Which model and should I buy now or wait?

The OS is currently using 20gb of space, leaving me with 54gb of free space. I love it and since it's an Intel, I don't have to worry about it crapping out or doing secure erases every so often like the Sandforce drives.

The Intel drive is on sale at Fry's right now:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...-139-99-frys-after-30-rebate.html#post6912910

 

Yeah, by OS you mean Windooze 7.

Ubuntu 10.10: 4GB, including essential applications. Do I feel handicapped with such a small footprint? Absolutely not.

 

Did you ever consider getting one of the cheap and humble ThinkPad SL range?

I bought the cheapest model SL510. It is quite light in weight, and an SL410 would be even lighter.

I like it very much and it is great for the price. Of course, it is missing a number of things that would make it into a professional level laptop like the T-series, e.g., a higher resolution an higher quality screen, a docker ability, and it doesn't have the XP Virtual Mode BIOS setting.

Here is a quick review of the SL510: I bought it as a stopgap until the SandyBridge T-series come out next year. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a laptop that either has weak graphics ability (due to no dedicated graphics card) or, conversely has a dedicated graphics card and so always runs hot. I am hoping SandyBridge will solve this dilemma. I am also hoping that meanwhile a miracle will happen and the screens will revert back to 16:10… yes, I can carry in dreaming…

I bought the lowest and cheapest SL510 configuration, with just a bit extra memory. 1366x768 screen. Intel graphics. The SL510 is a lightweight 15.6". It weighs only 2.55 Kg. The supplied power cable incl. the brick weighs 350g. So if you always know that you are commuting to the same place of work, then an extra power cable at work means you are only carrying 2.55Kg. The battery actually does last for about 3 hours. The screen is very bright and a pleasure to behold. The SL510 is always silent and almost never heats up, so no problem with it on your lap for hours. Great ThinkPad keyboard and red navigator stick. Good solid feel to the case's construction and texture. Downward inner slanting stops the SL510 from looking box-like, and makes the case look like it is floating just above the table rather than sitting on it.

It is really fast. Just zips along compared with the Pentium IV 2.8 GHz desktop that I have still been using for many years. So far so good, the SL510's Windows 7 Home Premium seems to be running my three authoring platforms Ok: Word 2003, RoboHelp 7, and FrameMaker 7.2.

However, as I said, the SL510 is of course, missing a number of things that would make it into a professional level laptop like the T-series (which I do very much need), that fetch a price that is three times as high.

Good luck on your choice!

- avi

 

In SL series you can find IdeaPad's firmware, which is not compatible with Linux. That's why it sucks IMO.

 

I don't do Linux, so it's good enough for me

- A