Thinkpads Forum

Could you guys give me a canned cheat sheet on the above?

I know Rs are the cheap ones?

T - Flagship line so to speak. Tops in terms of speed, size/weight and can be configured to a reasonable price, available in 14" and 15". Reasonable for a top of the line laptop anway...

R - If you buy the regular processors (non-celerons) these are much of the same hardware as the T line but in weightier packaging. Best buy for an average laptop.

A - This is an older line I'm not really familiar with and it's no longer available for retail. They also had G a desktop replacement (which has sadly disappeared in the last 6 months), the new Z (brand new widescreens), and X tablet.

X - is the mini line 13"ish screen, the x32 and the new x60's being the best bets for speed but none of these come with ROMs by default so need a base station, external CD/DVD ROM, or some such. With the extra components they get pricey but if you want small, these rock. They also include the tablet line as part of the X series but right now it's just the X41.

The R series come in two variants.

The regular (R51 and R52) is much like the T series, as the previous poster said. The reduced cost versions (R50e and R51e) have hardware differences:

R50e is like R50 or R51, but without Ultrabay, Active Protection, UltraNav, and the docking connector. R51e is like R50e, but uses ATI X200M chipset, so it's like an entirely new series.

There's no R52e yet.

They also had G a desktop replacement (which has sadly disappeared in the last 6 months)

Nothing sad about that piece of junk disappearing.

R50e is like R50 or R51, but without Ultrabay, Active Protection, UltraNav, and the docking connector.

Also no built-in mic, a mono speaker, nothing over XGA, no dedicated video (I think). Kinda crippled.

Oh yah, some models of R50e use the 855GM chipset so will only run the RAM at 266 MHz (PC2100).

If going with the R series definitely go with the R51.

As for the G it was a brick, to be sure, with an additional brick for a power supply, but it was/is a desktop replacement with a full pentium and certainly not meant to be an extremely portable unit. Anyway, for the price they were a nice option/alternative for powerful unit in a small space.

Yes, the R series is definately a nice unit, you'll have no regrets. I much prefer mine to my work issued Dell Latitude which cost substantially more. And for modern models they are a pound or so (maybe a little more depending on model) heavier than the T series. So not that much difference if you travel infrequently (in my opinion).

Good luck...

dr_st wrote:

They also had G a desktop replacement (which has sadly disappeared in the last 6 months)

Nothing sad about that piece of junk disappearing.

The disapearence of the G series was sad (to me) and they were big and heavy but they were just as good as the other ThinkPad's (and I used a G series ThinkPad before).

thePCxp wrote:The disapearence of the G series was sad (to me) and they were big and heavy but they were just as good as the other ThinkPad's (and I used a G series ThinkPad before).

The Z60m seems to be a bit like the G series. Big but not that heavy, and relatively cheap too.

To clear things on the A series, it was really a wildcard. There were models such as the A20p, A21p, A22p, A30p and A31p that were geared at being mobile workstaitons/desktop replacements and could have the T series counterparts trumped in the benchmarks anyday. I've even seen some P model A2x's with the rubberized lid, something IBM only does with their high end models. There are also the E model A2x's that were bargain basement though the A22e shared the smae chassis as the T2x. There was also the M model A2x's that were essentially the early version of the R series.

Unless you can't really afford the difference, i would rather go with the cheaper t40/t41 that you can afford and skip the R altogether. It's really the best laptop ever made and can be upgraded .. and upgraded ..

marcos wrote:Unless you can't really afford the difference, i would rather go with the cheaper t40/t41 that you can afford and skip the R altogether. It's really the best laptop ever made and can be upgraded .. and upgraded ..

And what's wrong with the R series? They are just as good as the T series.

thePCxp wrote:And what's wrong with the R series? They are just as good as the T series.

They aren't as slim and light. Other than that, they are just as good, and I'd go with a modern R (non-crippled) over an older T anyday. Then again, I will invest in a modern T anyday.

