Talk me out of abandoning hope...

so i'm a first year medical student, and i've been waiting to buy a laptop since around July. if you remember, i made this post a little while back.

anyways, i really want to buy a thinkpad, but I can't seem to pull the trigger. At first I was waiting for the Merom processor to come out, which took lenovo an extra 2 months (late august... to october) to release to the market, with minimal other upgrades. Then, i heard that the widescreen thinkpad was coming, which was ideal because I want a portable widescreen 14 incher with a discrete video card. I am wary of aeroglass with the integrated, and I dabble in a couple older games, photoshop, and premiere here and there. When that finally came out, it turns out it's only the 15 inch. So it's back to the drawing board...

Now I have decided to wait around until Vista comes pre-installed, which i'm HOPING is soon after the january release date.

By then, if there is no 14 inch widescreen Thinkpad with a discrete video card, I'll basically have to choose between a z61t and a compaq nc6400. It seems like there's been a huge waiting period for all of you who have ordered the z61's.

I don't want to wait forever. I feel like it's already affecting my study habits, and i only have a year and a half of academic years of medical school. (It's much harder to study anywhere other than my room when I have no laptop)

What do you guys recommend? i've heard good things about the nc6400.

1) is the praised thinkpad build quality and thinkvantage tools that much better than having a discrete video card with the nc6400?

2) should i just suck it up about the discrete video card and get the z61t? or should i suck it up about the widescreen, and get a 14" T60? or should i go with the compaq?

3) any news on the widescreen 14 inch T60?

4) This is kinda another question. But say I bought a thinkpad now, and used the upgrade coupon to upgrade to Vista. Would the thinkvantage integrate smoothly into vista?


David

 

How about option 5.
Buy a really really cheap notebook now to take care of your immediate needs, and wait out for your ideal system to come out 1-3 months away. Once it does, eBay your cheap notebook.

If its me, I go with option 4, as you never know when the 14" widescreen will ever come out, and there will be plenty of help around if vista pose a problem with upgrading.

 

interesting.. those were more questions rather than options... but actually that is true.

maybe i should just make the purchase now instead of waiting for vista?

if i make the purchase now... should i go for T60? z61t? or compaq nc6400?

what do you guys think?

 

Aero runs on the GMA 950 without any problems, not sure how old your games are, photoshop doesn't need a dedicated GPU.. premiere too..

Otherwise, the nc6400 is a very good options either.

 

If you're not a gamer then the gma 950 will be perfectly fine. I would get the z61t. Also, if you buy now, you can get a free upgrade to vista. I like the upgrade better than preinstalled b/c you can wait until the bugs get worked out of vista before you install and you'll have an actual disk.

 

wow.. you guys are actualyl doing a pretty good job. i'm actually considering going for a z61t now. too bad all the sales ended. arghh.

haha.. anyways, any more opinions on the z61t vs the compaq nc6400?

also: if you upgrade to vista, lenovo will work to make thinkvantage software seamless with vista for us as well, right?

 

It's not clear to me why you want widescreen.

Chris

 

chris.. that's actually a pretty good question. on my desktop rig, i'm currently running 2 monitors, and i definitely like having multiple windows open.

since i am actually not a notebook user, my preference for widescreen is not based on experience, but rather speculation. i figure it'd be easier to have two windows open, or say, have note-taking documents and chat windows upon.

also, i feel like the shorter, but wider profile would fit better in a backpack.

but yes, i'm not 100% fixed on having a widescreen. which is why it's so hard for me to make a decision. i would like discrete graphics, and i would like wide screen. that's why i just keep on waiting for them to release a 14 inch T.

should i just stop waiting and go for it? ahhh... such a tough choice.

any more thoughts on the t60 vs the z61t vs the nc6400?

 

Personally, I prefer WideScreen after using it for several years now. Wouldn't go back. The additional screen realestate is very nice, and the occasional movie/video is better as well ... So for a college student, a dual purpose machine.

 

yeah... if the GMA950 is indeed capable, which is what everyone's saying... i guess i'm leaning most heavily toward the z61t.

which brings me to the delayed shipping and stuff that everybody's been complaining about. is that supposed to clear up after christmas? or would i be expecting a 1-2 month order time?

 

Most likely it will take a few weeks. Lenovo just recently updated the z61t on their website to say "ships in 3-4 weeks" which is more accurate than the previous "1-2 weeks". There are still plenty of people waiting for their z-series (myself included), so even if the supply issues are being worked out, they still have a lot of backorders to fill.

 

If you need a laptop now, buy it now.

Waiting for the next best thing to arrive will just end in frustration. When you buy a piece of kit like this, the only thing that's guaranteed is that it will be obsolete as soon as you click the 'Order' button... ;-)

 

Well, obviously I'm a bit biased since I have a standard-aspect 14-inch T60, but for me it works great. I work a lot with text files, so I prefer the extra vertical real estate. It's SXGA, so it doesn't feel cramped.

I (briefly) had an HP with a 14-inch widescreen WXGA+ screen (hated the computer for other reasons), but I don't really use side-by-side windows much anyway. I just use the taskbar to switch apps. I do that even on my 19-inch desktop monitor, though.

I use a satchel, and the 4:3 profile fits great. Can't say if it would matter in a backpack. Good luck with your decision.

Chris

p.s. I just looked at the education pricing, and it looks like the great deals they had for a while are gone. Ugh.

 

Well, when it comes to personal preferences, I had a standart screen before and I have a widescreen now and I simply will never go back..

Check the screen sizes out in person.

 

As far as waiting, I have no experience to say you WON'T wait. I waited 42 days for mine -- I can only expect yours to be at least that long.

It may not be, but do be prepared to wait. If you are prepared to wait, you won't be as annoyed if it does take awhile.

 

It seems like everything you want is already available in the nc6400, so why compromise and go with the z61 if it doesn't have the discrete graphics that you want? I am in a similar predicament - I have had a dell inspiron 8500 widescreen for the past 3.5 years and don't want a standard aspect notebook now. If they made the T60 in a 14.1" widescreen I would buy it. If they made the Z61 14.1" widescreen with discrete graphics I would buy it. The fact is neither case is true right now and there is no telling when or if it will be.

My inspiron 8500 is slowly dying, so I will probably go with the nc6400. From searching through these forums I haven't seen anything but good reviews on the nc6400 - except for one person saying the screen was blocky ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=95061&highlight=nc6400+blocky). Another nc6400 owner said he did not have the same problem.

I want discrete graphics for two reasons: 1) I am a light gamer right now and 2) I would like to have the increased graphics power over the integrated intel gma graphics in case I need it in the future.


I still have not decided what I am going to do, but right now I am leaning towards getting an nc6400. In three to four years when I'm looking for another laptop I'll start my search over, revisit Lenovo, and if they meet my needs then and are still praised as highly as they are now, I will probably buy from them.

 

Get the nc6400. It's a great machine with better build quality than the Thinkpad T60. The only thing you'll have to watch out for is a loooooong wait from HP if you custom-build. If you can buy from a 3rd party seller, you'll get it fast, and it'll be the better machine.