Thinkpad vs Ideapad

Hello,

I'm looking to buy a new laptop to basically do some work from home and travel. Looking for a laptop rather cheap laptop, light weight, great battery life (6 hours).

I'll be connecting to my work network remotely inorder to access the drives and program I need to do work out of. use a lot of pdf acrobat, word document, excel. so probably going to have like 5 programs running quite often.

I'm thinking i'll get a ideapad cause the specs seem so much better for the price and you get windows 8 (faster boot without ssd). I really have trouble understanding why dollar for dollar the thinkpad seems to be a more expensive choice cause the ideapad seems to beat it in weight and battery life.

only thing i like more about thinkpad is the matte screen.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me? I am going to use this laptop for business pretty much yet im leaning towards a mass consumer laptop (ideapad)?

thanks,

 

The design philosophy behind the two is entirely different, as are warranty entitlements.

Coming from a Sager, you might be disappointed with an IdeaPad.

You get what you pay for.

Good luck.

 

I'd stay away from IdeaPads, they still have hinge issues stemming from the original Y lineup and overall are just plasticky laptops.

You won't pay that much for a ThinkPad and have a MUCH better quality laptop.

 

The extra cost goes towards the **much** better build quality, much better tech support (Lenovo supports Ideapads, IBM supports Thinkpads; the latter has *much* better reps and service), and better warranty options.

Think about it like so:

With consumer-class laptops (Ideapad included): You're buying a car with good numbers (engine size, HP, torque, top speed, whatever), the body looks pretty good, but the skin is made of plastic and so is the structural frame. Don't get in an accident.

With business-class laptops (Thinkpad included): You're buying a car with good numbers (engine size, HP, torque, top speed, whatever), the body looks pretty good, and while the skin is still plastic the structural frame is magnesium alloy. In other business laptops, the whole car is metal. You can survive a few accidents in this (especially true if you only have solid-state drives in the system).

 

I guess I don't see it as good vs evil, but more shades of gray. While it's true ThinkPads are more robust, they're also generally more expensive. Pick your poison on that one. I think there are also some at least interesting IdeaPads like the Yoga and/or the Y580.

You might help your cause if said what you were looking to spend. Individuals may define inexpensive very differently. Based on what you did say - low cost, portable, durable and long battery life, that says the X220/X230 to me. If you're looking for better pricing, definitely hit the Lenovo Outlet. In the past week there's been IPS X220s in the outlet under $500, which is coming close to bargain basement territory, though some patience may be required to get that price. Outlet ThinkPads only come with a one year warranty that cannot be upgraded via normal channels, but it would still offer a lot of value.

 

^^
Although I agree, I disagree with the models recommend (X220\X230). I think they are definitely not affordable enough to be considered cheap. I'm thinking more along the lines of an X130e or even T430u. A base T430u could be had for likely under $700 tax in which is my mind is at the upper limits of "cheap".

 

I meant x131e. Names keep changing it's almost hard to keep up.

 

I wouldn't say that is necessarily true. Some IdeaPads go into the 1000's of dollars, just like a W530 is 900+. Most IdeaPads are 500-800 dollars, while most workhorse ThinkPads are the pricepoint with some kind of coupon/discount. Just depends on the configuration you want. I think you maybe referring to the Essential lineup which yes average is 400-500 dollars.

 

If you take an IdeaPad and ThinkPad, then configure them the same, the ThinkPad will usually cost more. Now, there are ways to work the system where one might be more or less at a given moment in time. As always when buying the more patient one can be, the better you'll do price wise.