I ordered T43, but...

[pekka]

Sigh, choosing notebook can be very very very hard. I've surffed the web the whole week chasing lowest prices and reading specs and reviews and I finally ordered a Thinkpad T43 14" SXGA+ PM750-1,86 *1GB* 60GB DVDRW abg = 1780 EUR. Now what I'm wondering if I should have waited for T60's to arrive. What do you think, is T43 still a good or stupid buy? I'm using the notebook for application development (using Java IDE's) and general surffing and word processing. I could have had a T60 with about same specs if I'd payed some 100-150 euro more. On the other hand I need the notebook asap and the first and maybe still buggy T60's don't arrive in Europe at least until after 3-4 weeks.

Core duo processors and multitasking sure sound very nice but on the other hand I'm a little suspicious towards the quality of T60 designed by Lenovo. Also, I think the T60 is very ugly and it doesn't have that classic Thinkpad looks anymore. Any comments are welcome

[Hanson]

I find that T43 price a bit overpriced. I managed to get mine with similar specs (except mine only included 512mb memory) for $1838.85 CDN or $1338.50 EUR back in mid November. I managed to get it during a sale on Lenovo's website, if it were regular price, it would still only be $1673.33 EUR. I recommend searching a little longer for a better deal.

[pekka]

I can assure you this was the best price I could find from Germany after hard searching, where this kind of stuff is the cheapest in Europe. In Finland where I live a T43 14" SXGA+ prices start from 2600 euro and similar what I ordered costs easily over 3000 euro! Someone has good margins I think... In US and Canada prices are noticeably lower than in Europe, no can do. I wonder why is that even now when euro is so strong compared to dollar

[cerebral_mamba]

I can assure you this was the best price I could find from Germany after hard searching, where this kind of stuff is the cheapest in Europe. In Finland where I live a T43 14" SXGA+ prices start from 2600 euro and similar what I ordered costs easily over 3000 euro! Someone has good margins I think... In US and Canada prices are noticeably lower than in Europe, no can do. I wonder why is that even now when euro is so strong compared to dollar

Taxes or Not enough competition as in US or the suckers in Europe are pocketing too much money playing middle-man.

[leif]

I bought my T43 some weeks ago and it works well this days. Althought it has a bit problem which trouble many persons, it did not trouble me a lot.

As to T60, which offered us a Core Duo CPU. But I doubt that if this CPU is powerful on our routine work.

[FRiC]

I can assure you this was the best price I could find from Germany after hard searching, where this kind of stuff is the cheapest in Europe. In Finland where I live a T43 14" SXGA+ prices start from 2600 euro and similar what I ordered costs easily over 3000 euro! Someone has good margins I think... In US and Canada prices are noticeably lower than in Europe, no can do. I wonder why is that even now when euro is so strong compared to dollar

I find that if something costs US$ 1000, then it costs 1000 euro. I live in Asia and I'm stuck in the middle. Importers will import using the US$ and then sell using the euro prices.

[Steve007]

I can assure you this was the best price I could find from Germany after hard searching, where this kind of stuff is the cheapest in Europe. In Finland where I live a T43 14" SXGA+ prices start from 2600 euro and similar what I ordered costs easily over 3000 euro! Someone has good margins I think... In US and Canada prices are noticeably lower than in Europe, no can do. I wonder why is that even now when euro is so strong compared to dollar

Taxes or Not enough competition as in US or the suckers in Europe are pocketing too much money playing middle-man.

In Europe we have always paid a premium for I.T equipment & software. Europe gets raped by US companies all the time yet the US authorities get a bit stroppy when EU goods are overpriced for the US market.

Regarding Lenovo, it's a shame that we still have to pay a hell of a lot more than our US counterparts for the same product but that's just the way it goes....

[brainpicker]

In Europe we have always paid a premium for I.T equipment & software. Europe gets raped by US companies all the time yet the US authorities get a bit stroppy when EU goods are overpriced for the US market.

First. Much of your EU "premium" is the fault of your own governments for taxing the hell out of people and businesses to make sure most people receive things like fully-paid healthcare and 2-3 months holiday (and to be fair... $8/gallon gasoline!).

Second. What EU goods are getting a bad rap for being overpriced in the US, and why the heck would our government care if your companies want to price themselves out of the market?

Third. When I go to work today I'll remind all the fine folks from the EU over here on "holiday" that they should not complain when the same US company that manufactures here & sells their medicine across the pond for 1/4 of what our US citizens have to pay, wants to make them pay the same high prices while they are here visiting!

See? US companies are too busy raping US citizens to worry about sticking it to others !

-Yak

[Aroc]

T4x models are available now, the quality is known, and accessories are plentiful and can be found at good prices (less than Lenovo prices). For me, the accessories clinched the deal.

[dino]

I really like to hook up my T43 to my tv to watch various videos.
The T60 doesn't have a S-Video output.

[pekka]

First. Much of your EU "premium" is the fault of your own governments for taxing the hell out of people and businesses to make sure most people receive things like fully-paid healthcare and 2-3 months holiday (and to be fair... $8/gallon gasoline!).

I have to comment a bit even though this forum is not about politics but Thinkpads ;> Sure, partly prices are higher because in (western) Europe tax rates are propably higher than in US. There's almost 50 countries in Europe so generalization is a bit dangerous though. Health care issue is actually quite funny because the US system based on private health insurancies is way much more expensive to society and still a large portion of US citizens live without any kind of health care cover. At least in Finland every citizen is entitled to free health care. From my personal salary I pay roughly one third taxes and other obligatory payments (health insurance, unemployment insurance, pension payments) and I have 6.5 weeks holiday every year. Sure it sucks to pay taxes but on the other hand I kind of like that there's safe to walk on the streets, I know that I'm not in econimical trouble after getting sick or if I get unemployed. Free schools ensure that everybody has a chance to rise from social class to another and so on. Sure, gas costs like hell but on the other hand Europeans don't drive with thirsty tank size SUV's. High taxation of gas is an ideological choice since environment protection is an important value in Europe.

But back to the subject I'm now convinced that I made the right choice in buying T43. The lack of s-video in T60 was the final cut! At least T43 is the last Thinkpad designed by IBM engineers and the quality is something I know for sure. Also, Aroc had good point about accessories and their availability/prices for T4x-series. Thanks for comments!

[Aroc]

Also, Aroc had good point about accessories and their availability/prices for T4x-series.

Agreed. I could buy four 72w / 16v power supply adapters for what one 20v power adapter for a T60 / Z60 would have cost. Plus everything else is cheaper since there is a bigger second hand market. Same is even more true for the T2x series, but I needed a more modern unit than that. Note the T2x and T4x share the same power supply. But the dock, optical drives, battery, etc are different. With the T60/T60p, you'd need to buy everything need at full price. We don't yet have the established secondary market for T60 accessories, although we will soon.

I'm sure the T60 will be a fine unit.

My $0.02.