Thinkpads Forum

Hi gang, I need a couple of recommendations.

1. My father has asked me to get him a laptop for word processing and web browsing. He will not be traveling with it (except maybe by car), so weight is not an issue.

My target price is in the $300 range with OS (Win2k or XP) loaded or COA (full factory load is not necessary). I have in mind something with the horsepower of a T22 or T23 and a 15" XGA display. What model would that be?

2. There's a refurb seller who has gotten high marks in the forum, but I can't remember his name. Perhaps he's in North Carolina?

Thanks for info.

Nolo

If you need 15" and can't move down to a 14" I'd say to get an A3x or possibly an R4x. If you can make do with a 14" XGA however, the T series are much nicer machines with a T23 or high-end T22 in your price range.

Is he going to use it as a desktop replacement or will he need to carry it around? If it needs to be portable, then I would avoid the A and the R series because they are quite heavy. I just bought a 7.3-pound A31p (or around 8 pounds if you include the AC adapter) and had to carry it from home to work (a 10-minute walk) and it was not a pleasant experience. Get a T series instead, which is usually just over 5 lbs.

Sorry, forgot to mention that the most he will be carrying it is room to room in the house.

I recommend an R50 or R51 with 15" LCD, if you can find it.

Some sell on eBay in the $300 range. These are modern, with Pentium M or Celeron M cpu's, USB2.0, wifi antennas built-in (and often G cards), etc. Some are still under warranty. The Celeron models can be upgraded for under $20 to a Pentium M - that's how little Banias cpu's sell for now.

If you can't find one, the 15" A3x's or A2x's will work, and are in or under the $300 mark.

Nolonemo wrote:Sorry, forgot to mention that the most he will be carrying it is room to room in the house.

I see. In that case, you can get the most bang for the buck with the A and the R series. The A31p that I bought recently for $428 has a UXGA display, and a T series with such a screen would cost twice as much. But of course, you are interested in buying one with an XGA display, which would be much cheaper than the one I got.

get a A31P Built like a tank and have power to spare

mine has a 60 gig 7200rpm hard drive
and 2gig of ram
with the 1600 x 1200 res screen
it can still hold its own with most of the laptops for sale today