Which IBM Thinkpad ?

Hi,

Finally decided to buy IBM Think pad for business use. I'm a 'Securities trader' so i need speed, reliability & internet access.

Is T series the best way to go ?

IBM Thinkpad have always had a good reputation for making SOLID business laptops, i don't know if that has changed since being acquired by Lenovo from China ?!

Pls. advise, thanks - Mave

 

Thinkpads have always been made by Lenovo and almost all PCs are designed/made in Asia for major PC companies (Dell, HP, Sony, etc.) by Taiwanese ODMs who outsource manufacuring to China. Before Lenovo acquired the Thinkpad division of IBM, IBM contracted manufacturing to Lenovo and Wistron. You are getting the same engineering only there is a different coporate boss.

 

For frequent business travellers, students, and excecutives, I would highly recommend X61/X61s. Ultraportable notebooks are essential business tools with acceptable performance while affordable wieight. It can also be used as secondary computer in additon to your home/office desktop or full-size laptop.

As a matter of fact, the only weakness of X61/X61s is it's graphic card and screen size. Compared with other models, Thinkpad never compromises on memory speed, hard drive performance and case rigidity. For example, HP Compaq 2510p has only 4,200rpm hard drive, and Sony TZ only provides DDR 533 (PC2 4200) memory and 4,200 rpm hard drive. Sony has the most flexible LCD cover in the world.

T61 is ideall for people who need balanced performance and mobility. In most case, it is more favored in engineering, finance, and consulting industry.

I believe X61 (contracted by Wistron) is much better in manufacturing than T61 (by Lenovo). You should need some test drive before you make your decision.

 

Thanks but the notebook would be my primary work tool so its not a matter of using the x61 just for travel and having something else in the office. Screen seems way too small.

Wistron makes good stuff. I am using at $600 Inspiron 640M which I know is made by Wistron and it is rock solid, much better and reliable than a Toshiba costing more than 2x the price IMO.

 

The ThinkPad has been evolving all along. It was very good and it still is now. Even during those past "IBM years", ThinkPad was made by Lenovo as the subcontractor. The core substance of excellence in quality is something you can be assured of.

You are right in your direction with the T series given your requirement for "... speed, reliability & internet access". The T series is well suited.

You mentioned about business use. The ThinkPad label has a long standing reputation with business and financial users, along with HP Compaq business series.

Being a securities trader, depending, your scope of work may entail market research into fundamentals of companies, financial statements analysis, technical analysis, and general review of economic performance.

With the above consideration, I would suggest going for the T61p in 15.4" widescreen format :

- The larger widescreen provides better visual ergonomics since your job requires long hours of reading from the screen.

- The widescreen, having wider view, makes it an ideal choice when it comes to technical charting. You get to see more of the trend periods across. When it comes to financial statements analysis, a widescreen gives you more view angle to analyse multi-period comparative figures.

- You want speed. The T61p can be had with the fastest processor speed and graphics performance in the entire ThinkPad family.

- The T61p supports 9 cell hi-cap batteries. This means longer up time without sacrifice in computing power.

- The T61p is the performance flagship in the ThinkPad family. The "p" denotes "performance" afterall.

I look forward to welcome you into our ThinkPad-user family soon.


rgds,
Benjamin Chin
24 Oct 07

 

Ben what do you think about a T61 with the T7500 processsor? I am getting discrete graphincs but its a non P model so 128MB. Plan to run it with 3GB of RAM and a 160GB HDD. I use Bloomberg Analytics a lot and the real time spreadsheets populated with market data require a lot of horsepower and have become frustrated with my current discrete graphics Dell. Portability is key and a 15" screen just seems to big to be carrying through airports all the time.

 

i hate discrete graphics get the t61p

 

The T61p also uses discrete graphics in the high-end models; just that it uses a much better graphics card than the T61.

Hence, it is not appropriate to dismiss discrete graphics technology and yet promote the T61p at the same time; that is a self-contradiction.

 

I have the same configuration in my new T61 (except of the processor, mine is T7300) and i have to say it is fantastic! And it has, of course, the known quality of Thinkpads...

 

I would go with a T61 14.1 wide as in my sig.

Im a business user, its light enough to travel and quick enough to handle anything I throw at it. I use it with a dock on the desk to an external monitor, keyboard etc. Good setup, no problems.

 

Hi Ben, appreciate your posts. I sent you PM a couple days ago; did you not get it by any chance?

No offense to OP (no intention to threadjack )

 

I believe in writing responsibly, at least honestly.

I can respond relatively quick for straight-forward cases; granted that I have ready knowledge and that I have time to respond in a respectful, objective manner.

Your issue requires balance of considerations to your requirements.

I will get back to you IF I have an answer that I can even be happy with, myself. (A suggestion needs to pass my own satisfaction first.)