T43 Questions

Hi there,

First I would like to compliment you on this excellent site. I've been researching my new laptop purchase with this site and it has been extremely helpfull.

I've been using Apple Powerbooks up until 2 years ago, so I was always used to a very high standards. Then suddenly I needed a Windows based laptop, so I guess I followed the crowd and got myself a Dell Inspiron 5100 in a rush ...the biggest mistake of my life [V] I've had to superglue this laptop on several occasions just to keep it from falling appart. I honestly don't understand why so many people buy Dell laptops, cause I can say from experience that they trully suck:
- horribly bad case (won't last a year without cracking)
- bad flimsey keyboard
- slow harddisk
- heavy and bulky
- cheap screen hinges
- easilly overheats
-....I can go on and on and on.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand:
This time I've decided to be a bit more carefull to buy a new laptop. I've researched all the brands and it seems IBM Thinkpads are way better than any other brand. As, one of my clients told me the other day: "If you want a PC laptop with the same quality as an Apple Powerbook, buy an IBM Thinkpad".

I guess I've narrowed my choice down to a T43.

I do have a few questions:
- I see there's an integrated graphics crard, a dedicated x300 and some fireGL card. Main apps I user are IE, FireFox, Thunderbird, Photoshop and Office. Will I need these high end graphics cards? or will you only see the benefits when playing games?
- Can someone tell me if there's a big difference between the 14" and 15" models? Now I'm using a 15" laptop and that's fine...will I clearly notice the difference when going back to a 14"? I ask this cause I like that fact that the 14" is somewhat smaller, quite a bit lighter and a bit more efficient with power.
- Is the 1600x1200 resolution usable? or should I stick with the 1400x1050 resolution?
- Finally, I'll be running an apache webserver and mysql db on this laptop as I need to demo some webbased software. Will the 7200rpm hdd boost the speed in this area?

Looking forward to your input!

Thanks!

 

1) You don't need the dedicated card, but if you can afford the x300, I'd go for it.

2) I actually don't think IBM should offer the T in 15". It adds so much bulk and weight that it defeats the purpose of getting a thin and light in the first place.

3) You have to want ultra high resolutions. For 95% of the people using notebooks, I think 1600x1200 is actually a bad thing.

4) Applications that require a lot of disk access, like databases, will see a major performance boost with the faster HDD. If you can affort it, I'd hit this before more RAM.

Brian

www.BargainPDA.com | www.DigitalCameraReview.com | www.NotebookReview.com | www.SpotStop.com | www.TabletPCReviewSpot.com

 

I actually think a ThinkPad with a 15" screen and SXGA+ resolution would be perfect, at least for me. The 15" is still under six pounds, which is light for a 15" screen. If you are concerned about battery life, you could opt for the larger nine cell and/or modular battery, if you are not burning many discs on the road. The nine cell will add a little weight though. A 7200RPM will help system performace accross the board, not just SQL and Apache. Good Luck.






I know things, things that could get me killed


Thinkpad T41:
* 1.6Ghz Pentium M * 768Mb Memory * 40Gb Hitachi 7200RPM * Panasonic UJ-845-B DVD+RW *

 

Why not get the T42 and save some money? It seems that for your uses you don't need the sonoma platform.

Plus sonoma supposedly uses more battery power.