T41 Upgrade

[Hooday]

Well, my venerable t41 is looking, (and feeling,) fairly long in the tooth. We are in the market for an upgrade.

Up front, the T41 has been, without question, the best laptop I've ever used, (with many Dells, HPs, and a couple Toshibas for reference.) It even rivals the best desktops, in terms of functionality and capability. It is rock solid, market wise, and has never given me any trouble whatever. The original battery is still going strong, and there are no major issues whatever.

However, the keys have gotten glazed, there is a thin piece of plastic missing from under the right mouse button, the battery case got cracked a month ago and my battery life is on the wane. The worst issues are the paltry 40GB HD, and the Pentium M CPU with 1GB of RAM. That's just not cutting it these days. Still, for 7-8 year old technology, its pretty hard to argue with a winner here.

My next laptop WILL be a Thinkpad.

I like the overall size and weight of the t41. No issues there whatever. I don't need anything lighter or thinner, (and tend to think those slimline notebooks are not as durable.)

Where do I need to be looking? I've done some research, but I really wanted to get the feedback of some loyal t41 users before I made my choice.

I basically want the t41 with a much larger HD, more RAM, a faster CPU, and that's about it. I definitely don't need Win7/Vista, as I prefer XP, (and will be hating it when MS gives it up one day.)

I wouldn't mind doing some video/audio/graphic editing on it, and running QB is a need. MS Office is a constant companion, but not Outlook.

Where would you recommend I look?

[Neil]

What kind of display do you want? And, are you looking for new, or a newer used ThinkPad?

[Hooday]

15" has always done me fine. Wider is better, but wider . . . Can be a hassle to tote.

I've always done well with a 2-year old, off-lease laptop. Its usually been lightly used, comes with a bit of warranty, and has some decent software on board. Ebay will be my source. I'm just looking for a good recommend.

Budget is under $400.

[indicium]

I upgraded from a T41 to a T410, 2 year ago and am very happy with the choice. One of my main conserns was going from a 4:3 display to the wide screen format, the T410 with its 16:10 was an intemediate move and not a big jump to 16:9. I have the Intel i5-520 processor (2.4 GHz) and have been satisfied with its performance. The T410 came with 2 GB of ram which was fine for a couple of months then I added a 4 GB SODIMM for 6 GB with an upgrade to 64 bit Win 7 and finally added another 4 GB to max it out at 8 GB. Last year I added a 750 GB HD to more support Virtual Machines. My display is 1280x800 which is good but you may want to look at 1440x900.

If Ihad to do it over, I'd still get this T410 again.

I am however looking at upgrading to a W520 only because of the need for RAM. VM's and RDMS's require lots of memory and the W520 can hold 32 GB.

[Hooday]

Just a little note to clarify, I REALLY love my t41. A real road warrior that bespeaks the best of what the Thinkpad line is all about.

I did have to have the unit "reballed" regarding the graphics chip about 2 years ago, but the guy out of Chicago did a great job and I haven't had any issues with it since then.

Sadly, its just time to upgrade, (sigh.) Once I find something I like, I tend to stick with it a long time, and DON'T like to have to upgrade every year or so "just because," (Panasonic cordless, are you listening?)

[pianowizard]

Where would you recommend I look?

I recommend a T61 with Intel graphics and 1400x1050 resolution. It would feel pretty similar to your T41, but much more powerful and probably sturdier.

[Hooday]

I was SUPER pleased with the T41 when I first got it 4.5 years ago. Like I said, "rock solid, market wise." Everything was so well thought out and THERE. I've always been super impressed. (Even made peace with the stupid Fn key to the LEFT of the Ctrl key.)

I do not run games, latest greatest apps, or cutting edge anything. This is a mobile workstation for me, and I run my company off of it 65% of the time. (Dropbox and Gmail keep me synced.) Office apps, some photo software, QB, Bible program, that's about it. I don't need screaming this or that, as middle of the road performance has usually suited me fine.

That said, and knowing how long these babies last, I might be tempted to go a bit higher in my performance schedule and get something that will last me at least 5 years. So, the T410 is a good idea.

However, I despise Vista/Win7, and want to hold onto XP for as long as possible. (Tell me when MS makes an OS that doesn't make me feel like a 7 year old when I run it. I've been doing computers for longer than most techies have been alive, and I really don't like being made to feel like an idiot just running an OS.)

The T410 seems geared for the 64-bit world, and I see no great need for it, personally. 32-bit has gotten me pretty far down the road, and since I won't be running dual monitors with this thing, basic multi-tasking seems to suit the bill.

On the other hand, I do lots and lot of typing, so glazing a keyboard happens sooner rather than later. I can deal with slippery keys, but when the rest of the unit starts showing its age with pokey performance, you know its time to bite the bullet and get a new(er) one.

Thanks for the input, guys. Any final comments would be greatly appreciated.