Which will be my next Thinkpad or brand????

Hi, I would be interested to see what Laptop people would find suitable for me. I live in the UK england.

I do love my thinkpads when it comes to making music with Cubase and vsts.
i've had T61, x61 and currently on T500 with SSD 8gb. I've started to run low on ram.

As far as durabililty goes these laptops all failed big time.
I have broken everyone of them...each time being the LCD screen after a drop. It's beyond a joke. Maybe it's bad luck.

So the real trouble for me is carry 10tonnes on my back as a commuter...i just can't do it anymore..

I need a a laptop that is noticeably lighter than a T500 more powerful than a dual core and more Ram capable
Most important is a good screen res, I'm used to 1680 x 1050. need space to place these prgrams.
Also decent graphics.(i'm not a gamer)...though i've heard intel's 4000 are pretty good.

Also express card slot and headphone socket that is on the side of the laptop. T500 had an awful arrangement of ins n outs.

Please let me know asap if these requirements can not be met with a thinkpad and help me find a suitable brand.

To recap

1. good processor
2 More ram than 8gb
3. Smaller and lighter than T500
4. Good matt res screen!!!

If it is twice as powerful as t500, i'll be happy.


Thank you for reading!!!



P

 

I currently have a T530, but after lurking this forum everyday since ordering the laptop, I feel like I should have gotten the X230 or X220. These are the 12.5 in. notebooks, and have an IPS option for the monitor. I also think the T430s, the slimmer version of the T430, is worth a mention.

 

Great quality IPS screen on the X230 is there, but the resolution is max 1366x768. The T430s has a higher resolution option (1600x900) but the screen is not as high quality as the IPS on the X230. Both have high RAM capabilities. The other, lighter option is the X1 Carbon with 14.1" 1600x900, better-than-T430s quality TN screen, but that has limited RAM to 8GB that is non-removable.

 

X230.

Pros: ultra-portable, fast, good built quality, IPS screen is very bright, long battery life. If you crack the screen again, you can replace it for less than $100.

cons: when watching movies the resolution is not good as HDTV but connecting to a HDTV solves that problem at home. When on the go one has to watch movies on lower-setting anyway and so it is not a big issue, at least not as big as the battery life.

 

Whats the reason you feel that way, pls share!

 

Thanks i'll check these laptops you guys mentioned...i've heard of the t420s....seem like a good bet...

But know nothing of thee X series...i'll check em out now.. thanks guys

 

actually 8gb ram should be enough if i have to scarifice... i would love to have a tablet that could run windows 7 and my software...i'd be happy with that providing i can get a good price...
Why is it so hard to find a tablet for windows.

 

On hindsight, I should have gotten the lighter option because I am going to have to bike around campus. I think what sealed the deal for me is the childish inclination of going for non-integrated for graphics. I game, but I do not care very much for graphics(anymore). Going portable would be best for my circumstances, but still, the T530 is a solid laptop(if it doesn't come with production faults, luckily mine didn't) because it's fast, not TOO heavy, and well, having the NVIDIA card could be a plus.

 

The new Thinkpad Tablet 2 or Ideapad Yoga is very attractive.

 

You aren't going to get high resolution screens along with more powerful processors and RAM but slimmer/lighter than a T500. You'll need to sacrifice something, so what is more important?

 

If this is a recurring problem in your life, I'd recommend that you try to treat your electronics more carefully. Either that, or be prepared to spend a lot more on an ultra-rugged laptop.

 

If you really like your T500's WSXGA screen then a lower resolution screen may disappoint you, alternatively you can get a T530 with Full HD screen and Intel HD4000, swap out the HDD with a 128GB or 256GB mSATA SSD, ditch the DVDRW, and have a T530 that weight almost the same as a standard T430. If you want something that's smaller than a 15" and lighter than 5lbs then you'll have to give up the Full HD screen.

 

Then what category would this laptop fall into???

Zenbook Prime UX31A

Display 13.3 inch 16:9, 1920x1080 pixel, CMN 1343, IPS, glossy: no

 

Zenbook Prime has soldered RAM, and it has soldered BGA ULV CPU's which would hardly be faster than the ones in your T500. Also it does not have a discreet GPU option.

 

Had a Zenbook Prime to test recently, the keyboard is really awful. The screen is nice, and the look of the laptop is great..... but it does overheat a bit...

 

The answer to that is T430(s). 16GB RAM is possible, the new CPU is about twice as fast as Core Duo in number crunching (e.g. looking at wPrime 32M, it's ~30seconds vs ~16 seconds, as per http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4565 ), is smaller and lighter and the 1600x900 screen isn't too bad.

Or, if more portability is desired, either X220/X230 or X1 Carbon, depending on whether you'd rather have 1366x768 screen or 8GB of soldered RAM.

 

X220/X230 does not have soldered RAM. Also wPrime is such a bad way of calculating CPU computing power.

Almost all chicklet keyboards on the market are awful, especially backlit ones as they are super squishy or have no feedback.

 

But X1 Carbon does. Hence the choice between 1366x768 screen (X2?0) or only 8GB RAM + a bunch of other limitations (X1 Carbon), if one wants a Thinkpad lighter than T430.

As to calculating CPU power, wPrime is as good synthetic benchmark as any. Results may be relevant or completely irrelevant depending of the nature of the applications that are going to be used, but ballpark estimate that clock-for-clock Ivy Bridge is about twice as fast as Core Duo is a fair one. Of course, depending on the task it may be 50% faster, or orders of magnitude faster (like in QuickSync-capable video transcoding or AES).

 

Well the T430's backlit chiclet keyboard is pretty awesome though. Speaking of awful keyboard, the really nasty one is the none chiclet keyboard on the new Vizio laptop, it'll give you nightmares.

 

Go with T430s. I just got mine for music production as well, was looking for powerful cpu (to run VSTs), dual hard drive option (256GB SSD as DAW drive + 500GB in a caddy for sample library storage), 14" HD+ moniitor (1900x600 resolution, wide screen to fit - don't even bother with anything less than 14"), 8GB DDR (you can go higher by upgrading it, but 8GB is more than you need), Intel HD 4000 graphics (its plenty for DAW, even with shared RAM), backlit keyboard (actually very cool depending if you are on a go making your tunes where lighting is poor), headphone jack is on the left side (no annoying front of the laptop connection - btw, I run my headphones through Focusrite VRM Box). Also, don't forget its very lightweight. You probably going to keep it plugged in, but even on battery at max performance setting you can get 2:30hr-3hr of run time. Between the latest i5 processor and fast SSD (Samsung 830 is mad fast!) and all the goodies above - it makes a great DAW

Regarding you dropping it often, get 4yr warranty with whatever accidental damage they offer! It will worth every penny!!!