my T43 - my review

[kl]

my dear thinkpad groupies,

my thinkpad is finally here!!! here is a review along with some random thoughts...

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first, for those of you who like really short reviews...here it is:
WOW!!

& now for the others...

i bought the thinkpad after some intense OCD-based research.
i finally decided on the 2668-75U. under the employee purchase program (brother works as a slave for IBM), it worked out to be around US$1700.
(& no i cannot share his id, in the interest of not wanting to make my brother an only child).

i orderd the unit @ 16:00 on 7/5/2005 & got it @ 9:00 on 7/8/2005. it shipped from hongkong. i paid $0.0 for ground shipping and got it in 2.5 days. am impressed. am very impressed. you too should not pay extra for faster shipping. from what i understand, there is no such thing as international-ground shipping, its all express:-)

onto the thinkpad:

me like:

- the pictures do not do this justice! it is a thing of beauty! (& hopeully a joy forever, past the warranty period)
- the fit and finish are awesome! its understated elegance is understated.
- everything works! its fast!
- the IBM update program is fantastic!
- no bad pixies on my display (woohoo!)
- the fingerprint sensor is very neat. now you can give the finger to your laptop and have it acknowledge it;-)

me no like:

- the DVD writer is S..L..O..W!!
- the missing windows key...yes i knew about it going in & yes i've configured the right-alt key....still:)
- there was no "windows xp" CD provided. what gives people??

some observations regarding a couple of things i wanted to know before i bought my unit:

- the fan seems like its always on!! it does not bother me much, & no it will not get you kicked out of a library, but nevertheless...its there...
- after about 3 hours of use, the bottom is a tad warm. its concentrated & around the bottom of the "c" key. but its not bad. i was worried about this, but now its a non-issue for me.
=> although gentlemen plz note: it might be less of an issue for me as i have already had my kids;-)

one thing i did not know about the thinkpad, even after all my research!:
- on the keypad, there are dedicated buttons to go forward and backward on your web-browser! very kewl!

for those that are in the process of deciding on a thinkpad, here were some of my other choices and rejection reasons:

dell 700m: great price!
BUT: no built-in microphone. slower.

fujitsu s7020D: has all the features AND is a POUND lighter than the thinkpad!!
BUT: steep price! was not crazy about its looks. if you decide on a fujitsu, look at portableone.com.

HP dv1000 series: glossy widescreen is NICE!
BUT: no built-in microphone. not "that much" cheaper than the holy grail (aka thinkpad). heavier.

also considered the HP tablet tc4200. but it does not have a built-in optical drive and also, after trying out a tablet for the 1st time @ best-buy, decided against them.

sony T250: nice unit! VERY portable!
BUT: no S-Video out. was important for me. also, more expensive.

if you can tell, i use the microphone a lot! for note dictation, photo labeling etc. it works for me...

so there it is boys and girls...please feel free to ask any questions that you might have.

& for those of you that have ordered one & are waiting: it sucks to be you:-)

[Wholesomer]

Man you're lucky I ordered the same model on the same day as you but my TP got delayed in shipment twice already. Right now, it's somewhere in Alaska. I probably won't get it until Monday.

[kl]

so wholesomer, are you gonna clean install xp? or let things be? am still undecided...

[Wholesomer]

My TP just arrived. Didn't know UPS delivered on Saturday I will make the recovery CD then delete the hidden partition and do a clean install.