Update or stay put?

I have W510, bought 2 years ago. It works very well, I got used to the keyboard and have no complaints.

However - after 2 years of daily use, I'm wondering if it makes sense to replace it. Before the W510 I had a T42 for 5 years, and looking back I should have upgraded earlier. So. I want FHD screen (pref. not glossy), good keyboard - I type all day - and relative "zippiness". The rest is less important - battery life, weight, 2nd HDD, RAID, etc.

My current config is i7 720QM, 12GB RAM, FHD screen, 128GB SSD (which suits me fine), optical drive (which I never use). Is there an obvious reason for me to upgrade or to hold back? Should I wait another year?

Thanks for any and all insights.

Tom

 

it really depends on the uses, do you feel the cpu and gpu is limiting you in some way? ssd and ram are more than enough on most standard uses.
otherwise for standard office use, browsing, movies I'd guess the w510 (even the older w500) is still more than enough unless you require heavy processing/graphics rendering.

 

Welcome to the forum!

Given the keyboard changes implemented on *30 series, I'd stay put...if you type a lot as you've stated, the new keyboard might prove to be a nightmare. Touch-typists amongst ThinkPad users hate it with a passion...

 

Unless you feel limited in some way, I say keep it, keyboard not withstanding. My R60e, which is now seven years old, works fine as a daily driver.

 

Keep it.

 

Thanks everyone - I guess I'll stay put for now.

I guess one of my concerns is screen. My T42 had 1400x1050 screen, which has never been very bright, but it gradually got more and more dim. When I turn it on now, it's scary how dark it is. And I do every now and then - it has parallel port, but that's a different story. On my W510 I have brightness cranked all the way up and I feel that whites are getting rather gray - but maybe I'm imagining things.
Keyboard is very important to me - when I switched from T42 to W510 I was rather underwhelmed initially, but I got used to it. It feels different, but is solid and responsive enough. I guess I'll read up on the new keyboards - but is there any hope for Lenovo to revert back to what's in W510? Or is it still offered in any of the current models?

Tom

 

To answer your two questions: NO and NO.

 

I'm a touch-typist TrackPoint user, and I like the new keyboard better than the old.

I recently upgraded from T410 to T430s: i7, SSD, 8GB. Amazingly snappy machine. Office apps load literally instantly. The machine is slim and lightweight. The screen is abysmal.

My next upgrade will either be when this one dies or when there's a retina ThinkPad, whichever comes first.

The T410 generation had better displays than the T420 and T430, so make sure that you read up on the quality of the display of the model that you intend to buy before you buy it, since a screen is one of the few things that you want to upgrade for.

 

There are always exceptions to the general rule, and your experience seems to be one of them...

 

I'd say a large fraction of users don't mind or prefer the new keyboard, including touch-typists. I don't mind the change in key style, although I do prefer the 7-row layout. I type at about the same speed on both my T500's keyboard and on my brother's non-backlit X230.

 

I also prefer the 7-row layout. However, I use AHK to re-map Alt+ and Alt- to Ctrl+PgUp and Ctrl+PgDn and PrtScrn+ and PrtScrn- to plain PgUp and PgDn. That way I don't miss 7-row as much.

 

I don't know that anyone can make a purchase calculus or decision for someone else. All of our circumstances and preferences are different.

If I had lots of money, I'd spend it on lots of laptops and lots of other things. If money was dear, I wouldn't.

If we're talking about a discretionary laptop purchase, I personally like to get five or six years out of a laptop. I would not seek to replace a product after two years if it "works very well" for me, has a keyboard I'm "used to", and about which I "have no complaints". In such circumstances, if I feel a tug to buy something new, I recognize it, after many decades of self-analysis, as being an attack of rogue gearheadism or even gearsluutism. But that's just me.