thinkpad only in name since its chassis, build qality, etc. are inferior. But it is cheaper......

I doubt any of this will change your mind, but consider that a notebook is more than just its components (ie. processor and graphics card).

 

I'm seriously considering getting a T500 or W500. But I think I'm going to wait for the Dell Latitude E6500 to be released, or at least for more information on it to be released, before I decide on one.

 

That's wrong from all the information I've been reading about this for the past month or two.

The Centrino 2 chipset supports 'hybrid/switchable graphics'. I don't know how they do it with one driver but there's been no mention of the discrete option using an ATI integrated lower-powered chipset. It would be the case if they were using an AMD motherboard but they're not... this would be Puma otherwise.

We really need to see some first-look reviews of these models. I'll have to wait until the international-shipping online shops start stocking my preferred configurations with international warranty before I buy... by that time it's time to wait for the new year's Thinkpads.

 

red strips are only on the SL-series, apparently in a vain effort to make it look like a "real thinkpad."

 

I haven't seen a close-up of the new T series, but the red stripes are quite visible on the X200 in pictures here.

 

I'm thinking about purchasing the T400 for business use but the only features/hardware it has over the T61 that I actually feel are important are:

1. Updated Processor (mildly important since I'll get 3GB of RAM)
2. Bluetooth Availability

All the other stuff (i.e., LED backlight, solid state drives, blu-ray player) are not something I want/need. I have heard, however, that the T400 has an 'updated design'. Is this 'updated design' worth buying the T400 over the T61? Are there any other T400 advantages that I'm missing?

 

I just purchases a T400 tonight, anyone else? I didn't get bluebooth tho.

 

what's the max amount of DDR3 ram you can have on the new montevina T400 laptop? is it still 4gb?

 

I believe the max is 8GB.

 

bleh double post.....

T400/500 and W500 is now up in Canada again, and the T400 is way cheaper in Canada then they are in the states atm, but the prices still looked a little messed up. That, and the graphics still say there code name.