#4
Post
by TuuS » Wed Mar 20, 2013 10:32 am
The 14" widescreen models are the most affordable and the Intel graphic system is common on them, but most are low-end systems. Another low cost option would be to pickup a high-end nVidia system that's failed and put an Intel board in it. You can often get them for less then the cost of a high-end cpu and screen, then once you have a bug free board in it, you're good to go, usually at a cost less then buying the Intel system and upgrading, but if you don't need a high-end system, then just grab a common low-end system and use it for what it is, they will easily run win7 quite well regardless of the options, most are at least a 1.8ghz core2 cpu, but even that can be stepped up a notch or two for less then $10.
The 14.1 Standard models are also very popular, the most powerful 4:3 system lenovo made, but they generally cost much more then the widescreens. They are also available with intel graphics, but also usually low-end systems, or nVidia, but unlike the widescreen models, the 4:3 production was discontinued before the nVidia gpu problem was solved. Until last week there were no reliable nVidia boards available for these but there are now some brand new original IBM (nos) boards with the new gpu chips listed in the marketplace here, or if you can find an nVidia system that has never failed and well cared for, then it's not likely to fail, but the risk will always be there on the older gpu chips. Of course you can always convert one to Intel grapics.
The 15.4" widescreen models didn't often have Intel graphics and the ones that did were of course low-end, but there were some very rare special order systems with Penryn cpu chips, this would be a great option if you wanted to build a high end system, but expect to pay considerably more then the smaller models. I've parted out many of these rare systems to fill orders for 15.4 system boards with Intel graphics and penryn support which are commonly used to convert high-end T61p systems with nVidia failure.
Another option you can consider is an R61, they are equal to the T61 in performance, slightly thicker and perhaps a bit sturdier. One thing I like about this model is they don't have the rubberized surface so things like stickers used on the lids by corporations don't cause damage, but be careful because there are many different types of R61, some like the R61e or R61i don't support the same cpu chips and others don't support things like firewire/touchpad etc, but the better R61 models are a good option.
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