notebook, or a tablet?

[eigh]

this notebook will be one that i am purchasing in a month for this next school year. dont look at the cost, money is not a deciding factor here.



wow, i just cant decide which one to get:

ThinkPad T43
266875U
http://www-131.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/s...&catalogId=-840

or


ThinkPad X41 (tablet)
W7TABLP
http://www-131.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/s...&catalogId=-840



basicly, it comes down to getting a tablet, or a powerhouse awesome notebook.


why i want tablet:
1. writing on comp/pen as input (cool id like to try it)
2. 4 pounds, super light weight
3. 8 hours of battery life if tweaked (stuff throtled back)
4. not much of any video card so i wouldnt get distracted gaming on it

reasons not to get tablet:
1. no video power what so ever
2. only comes in 1.5ghz for now, (even though cpu would be limited to save battery life so max cpu wouldnt be used often)
3. never tried a tablet pc, am i going to hate it (i seem to have myself convinced that i wont hate writing on it)
4. no optical bay (install an os or something, how? going to need a backup plan or something)




why i want SUpaR notebook:
1. more cpu power than my 3 year old comp
2. has dvd burner (desktop doesnt)
3. still not bad carrying around, not 4 pounds, but 4.5 (oh no, anohter .5lbs)
4. the hd isnt a small [censored] 1.8" drive (1.8" ones are small, slow, expensive and very limited, only 40gb or 60gb in size)
5. 14" screen instead of tiny 12" on tablet

why not to get notebook:
1. battery life isnt as good, 5-7 hours at BEST
2. dont NEED super mobile power
3. dont NEED anything past integrated video really (anything more and i would game on it. gaming on it wouldnt be bad, but i wouldnt be to happy if i couldnt play ANYTHING on it)




side notes: other catagories not mentioned either dont matter, or are the same between the two (lan, wifi, etc). while i dont like the 1.8" hd in the tablet, i probobly wouldnt swap it out for the 60gb one (its like 150 for that little drive. on a desktop, 150 can get you like 300gb).


tablet, or seri0s notebook?

[emorphien]

ey, I just saw this somewhere!

[eigh]

LOL i suppose you have .




(i still value your response in the other thread, thank you!!!)

[Aroc]

I vote for the tablet (or at least an ultralight).

• You don't need or want SXGA+, UXGA, or QXGA resolution

• You don't need an optical drive (and you really don't when you are in class. No, you don't. How often will you need it? Really.

• You don't need 3D acceleration (CAD/CAM work)

• Lighter and smaller

• Better battery life

Really, IMO if you don't need SXGA+ or an optical drive, don't bother with the T4x-series. Get the X4x-series, and if you still need ubar-drive+_speed, get the X32 with a 7200 rpm hitachi.

And the ocassional time you need a DVD writer or more HDD space, get USB or firewire drives and use them when at your home/office/dorm. OR get the ultrabay or media slic dock, if price is not a problem (I would prefer to dock it).

[jonnnny]

i vote for the tablet for the coolness factor
and really, if money isn't a factor... get both!! haha

[eigh]

the "money is not a factor" is for ONE notebook, not two of them.


nice thought though .

[sugo]

If the new laptop is your primary computer (replacing your desktop), I would vote for T4x. I tried a 12.1" ultraportable as my main machine. I kept finding myself having the need for the optical drive. It's also so much more enjoyable to watch video on a larger screen.

If you travel a lot with the new laptop, then it might be a tough call.

[jhonyl]

There is an interesting debate about this topic "Why did YOU choose the X Series ?" at:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=12523

It is from the 'ThinkPad X Series incl. X41 Tablet' forum. I think it may be a good idea to look at that forum, and see what is on the X owners mind.

[eigh]

ya, im looking at it right now. now my debate has come down to portable, or ultra portable .

[a31pguy]

In my closet of ancient hardware is:

a sharp PV6000 tripad (windows CE).
a fujitsu LT600 Pentop (Penitum 233).
an original Palm Pilot, a Palm III, and Palm V, a wireless palm
a Compaq Ipaq 3600, 3700, and 3800.

All of these attest to the less than stellar useful life of mobile devices using a pen. Primarily because to run the screen takes so much battery life that it defeats the whole purpose of mobile computing.

I'd take the laptop instead of the convertible pentop for now.

[aamsel]

Interesting:

I came down to the EXACT same two products for my most recent Thinkpad purchase, and I decided on the 266875U T43 and not the tablet.

I am not a student but, here you go:

I have been contemplating a convertible tablet for about a year or so. When IBM/Lenovo announced theirs, I was sure that this would be what I want.

However, here are the cons of the tablet, in my opinion:
1.) No optical drive. You may think that you will rarely use it, but if you don't get one, you will at some point need one. Yes, you can "share out" an optical drive from another system that you are networked to, but that won't work for everything. If you ever wanted to watch a movie, you would have to rip it to your hard drive to watch it on the tablet. Or, if you get an external DVD burner/reader, you are going to have the tablet and the external drive and a bunch of cables to deal with. Not good.

2.) No trackpad on the tablet or any X series. Not a big deal to many "trackpoint lovers" here, but I am not one of them. Don't really love trackpads either, just prefer them.

3.) KEYBOARD. THIS IS THE BIG DIFFERENCE TO ME. The X series has the "97 percent of T series size" keyboard. You may think that the 3 percent smaller key size makes little or no difference, but I strongly disagree. The "legendary" T series keyboard is awesome. It made the Thinkpad what the Thinkpad is today. The T series is the bulk of Thinkpad sales worldwide. The X series have fine keyboards, but being smaller, even by 3 percent, makes them far less enjoyable to type on. Oh, I can type on them just fine, but, if I was a student, and planned to type on my notebook a lot, I would only consider the full-sized T series keyboard. This, to me, is the biggest difference between the two units.

4.) Screen. Keep in mind, I have not seen the Thinkpad X41 Tablet, but I have seen a Motion M1400 with the same exact Hydis panel that Lenovo is using. First off...the Hydis panel that is being used on the X41 Tablet is an awesome panel. It has 180 degree viewing angles in all directions. The 14.1" SXGA+ T43 panels do not compare in this regard. However, being a Tablet PC, there is an extra layer added to the screen for the pen interface, and this extra layer detracts from the viewability of the tablet when used in notebook mode. Also (and this is the big deal to me), the Hydis Tablet PC panels are more reflective than the matte finish on the 14.1" T43's.
More reflective=more glare=more eyestrain over time.
If you are a student looking to use this machine for hours and hours, your eyes will have less fatigue looking at the 14.1" SXGA+ panel. Also, 12.1" is just small, any way you slice it. Yes, the text is XGA which is ok, but I think that people would be less likely to work for long periods of time off any smaller screen. The 14.1" SXGA+ is far more useable, even for someone with less than perfect eyesight like me. With more pixels, it is far less pixelated than the 12.1" XGA screen (or any XGA screen). What that means is that the text on the SXGA+ screen looks much less like it is made out of dots than the XGA does. Better put, the SXGA+ text is smoother, and True Type actually works with it. It doesn't work with XGA.
Less pixels=a more pixelated look.

Those are my primary thoughts on the subject.
Again, I considered these exact models, and chose a T43.

Also, the 266875U is perhaps the best value currently available.

I hope this helps you.

Andrew
Austin, TX