I've been watching this forum intently for a few days and I would like to thank all of the people here who are so nice to give help and suggestions.

I'm sold on IBM, they look great, now I just can't wait to try one out myself. I will be getting a good deal on them through school and I just can't decide between the 15" UXGA (23737XU) and 14.1" SXGA+ (23733VU) models, with otherwise identical specs apart from graphics card. I'm looking for wireless portability and size, yet I will still do some photoshop and DVD watching as well. I just think the UXGA would be superb in that respect.

So, since I'm indecisive and want a first-hand look (does anyone live in Utah?) I'm considering to purchase both, then decide. Obviously I only need one and so I would want to sell the other. I'm considering Ebay, but perhaps someone here would be interested in purchasing one from me? I would sell it back at my cost, which is about $1k less than list.

Any takers (or buyers, rather)?

or you can just RMA it.

I found the 14" to be bigger than I thought it would. If you go into a store, I'm sure they have 14" and 15" laptops there, not necessarily IBM, but that's how I decided, just compared the screensizes of two HP laptops.

I wish RMA were an option but this is through a catalog seller so I would be charged a 15% restocking fee...I'd much rather save the cash and pass on the deal to another person.

You are right about the 14" they do seem larger than I thought as well. It's just hard to pass up the FlexView without using it first...

Ah, I was about to say, just order through IBM, and there have been other posts about upto 15% discounts, if you look around you'll find them, that's probably the best prices you'll find, or if you check with Bill (who runs this site), he also is a reseller and is really good.

And there is no restocking fee from IBM if you want to RMA it, you can return it within 30 days for any reason at all.

Scot...

I was fairly comfortable with my 14" SXGA+ T21 and I had many of your concerns. I'm a heavy graphics user, usually on a desktop, but I can't bring my dual MP AMD desktop or SGI workstation in the car, so the TP was used to do a lot of transporting, editing, and viewing. My primary PC apps were/are; Visio, Photoshop, Premiere, Corel, & PowerPoint.

On the fun side, the past few years we've gone to a load of Yankee games and we've used our notebooks in the car so two guys can watch a DVD movie on the trip down, and the others can watch it on the way back. Watching a DVD on the 14" screen is really a treat when you consider how small the "personal" video screens are on planes. And the contrast, sharpness, and other stuff are all very acceptable.

I think it's a question of ergonomics (?) which in my book primarily means size and weight. If the 15" machine is much heavier than the 14" machine, I think I go with the 14". But if it's a wash, then I guess it's only money.

You know, you go into Costco and see those Akai and No-Name 42/46 plasma TVs and you're blown away, wish you could get one tomorrow. Truth of the matter is they are not really HDTVs, only enhanced definition TVs. But my point is that the picture is SO good compared to what you're used to, you won't pay much attention to the difference unless you're looking at them side by side, meaning the $8,000 Pioneer vs the $3299 No-Name. I have a friend who has one of the $8,000 Pioneers, and yeah... it's impressive as hell, but that's way too much money to spend on a TV IMHO.

Honestly, I haven't seen or used a flex-view TP and I'm sure it's awesome, but it's also probably out of my league or beyond my priorities. If money is no object, you could simply take the leap and get the latest & greatest adn damm the ergonomics. And how wrong can you go when buying an IBM ThinkPad?

Mike

Hi Scot,

I'm interested in your proposition.

Sent you a p.m.

Jeff

Mike, thank you for your reply. It is nice to hear personal opinions on the matter since I have never owned a laptop before.

The screen upgrade is a $400 addition. Combining that with the extra 1-pound weight and size (and your reference to seeing TV's side by side) I'm thinking it is not necessarily worth it for a college student. But, if others are interested in purchasing the other one I will go ahead with my plan, can't lose eh?

Scot, I think your biggest deciding factor should be whether you want the Flexview display or not. A couple of my colleagues have T40s and I think that the 14" screen is plenty big enough. It's the perfect balance between screen size and portability. However, I got the 15" UXGA display because it's an IPS display and has significantly better brightness and contrast. Honestly, I am really impressed with the weight and form factor of the 15" model...it's really not that much bigger at all. So to get the Flexview display, it was worth getting the slightly bigger model.

But what I really wanted was a 14" Flexview display...that would have been perfect!

Mofongo

Since you said portability is a concern, why not save the $400 and get a 19" CRT for home use? It will beat any laptop LCDs in terms of color, contrast, refresh rates.

Now I'm really having trouble deciding. The Flexview sounds worth it, but that's not a bad idea about getting a second monitor. Thank you all for your opinions, it is giving me important things to consider that I had not seen (haha) before.