Ok, this machine's configuration seems pretty sweet. However, it almost cost as much a brand new car - Ok, a crappy car, but man oh man, this is one expensive computer...Even for Canadian money...

http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/store ... logId=-124

Worth the cost?

Well, no. I think my price barrier on a new computer is $3400 (just spent 2700 on a new T41p with accessories), anything over that and I think you are paying too much. 7500 for a lcd, processor, mobo, some other stuff and a tough magnesium lid and hard case to put it all in will never amount to 7500, IMO. IBM makes great products and this one is no exception but 7500? Come on.

Anyway it is fun to look at.

Max

My ceiling on notebook spending is around 2,000 $US, and I'd prefer to spend around 1,800 $US.

As much as I think it's fun to own the latest and greatest, the reality is that I don't need a lot of computing firepower, and that the latest and greatest only remains so for a few months.

For those who need the latest and greatest for productivity reasons though, it's probably well worth the money.

Well, the T41p is about $5529, so I guess it is a bit overpriced, relatively.

http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/store ... logId=-124

You can build a high-end desktop with top of the line everything, including a 4x or 8x DVD burner, and anything else you might want for processor-intensive operations for $2500 and use a $2.2K (both figures USD, not Loonies) Thinkpad for lugging around. (Not that I'm doing that... I'm getting one of Bills incoming top-end T42ps). People who are used to the 4x or 8x burners in desktops will be shocked at how slow the 2x burners that come with the T42 will seem.

I do wonder whether ANYONE has ever had to burn a DVD on the road. Since I started lugging CD burners around (in my A21p, I think) I have had to burn exactly two CDs when I was traveling, and now that there are USB2.0/firewire portable HDDs I doubt that I would have to burn CDs on the road-ever. Someone to whom I wanted to transfer big files would take them off the external USB2.0 HDD, although I suppose that there are company adminstrators who use group policy to stop road warriors from accessing external HDDs but not DVD disks.

Anyway, in a gesture of fiscal rationality I am not having my firm buy me the DVD burner in my new T42p and am getting "only" the CD-RW/DVD-ROM optical drive, saving $200 before Bill's discount.

Probably burning dvd for backups only, when you have a large files.
As for cd-rw/dvd combo II, it is faster than the DVD-RW drive, for both reading and burning CDs.

I top out at 2000 for any laptop. Hardware loses its value so fast now days, its not worth going over that in my opinion. No mater what you buy or how much you spend, it will be outdated in a year.

a buying sceanario i used to use was to buy the top of the line just when the next top of the line arrived..

excellent discounts and the difference is often trivial..

computers, cars, women, whatever..