x300 vs. T61p ?

I will be beginning law school in the fall and have been looking at various computers and have narrowed down my choices to the below two:

T61p
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T9300 (2.5GHz 800MHz 6MBL2)
Windows Vista Ultimate
15.4 WSXGA+ TFT
NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M (256MB Open GL)
3 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) with Fingerprint Reader
100GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim
Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (supporting Centrino Pro)
9 cell Li-Ion Battery

$1389.09


x300
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo SL7100 (1.2GHz, 4MB L2, 800MHz FSB)
Windows XP Professional
13.3 WXGA+ TFT (LED backlight)
Intel® Graphics Media Adapter X3100
UltraNav (TrackPoint and Touch
Ultrathin DVD Burner
Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AG
ThinkPad X300 Series 6 Cell Li-Ion Battery

$2291.60

I like the idea of having a fully loaded computer with the T61p, but I also like the idea of having a lighter computer. While I love the look and feel of the x300, I feel like I would have to make quite a few sacrifices, from hardware all the way down to the OS, to have it.

I would appreciate any comments from anyone currently (or recently) in school or from people that have also been considering the above computers.

Thanks!

 

Besides obvious school assignments, what other applications do you have in mind ?

Also, what duration of battery-life do you expect ?


rgds.

 

Not really a whole lot. Office, firefox, iTunes, synergy, realVNC, AIM, some sort of anti-virus\firewall, something to pull pictures off my camera\phone. Also, it will need to run software to take my exams on.

I need something that can get me through 2 or 3 classes with breaks in between. I'm guessing that will be around 4 or 5 hours. Which brings me to the point about dropping the dvd burner and putting in the additional 3-cell battery (so it'd have the 6 cell plus the 3 cell). With the capacity of flash drive nowadays, I don't really see a point in a dvd burner\reader. Really the only disc I've put in my old laptop in the last year or so was the windows disk to re-install. If i need to travel, I can just use my desktop to rip my dvds to the HDD anyways.

 

Well, why not to consider T61 with 14.1'' LCD?
You'll get "no-compromise" laptop, which is only a little bit bigger and heavier than X300.

PS
I will buy T61p 15.4'' this summer by the way, however, I need WUXGA resolution... but 14.1'' is still tempting.

 

I suspect Firefox performs better with discrete GPU. The X300's integrated GPU is slow in this respect.


rgds.

 

As a fellow law student, I recently switched from a 15.4 Dell latitude d820 to the x61s...couldnt be happier. The x300 seems to be a bit high priced, but if you can afford it, the smaller the better for law school IMO.

 

Both machines would suit you very well. The X300 obviously would be easier to carry around, but the T6x isn't much larger. The X300 is a good choice for mobile professionals that travel a lot or go from meeting to meeting all day. If you have a backpack then you won't notice the extra weight of the 14" T6x. The T6x would be a better choice to last you multiple years of school due to the faster CPU. With a discount you can buy two T6xs for the cost of one X300.

Firefox is a 2D application so the type of GPU will have very little impact on performance.

 

I was looking at the stated requirement for 512MB SLI graphics card, which is a discrete GPU :

http://www.msfirefox.com/download-microsoft-firefox.html


rgds.

 

LOL! You're looking at a spoof site. Microsoft does not make Firefox.


Here is the real site for Firefox requirements. FYI, there is no mention of graphics card requirements.

 

Hah hah...


rgds

 

hahahha lol