t43p vs Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi

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hi thinkpad experts & lovers!

like most of you in here, i really like ibm thinkpad labtops - the quality is just exellent. i bought my t23 as used but it run faultlessly for about 1+ year now.

now, mostly for work, i have to buy a faster machine to compile thousand lines of java code using bulky ide which ask for alot of processing power in order to run smoothly... and once in a while do home video editing...

i have the t43p in mind for a while now. the main reason hold me back is the price. over here in the uk, new cost nearly 3000GBP. there was a used one few day ago on ebay sound quite good t43p 2.1ghz 14.1" but i lost

now i got a good offer on Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi which has 2ghz duo core chip. i read quite a bit of review on this acer model and it got pretty good review. but reviews are review on the right on that moment in time... i am not so sure about how reliable it is over an extended period of time.

what are your opinions on this? should i buy go for this acer model or t43p (on ebay ??? cheers.

[masterus]

I read on LENOVO website that in USA T43 cost from 1400$ > 2000$ , if you have a credit card,you can buy..but it's a promotion!!

[Tungo]

Hi,

I would recommend the T43 for the built quality and funtionality. Those of us here bought and use Thinkpad because it is second to none of the quality out there. I swear i would never buy anything but Thinkpads unless Lenovo decided to mess with them. Like the other member said, the T43 are now on sale at lenovo. I do not use my T43 to run heavy coding like yours, mainly C/C#/C++ and VB.NET apps in VS.2005 and SQL 2005 but I do used it to convert/edit old VHS video to DVD format and it still has plenty of power.

I hope that helps.

Tung

[christopher_wolf]

I use my T43 for a variety of quite serious jobs that range from compiling large amounts of FORTRAN, C++, and Java to rendering in PyMol of multi-complex proteins; it is *superb* at all of these tasks. It even managed to beat out two HP servers running the same compile job. I would recommend it.

[Orevin]

No doubt, the IBM quality is unrivaled. However, I have the predecessor of the 8204, the 8104. You get what you pay for and this machine was well worth the money. The body is very stable and has a nice finish. Everything is working as expected. Acer offers good quality and a complete configuration for little money (compared to IBM, Sony, Toshiba...).
There are only two weak points: the keyboard is a little rattly and there are almost no new drivers available since I bought my machine (06-2005).
If I could afford it, I would buy an IBM. But for someone on a budget, looking for a new machine, Acer is worth a try.

[rosemarycane]

I have never owned an Acer, but I have owned an Averatec, ABS, Toshiba, and Sony. My T43 by far is superior to the other models I have owned. Not only is the quality better, but the customer service and warranty beat anything else offered on the market IMHO.

I might be wrong, but after owning five different laptops within 2 months, the t43 is the only one I would purchase again and again.

[davidspalding]

T40 prices may start dropping due to the new 60's coming out. I'd set your budget (sounds like you have, if you're considering a specific Acer model), give yourself a 90 day window to aggressively shop around and see what your budget will buy on the Thinkpad frontier.

Rosemary ... five laptops in two months?? Boy, you must be hard on your computers.

[holr]

oh my, small world, the system specs you mention from the one you were bidding on ebay for in the uk sounds remarkably like the one i just won from ebay recently, didn't happen to be a seller called macspares did it?? If so, sorry! (private auction, didnt know )

I used to have the 15" t43p but found it a bit too big for me (i need to cart mine around campus) so sold it, tried a sony but didnt work with linux too good, so went back for a 14.1" t43p.

Its a powerful computer, and will certainly do everything you asked. I use mine for coding, mainly python stuff at the moment and linux work, for both it is very very nice.

Excellent build quality on their systems, and as rosemarycane said, their warranty is great / customer service is great.

Keep an eye open for more on ebay. However be sooo careful, I keep seeing scammers listing t43 / t43p's (easy to tell, they keep insisting you email them in the auction listing).

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ta!

mr HOLR

oh my, small world indeed the 14" t43p from mr macspare was seem like exactly the one i wanted. i tried to catch the last second but i was slip...

yeah, quite a bit of scammers... i'll keep watching ebay for another 14 t43p



thank you all for your advise and feed back.

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