Thinkpads Forum

Hi, I need to buy a new laptop for my significant other and business partner.

She is pretty hard on laptops physically, taking them around to clients' offices and other impromptu workspaces. She also types really hard.

In the past decade we've switched from Toshibas to ThinkPad T-series because the hardware quality and general durability seemed superior with the ThinkPad T series. We try to get 3 years out of each laptop, and with the T series this has been possible, though we have used the extended warranty/thinkpad protection (which we always buy) to make this happen.

She's also somewhat demanding in terms of performance. Though she just uses MS Office most of the time (no video editing or anything) she has a lot of documents open all the time and lots of Firefox tabs too. Yes, there are behavioral ways to manage memory and performance in these situations but her nature is just to charge ahead and expect the machine to work! To work best with her clients' systems, she needs to be on Windows 7 professional.

Currently she's on a 15.4" T61. She wants a smaller lighter machine.

We're looking at the 13" thinkpad Edge and the 12.1" X201. The Edge is consistently cheaper and actually comes in a color (red), which is good for her. But the X201 has the "roll cage" and (it seems) better hardware specs. I can't figure out if the Edge has bluetooth or not, which is good for her but not a dealbreaker.

Any recommendations? I really don't know too much about hardware specs. Typically I'm using Linux and don't need as "hot" a machine to do my work as people on Windows do.

Thanks!

Going from a 15.4" widescreen to a 12.1 or 13.3" widescreen is a significant downsizing. You might want to consider the T410s or T410si, both the same format machines. They are 14.1" high resolution (WSXGA+) widescreens and weigh just under 4 lbs. with a built in webcam, optical drive and six cell battery.

Since you didn't mention price range or battery life requirements, it's tough to say that it's a perfect fit. However, it is a fine machine. They start in the low teens and can be optioned up to over 2K. Main cost drivers are SSD and warranty duration/type.

Configured with a Gobi WWAN mobile broadband adapter, you can select from AT&T, Sprint and Verizon with AT&T and Verizon offering activations for even one day.

These are awesome all-around machines. Under 4 lbs. was not a typo, I weighed a couple myself.

Thanks, underclocker. One reason we are considering the somewhat smaller machines is that external monitors are cheap and easy to come by. We have or can buy external monitors to leave at her main clients' space and her coworking space.

While cost IS a factor, we need to buy something fast and durable enough that it'll last 3 years. So we rarely end up getting the cheapest thing out there. But I'm kind of out of the loop as far as what hardware specs are necessary for Windows 7 systems these days, as I myself am on a different OS.

Battery life is not the biggest issue, since there are usually plugs where she works. If she could get two or three hours of real work out of the battery that would be good.

Assuming all build and material factors are the same, the X would probably be more durable than the T, if anything.

j-dawg wrote:Assuming all build and material factors are the same, the X would probably be more durable than the T, if anything.

why do you say that, j-dawg?

Consider that a sheet of large surface area will experience higher stresses and deflect more than a sheet of the same material but smaller surface area, Then a smaller device made of the same materials and structures would be stiffer and flex less when held by a corner. It would also have less energy to dissipate upon a collision. Thus, the smaller device would stand up to mishandling better than a larger machine.

Of course, this is postulating that the X-series is simply a T-series built two inches smaller, which is not necessarily the case. But I've never used a 15" or 17" laptop that I felt was structurally as sound as the 12" laptops I've used. Design and construction differences obviously have to be taken into account, but I would say that as a rule of thumb, from a mechanics standpoint, a smaller device is tougher than a similar but larger device.

j-dawg wrote:Consider that a sheet of large surface area will experience higher stresses and deflect more than a sheet of the same material but smaller surface area... a smaller device is tougher than a similar but larger device.

I think we're leaning toward the X201 because of reasons like this. Durability and reliability are major factors for this user. The screen size will be a lot smaller than her current T61, but external screens are pretty cheap and reliable now, so putting one in her most frequent workspace should make up the difference. Thanks.

Before I can be responsible for any terrible decisions, let me make the caveat that I haven't owned either of these machines. That said, the X200 series has gotten good reviews as far as build is concerned, and I think it's more or less universally agreed upon that, in that respect, the Edge is not quite up to the level of the other Thinkpad lines.

j-dawg wrote:Before I can be responsible for any terrible decisions...

no worries, the conversation here was just part of the mix.