T60 Widescreen or MBP?

I am a university student in business. I need a laptop for research on stocks and the occasional games. What would be a better option, the MBP or the t60widescreen? Is the t60 heavier than the mbp? Also, will a t60 widescreen 14 inch be coming out in the near future (by april)?

 

They are both great choices. If you want a heavy duty well built notebook it's the thinkpad. If you want a great operating system and a sexy machine, that's the MBP. Try filling out the FAQ, it'll help a lot.

 

Yes, filling out a FAQ would be helpful. However, in my opinion, the MBP would be much better in many respects than the thinkpads.

 

why so, hehe? how so? the mbp would be a couple hundred more expensive for me, however, it comes with better specs.

 

I had a MBP (the 15", $2500 USD version) and I sold it to get a 14" ThinkPad instead. With the ThinkPad, you're looking at better build quality, better battery life, and better wi-fi range. With the MBP, you'll get a better screen, more ports (DVI, FireWire), and a better OS (though I can work fine in Windows, OS X, or Linux, so that's a personal preference thing).

If you're going to be lugging the thing to class every day, do you really want a 15" screen anyway? Perhaps you should be considering between the 14" ThinkPad and the 13" MacBook.

Also, as a longtime user of Apple products, it's my opinion that the quality of their hardware has gone down the tubes lately. They're selling more machines at lower prices than ever before, so they've got to be cutting corners somewhere, right? The MBP was a nice machine, but it definitely wasn't worth the $2500 I paid for it. The latches were cheap and couldn't even keep the lid closed all the way.

 

Perhaps something like the HP nc8430 would be worth a look.

 

Mac OS X is not a better OS than Windows XP Professional.

Since miliu is a business student, I think he should be using what most businesses and students use, the bigger market share.

I can tell you for a fact that every semester, I see at least one of my lecture professors use a Thinkpad. This semester, two of them do. It's either a T60 or an R60. I am not certain which it is.

 

Like I said above, you can't make a statement like that, because it's all subjective and a matter of personal preference. (It would be like me saying that blue is a better color than black.) However, having used both extensively, I like OS X better, and I think most people who have used both would say the same thing.

At the end of the day, what it really comes down to is: can you get your work done in the OS you're using? Put me in front of a Windows, OS X, or Linux box and it makes no difference.

 

I think it makes a huge difference. There are 3 main type of users that I know of.

1) People who want a laptop because they are small and more convenient or comfortable to do their work on. Work could even mean games, but they do what I would call non-essential things (email, web surfing and so on). For these people it is just a mater of personal preference for OS.

2) People who do real work, but its of a general nature. That is they might be in sales or something. They travel around, they need a laptop to get work done. These people have the pressure of having to sync with other people. But in the end they run office programs most of the time, or say photoshop which you can find on OS X or Windows. They might be able to even get by with GIMP etc etc. In the end, one OS might be easier, but they still have a choice.

3) People who do serious special work. These people have no choice. If you want to run some particular CAD program, you don't have a choice. It might only be for UNIX or it might only be for windows. Most serious things aren't available for OS X, unless via the underling BSD core. Take AutoCAD, so far as I know still not available for OS X. I don't think anything from Cadence is on anything but UNIX or Windows. On the bright side I think Mathematica and Matlab are on everything, that is certainly serious specialized software. But in the end my point is, if you need one particular thing you have your OS picked for you already.

I fall into this group. When I pointed this out to a stalwart Apple user, he said well you can just boot into that then and use it. True I said, but what would be the point if I can't use it for my real work? Well you could do your every day tasks in it. To me that just seems silly.

So in the end I don't think it is subjective. Its only subjective if you probably could get by with any kind of laptop on the market today.

 

That doesn't apply for the avg business user or the avg person for that matter.

There's a reason why Linux, openoffice, and all of open source software will never come out on top and it's due to the user interface and due to marketing.

Why learn Mac OS X when Windows XP does everything you need it to do and is used practically everywhere..even at your local library.

He's using the notebook for school and as a casual gamer. He's not using this for video editing or any of the likes. I don't see how Mac OS X is "better" for him in any way.

I know a friend who has a MBP. For one, it overheats. Secondly, it's not as quiet with the fan running. And, the only reason he says that he is using it because his company bought it for him. He would not have got it if he had to pay for it out of his own pocket. I quote "Mac OSX is not worth it. Windows XP is easier to use." Ironically, he thinks Ubuntu is the best desktop OS but I beg to differ.

 

There are a few reasons why I do like the MBP, and for the most part they revolve around OS X. Apple's OS and some of the Apple only software available out there is very good. One of the big advantages of OS X is you don't have to deal with a lot of issues likes viruses and malware like you do on Windows. The MBP also has a sleek look to it and has some pretty decent hardware such as an X1600 graphics card.

The drawbacks however for me are that the ThinkPad is still going to have better build quality, a better keyboard, a trackpoint, both PCMCIA and Express Card slot, less overheating problems, and better battery life. I don't think I could live without a trackpoint now after using one on a ThinkPad. I don't know why more laptops don't have them because it's really nice being able to accurately move the mouse cursor around without ever moving your hands out of position on the keyboard. I also have a Sierra Wireless 875 aircard for my internet so I have to have a PCMCIA slot available which the MBP does not have. Apple has done away with all of the legacy support on their laptops. They don't even have a 56k modem any more in case you would need to send a fax or something on your laptop. I do like how they have gone to DVI in place of VGA though. I wish that Lenovo would go that route soon with the ThinkPads.

Personally unless you need something that's lighter and more portable I would go with the T60 widescreen. There is a great deal on a loaded one for a little over $1400 at Buy.com for the moment after coupon and FatCash although they will probably sell out soon. I'm not sure why it's even still in stock considering the same config on Lenovo is around $1900 after tax.

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=203482823&adid=17654&dcaid=17654&adid=17662&adid=17662

 

I don't see them giving up VGA until the majority of projectors have DVI inputs. They might go dual, but I doubt it. If you are at one place regularly they expect you to get a dock.

 

For Widescreen = i would advice you to go for the MBP if you want 14 or 12 inch go for the ThinkPad and if weight is not an object to you the Z61m is a great machine.

 

in canada, the t60 14.1inch model comes with x1300 graphics card 64mb MAX. that to me is too low, as i'd like to play a couple games from time to time as well. any idea when ibm canada will upgrade its thinkpad 14.1 inch line up? also, the processor is only the t5600 max, not the t7200, which is what i'd like.

 

FWIW, several people have expressed dissatisfaction with the T60 display - myself included. If you have any kind of color-sensitive work, or have trouble staring at a dim screen for several hours, I would think twice about the T60ws. I'm considering returning my T60 for a MBP (matte, although brighter), although I'm concerned about the reported drop in Mac quality and customer care. I'm also looking into an Asus W3J... if you find a WS with excellent screen and durability/reliability, let me know! :J

 

There are no viruses found on Macs simply because they have a small market share. It has nothing to do with Windows security. For those that want to create computer viruses and spread them around the world, they target the Windows platform.

 

That's not entirely true. While it is more enticing to affect 85% of computers instead of 4% or 5%, Windows is inherently easier to infect because it wasn't built for security.

All of your *nix flavors were built with multiple users and networking in mind, and hence require authentication to do anything important. Most Windows users are part of the administrators group by default, and until Vista and UAC, there was no kind of confirmation for letting the system do stupid things with administrator privileges. That's the fatal flaw, and it'll only be solved in Vista by people reading prompts and not clicking 'yes' to everything.

 

Have you tried configuring a T60p? 256MB GDDR3 (plus HyperMemory).