T400 or T500

I am going to order one of these two laptops very soon, but i cant decide which one. My basic uses for the laptop I is school work for college and playing some warcraft 3. I am leaning towards the T400 because it is more portable, but I dont know if it will be able to support me playing warcraft 3. Also I am going into engineering some i might be doing some 3D work, not sure.

 

Warcraft 3 is an old school game and should play just fine on the Intel x4500 (it will certainly play maxed out on the Radeon 3470). So I wouldn't let that slide you to the T500.

3D work is a bit sketchy, but if anything that would imply you need the w500 with a FireGL GPU (optimized for CAD/3D rendering rather than a T500/T400).

 

You should fill out the laptop FAQ to provide us with more information of what you want. What is your budget? If you are willing to pay more you might want to look into the T400s. It is the thin and light version of the T400, but obviously costs more. If you have to do 3D work on the machine make sure to go for a discrete GPU. If you only need to play old games like Warcraft 3 or watch movies stay with the Integated GPU that Intel makes. This will save you heat an battery life. If you carry around the laptop a lot weight will become a concern, so i wouldn't go for anything bigger than the T400.

 

Remember also that with both the T400 and T500, if you choose the discrete graphics option you still get the integrated graphics. when you don't need the power of the discrete GPU switch over to the integrated graphics and enjoy the longer battery life & lower heat output.

As to my thoughts between the two:
T400 if you're carrying it to/from school frequently
T500 if you pretty much keep it at home and maybe move it from room to room.

 

I max out Warcraft 3 just fine on the Intel GMA 4500MHD, so discrete graphics will run it just fine. If that's the most intensive thing you will be doing, the T400 will probably be a better choice, unless you really like the WSXGA+ screen of the T500.