Thinkpads Forum

Hi,
Experts,
Trying to upgrade from old horse T21. Is there any difference between two family?
Like build quality, reliability, mobo chip set, video card, etc.
TIA,
Tony

Both a great machines. I think the Z series is geared more toward multimedia applications, while the T series is (and has been) geared toward the business user.

Doesn't the Z60 have a wide-screen? If you plan to watch a lot of movies on your laptop, this might be a consideration. Not sure if you meant to type T60 ?? If so, that gives you dual-processor options.

I had a T20, then a T23, and recently got a T43. I'm very happy.

As far as spec differences, try the Lenovo website: http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/en/ (US site) You can compare different systems side-by-side.

go with T43. Z is.... yuck.

haven't you read on Lenovo's website?

because of its POPULARITY Z series might have some shipping delays.

Smart way to praise itself, buddy.

Z-series has SATA drives. T43 uses PATA drives. Z-series is wide screen 553 mhz bus.

You can check the hardware specs at http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Hardware_Specifications

The Z-series is the first TPs made by Lenovo. The keyboard is notorious for finally implementing Windows keys, which some of us detest. Some come with Celeron (yuck!) processors. Wimpy video which use system RAM; many models have a 1280x800 resolution. Some fit and finish issues might also concern you (they may've corrected them since I saw 3 of them last year) - some of the buttons are blue, some silver, causing an inexplicable (and IMHO sloppy) mismatch. The Z60s I saw were also very chunky. Not nearly as portable as T4x's.

Finally, aside from the widescreen ratio, there isn't much "better" than the T43 (imho). The new T60 has a duo-core processor, which might appeal to you. Really, unless you're ga-ga for a 16:9 screen, compare T43s with T60s in your price range.

Oh, a final differentiator: some of the Z60s I saw came with Verizon WWAN built-in ... but you had to subscribe to Verizon to use it.

What's your budget?

Oh, and the Z60 was in development by IBM long before Lenovo took over.

Why not go for the T42 that is right now on anniversary sale for $1099? Many consider the T42 series better than the T43.

T42 is better than T43 , dont see any evidence for that I think the only thing that is better in the T42 is that its quiet, because the T43 has fan problems. T43 has an newer chipset, DDR2, PCI-Express graphics so the T43 is one generation above the T42.

But an high end T42 is still an super computer for almost every use, the T43 is simply better.

Z or T series?
I say T series

I have both, and they are very different computers for different uses. Side by side the build quality between the T & Z is nearly identical. The T uses a higher grade of materials for the case as opposed to the type of material in the Z. They are both very nice laptops. I chose models that do not have the EVDO Verizon antenna, or fingerprint readers. The best way to choose the model for you is to go to this link. It lists every ThinkPad currently available.

http://www5.pc.ibm.com/us/me.nsf/webdoc ... tabook.pdf

Ervin wrote:Why not go for the T42 that is right now on anniversary sale for $1099? Many consider the T42 series better than the T43.

this is true. T42 has much better battery life and isn't a bit slower.

They made a lot of mistakes with T43 by trying to fit in that new generation of Pentium M.

Ervin wrote:Why not go for the T42 that is right now on anniversary sale for $1099? Many consider the T42 series better than the T43.

It's actually $999 right now