X61t to T400 or W520

Hey,

I have a question about upgrading and or changing my device.

I have been using my x61 tablet for quite a while, and I was always pretty satisfied, but it is slowly getting a bit too slow for my day to day use. (2gb ram, L7700 1.8, hdd).

I use the laptop for basic web-surfing, Matlab programming, reading lots of PDFs (scans of articles, papers and even chapters in books, up to sizes of several 100 mb's), microsoft office (sometimes larger excel files) and netflix.

I have a good desktop at my office for all these uses, so I only want to spend $400 (incl. upgrades) max to have another mobile device.

I was thinking of buying an used T400 and upgrade it to 8gb ram + ssd, but I am wondering if this would be a huge difference to my other option:
Upgrading the x61 tablet with a ssd and 4gb ram (or 8gb, but I think the money for that is not worth it), and then wait 1-2 years until the W520 drops to around 400-500.

For both options, I would still use the x61 occasionally to take notes or read articles, but I want a larger widescreen because I think it is more comfortable for matlab (2 windows next to each other).

I guess my main question is if the upgraded T400 would be noticeable faster than the upgraded (4gb) x61t, because both models are almost equally old and the cpus are def not up to date.

Best

 

Well, since you're buying a SSD anyway, you could upgrade your X61t with it and see how it goes. If it's still not cutting the mustard you can always buy another machine later.

 

If you take the SSD upgrade path (as ZaZ suggested), buy a 7mm-thick SSD to be on the safe side. It's much, much easier to pad it up than to shave it down.

 

Just note that the X61t is SATAI-only on the standard BIOS, but can be upgraded to SATAII with the Middleton BIOS. Also, I thought that the top processor for the X61t was the L7500...?

If your MATLAB programming is just once in a while, and not some heavy-lifting stuff, the L7500 should still be good enough. Though if you feel like upgrading, I'd probably go for some 15.6", 1080p Thinkpad/Latitude/Elitebook (W520 or otherwise); the T400 will either have a lower resolution than what you have now (assuming you have the 1050p X61t) or won't be much of an improvement (assuming you have the lower-resolution X61t).

 

The prices of W520 have been going down steadily, and while still not in OP's range, it might be worth considering putting away a bit more money and getting one...they'll be good for a few more years, that's a given.

T400 is neither-here-nor-there nowadays. I'd suggest a T410 instead, which still maintains a 16:10 ratio but offers a Core CPU instead of C2D...I've got two and like them a lot, and they can be found almost at OP's suggested price range.

My $0.02 only...

 

Newegg periodically gets some very high quality refurbished T400/410 well within your budget, so keep an eye on their refurbished laptop listings.

 

Well, this is a review for a refurbed T410 from an actual NewEgg customer...

ThinkPad T Series T410 Notebook Intel Core i5 2.40GHz 14.1" 4GB Memory 250GB HDD DVD±R/RW - Newegg.com

I'd pass...

 

That's right, you do have to pay attention to the reviews. I certainly wouldn't advocate buying a bunch of them blind before anyone has put in a good word. Still, as the reviewer mentioned, Newegg is very proactive about returning lemons. It's not really a high-risk venture like buying from a secondary shop on amazon or ebay.

 

Well, it seems that whoever is supplying these T410 units to NewEgg is not to be trusted for quality...

ThinkPad T410 (2522EC8) 14.1" Notebook - Newegg.com

For recent machines, Lenovo and IBM official refurb sites are a much safer bet, not to mention TPF...

 

Oh for sure, there are other avenues to get a good refurb; however, newegg doesn't utilize the same supplier for all their thinkpads. It is hit or miss, but the point is they do carry them and you can find a good deal there from time to time, and in my experience more often than not. That's certainly a valid exception you mention. I would not suggest all refurbs from newegg are pristine. It's just that newegg is one of the few places where you can find good refurbs tax free and with free shipping.