I've been wondering why people kept saying the T series are lighter than the R series when there doesn't seem to be much weight difference to me. Turns out I just got a R52 and it's actually much heavier than the R51 that I've been using. (Both are 14.1" models.)

The R52 is 1.73 GHz and weighs a bit over 2.7 kg, the R51 is 1.5 GHz and weighs about 2.55 kg. The brochures lists both models as having identical 2.7 kg travel weight, but this is obviously not true for the R52. I see that the T42 and T43 are listed as having 2.3 kg travel weight.

Opening up the keyboard I find the R52 has a huge heatsink (fan assembly) that covers both the CPU and the northbridge, the R51's heatsink only covers the CPU. I swapped the wireless LAN cards between the two notebooks (Intel vs. Atheros) and it was a bit hard to plug in the antenna on the R52 since the antenna has to go around the heatsink on the northbridge making it a bit too short...

Laptops like the R Series have most of their weight coming from stuff like the heatsink; at least on most of the models I have seen. Whichever one that is best for you depends on what you are going to be doing with it.

Interestingly enough; PCWorld rated the T4X Series the Best Desktop Replacement and the R Series the Best Laptop; which I think is flipped from the way that IBM/Lenovo and most users see them. Yet it does make a fair amount of sense if you think about it, just don't think about it too much.

Unless you can't really afford the difference, i would rather go with the cheaper t40/t41 that you can afford and skip the R altogether. It's really the best laptop ever made and can be upgraded .. and upgraded ..

That is also true of the R series models (not ending in "e"). For example, I've added a 7200 RPM hard disk to my R40, a Cisco mini-pci wireless card and upgraded to 2 gig of ram. I have ultrabay 2000 access so I can swap my dvd/cdrw for an optional second battery, zip drive or whatever and if I wanted to void my warranty I could upgrade the processor.

I don't feel like I've been shorted on upgradability with this R model over, say a T series model. I also tend to think a new R (not ending in "e") is a better deal than a used T for the same money, generally speaking.

From my perspective from when I was a departmental IT buyer, I saw the different models as spec'd for different types of users.

X Series Ultra-lights for "road warrior" type users that travel all the time and really were happy to give up some amenities for the weight savings.

A/R Series Desktop Replacements for workers who just needed a machine that could be put away and occassionally travel or someone who needed the specialized "workstation" specs that a machine like the A30/31p provided.

T Series for users that traveled fairly often, but used their machines for a variety of tasks.

Currently, I use a T23 that goes back and forth to work with me most days and virtually all trips, whereas my wife uses an A30 that stays home almost all the time, but she loves the larger screen at XGA resolution that makes everything appear much larger.

The last laptops I bought at my previous job were the Rs and Ts. I had finally convinced my employers to allow me to move them away from Dells (Latitude C Series 6xx and 8xx). The service was stellar, but the build quality was nowhere near the ThinkPads I was used to. I considered the G series, but immediately eliminated them when my research turned up that they were contracted to IBM by Quanta (of Taiwan), the same company that does Dell! Although, many people have good luck with Dells/Quantas, I was not willing to put more stress on my small support staff to save a couple of hundred dollars per unit. Take it for what it's worth.

christopher_wolf wrote: Interestingly enough; PCWorld rated the T4X Series the Best Desktop Replacement and the R Series the Best Laptop; which I think is flipped from the way that IBM/Lenovo and most users see them.

I concluded years ago that most computing magazine writers are more journalist than Computing "expert" and that anything other than software and hardware "tips" must be digested with skepticism.

The major advertisers drive these magazines and their writers, not consumers. For instance, the big four ("Byte" was number one & Computer Shopper was a major player then) magazines had nothing but praise and awards for Gateway. Gateway always carried very fancy multi-page ads in every issue of the top five magazines. When the Gateway founder stepped down, the new CEO dramatically cut advertising and the magazines suddenly discovered Gateway service was very wanting and the quality was not so hot either.