What's a good replacement for R40?

Hi,

I've owned ThinkPad R40 for the past 7 years, it still survives very well (hard drive upgraded though).

However it is starting to show its age especially wanting to use it for development tools like Eclipse and Android emulators.

So... what ThinkPad should I replace it with? They seem to have a new lineup with Edge, L-series... which one is closest to build quality of R-series of the old?

Of course I realize there is still the T-series, which is much more expensive. If back then I can survive on R-series instead of T-series, I should be able to do so again!

Thanks!

 

I didn't purchase many R series for my company but I recall them being the same build type as the X, T, W series. Edge and L are built using a different chassis design.

So I imagine the upgrade line would be to go with X, T or W - depending on your needs. X220 for small (X120e and X1 are different chassis designs), T for medium and W for large with max performance.

 

You could look at the T420 as the new R series being that it's thicker and heavier than the T420s, which would be the new T series.

 

R series does not exist anymore, got replaced by L (you don't want an L or SL series though). R got eliminated because it overlapped too much with T series, and only stole sales away from mainstream T series. As the above posters have stated, I would look at like a T420. T420s is a good option if you want a powerful notebook but slimmer and lighter, but replacement parts will be harder to find as it is not a mainstream model, and T420s 6 cell battery gets nerfed from standard T420 6 cell.

If you were looking for an ultraportable laptop, take a look at the x series, now is a good time to pick one up, x220i can be had for ~650-700 with coupons and 40 bucks gets you an IPS screen, one of the best ultraportable screens for the money.

If you need a really heavy duty notebook, Lenovo introduced the W line after T6x to segregate mainstream workhorse laptops from mobile workstations. W series offers much more power Quadro graphics as well as Extreme quad core CPU's.

 

Considering you did well to make the most of the R40 for so long, if you're on a tight budget you could consider having a decent second hand R400 or T400 model. Some models have LED screens, switchable graphics and Penryn Core 2 Duo CPU's that still offer good amount of power in todays climate. Admittedly I would even say that my 4 year old T61 is sturdier built than my T420...

 

Thanks for all the comments, it confirms my 'suspicions' that the L series is not a true replacement.

And as I am always a long term user anyway, I really should maximize what I buy now.

Ruling out X-series as I don't need ultraportability.