Which ThinkPad should i buy?

[JohnPaul2]

Hello, i have 280 pound to spend and i thought of buying a laptop, and as i know thinkpads are one of the best laptops i chose to buy thinkpad but i have a dillema i dont know which would be the best for my budget. I was thinking t400 t61 x220 but other models like t420 or 410 also seem reasonable. i dont know, please help, maybe you suggest other models

[brchan]

T420:
-mid size machine
-1600x900 resolution screen is OK quality. 1366x768 is garbage
-good power and performance relative to its size
-Solidly built and reliable
-discrete gpu option

T410:
-slower version of T420 (though still competent) but in 16:10 ratio form
-max screen resolution is 1440x900. Screen is OK

X220:
-Built for portability
-Smaller screen can be tiring to use for longer periods of time depending on who you are
-1366x768 resolution. IPS display version is decent. You can tell the difference by the color, contrast, and most notably, the viewing angles in pictures.
-No lid latches
-Antenna strip at the top of lid may separate over time (not sure if it has been fixed)
-Performance is <= T420 depending on CPU options, but integrated graphics only

T61:
-Performance is good for basic tasks such as web browsing, programming, and email. Ones with higher spec'd processors (T9300) can still be usable for light development work (android studio) and video processing.
-loose hinges
-Hinges on 4:3 14.1" and widescreen 15.4" models may snap.
-Nvidia GPUs may fail if build date is not 08/08 or newer.

T400:
-usb port tabs may snap off with hard use
-basically the widescreen only version of T61 with some cosmetic updates and slightly better performance.

IMO, skip the T61 and T400. Performance may become an issue in a few years, and there isn't anything that stands out in them. I would go for the T420, personally.

[ZaZ]

If you don't say anything about what you want or need, it makes it hard to help. If you plan to keep this a while, I'd personally say Sandy Bridge, which is now four years old, is as low as you want to go.

I never found the X220 screen to be tiring. It offers a palatable 125 pixel density and if you can get the IPS, it's nice to look at for hours. Granted, you can't fit as much on the screen, though the ease of scrolling on the stick helps mitigate that, but I'd rather have it on an ultraportable than an amped up resolution screen with very small text, which is far more likely to be tiring.

[JonathanGennick]

Hello, i have 280 pound to spend and i thought of buying a laptop, and as i know thinkpads are one of the best laptops i chose to buy thinkpad but i have a dillema i dont know which would be the best for my budget. I was thinking t400 t61 x220 but other models like t420 or 410 also seem reasonable. i dont know, please help, maybe you suggest other models

I wouldn't go back further than the 410. If you go with a T400, then I believe you're constrained to just 4GB of RAM. The T410 can take 8GB.

I would lean toward a newer model like at T420 or T430. Get as new as you can reasonably buy within your budget.

[ajkula66]

I wouldn't go back further than the 410. If you go with a T400, then I believe you're constrained to just 4GB of RAM. The T410 can take 8GB.

Nope, T400 will take 8GB as well. I would agree that T410 is a better system generally speaking.

I would lean toward a newer model like at T420 or T430. Get as new as you can reasonably buy within your budget.

To me personally T420 is somewhat of a sweet spot since it sports both Sandy Bridge architecture and a conventional 7-row keyboard. However, if one doesn't care about the keyboard layout, a T430 is a good pick as well.

[oboogie]

Apologies in advance if I'm off topic for this post. But I'm just *beginning* to look at a new ThinkPad.

[I'm browsing the outlet store & searching for basic hardware info, woefully behind the times, w/ >13 yr. old R51]
Am I correct, the latest i5 & i7 Intel chips, in Thinkpads, are known as 'Haswell'? (expecting newest Intel generation rollout sometime soon)
Do all these current i5, i7 Haswell's have the virtualization feature?

If not, how to discern in the Lenovo line?

Currently eyeing the T440S/P

[ajkula66]

Am I correct, the latest i5 & i7 Intel chips, in Thinkpads, are known as 'Haswell'? (expecting newest Intel generation rollout sometime soon)

Actually, the latest generation (T450s, W550s...) sports Broadwell architecture.

Do all these current i5, i7 Haswell's have the virtualization feature?

If not, how to discern in the Lenovo line?

Look up the particular CPU on Intel's website.

Currently eyeing the T440S/P

I would *strongly* suggest testing one in person before making a purchase, since there were quite a few users who hated the TouchPad/TrackPoint setup on the *40 generation to the point that Lenovo (somewhat) reverted the design on the *50 platform.

Happy shopping.

[Puppy]

on the *40 generation to the point that Lenovo (somewhat) reverted the design on the *50 platform

The somewhat tag is imporant. It is actually not the same trackpoint buttons design it used to be till *20 generation.

[Ibthink]

The somewhat tag is imporant. It is actually not the same trackpoint buttons design it used to be till *20 generation.

And what does that mean if I may ask you? The TrackPoint-button design was always a thing of change. T4x had different buttons than T6x, the T400 had different buttons than T410/T420.

The new TrackPoint-button design works just like the old one - no if´s and but´s.

[oboogie]

psref.lenovo.com : product specs; 05/15

http://www.lenovo.com/psref/psrefs_withdrawn.shtml : withdrawn product specs reference