buy a T-4x or max out my t-30?

[Steel185]

it might be a stupid question, but thats never stopped me before. You can see what I have below, I'm tring to decide which route to go. I was originally thinking I'd max out my T30 with a 2.4GHz and 1-2gig RAM. Now for close to the same money i can get a T40 (~$350 -bay). For all those members that are more up on the details which would be more powerful all around solution. I'm going to deploy at the end of the month and I need something to keep going until i get back.

Oh and what is the difference in t40 vs t41 vs t42 vs t43. And are they all centrino? or this that like a new celeron?

I know this is alot of questions but I need to get up to speed fast.

thanks

Semper Fi

[JHEM]

it might be a stupid question, but thats never stopped me before.

Nor should it.

You can see what I have below, I'm tring to decide which route to go. I was originally thinking I'd max out my T30 with a 2.4GHz and 1-2gig RAM. Now for close to the same money i can get a T40 (~$350 -bay). For all those members that are more up on the details which would be more powerful all around solution.

Get a T40.

I'm going to deploy at the end of the month and I need something to keep going until i get back.

Stay safe.

Oh and what is the difference in t40 vs t41 vs t42 vs t43. And are they all centrino? or this that like a new celeron?

Differences are primarily in CPU speed. Centrino is a marketing term coined by Intel to define laptops that use an Intel chipset, CPU and WiFi card. No, they're NOT celerons, they're a Pentium M. A 1.5GHz Pentium M will seriously spank a 2.4GHz Pentium 4M.

Hooah!

James

[GZee]

I will agree with James on this point.

Some things to consider though is weight and durability. I have a T30 and T43. The T43 is light and sleek, while the T30 is heavy but feels more durable. I tend to feel more comfortable handling the T30 roughly, while the T43 treats my shoulders more kindly.

Ask yourself, will what I take with me get kicked around? I would trust the T30 over a T4x when it comes to abuse.

But in the end, performance matters...Get the T4x.

[sktn77a]

Get the T40. The Pentium M was a much better designed processor than the Pentium 4 and you won't have the dreaded "2nd memory slot blowout" problem of the T30!

The T41 and T42 have a faster memory bus (that you probably won't notice) and a HDD protection system (that may or may not do what it says it does).

Definitely the T4x!

[Temetka]

If you do go for a T4x series of laptops, I would suggest a T41 or T41P as a minimum. You get faster graphics: Radeon 9000 w/64MB in the T41 and FireGL T2 128MB in the T41P. Plus a faster bus as previously mentioned.

To keep costs down a machine with 512MB, 40GB 5400RPM drive and a 1.5GHz Pentium M will more than spank any T30, IMO.

[NS]

Get the T4x series thinkpads. It is faster than the T3x series. My T41p is better than my T30. Keep that T30 as your backup computer.

[lilserenity]

That said, I'm chugging along nicely with a T40 Pentium M 1.5GHz and only 512MB.

It seems to be pretty good for everything I throw at it and I am used to the responsiveness of Mac OS X on a G4 (I'm not a Mac zealot, sorry to disclaim myself here but some may not know me, and might think I'm trying to wind you up, far from it, but let's face it when Finder appears on OS X, the machine is pretty much ready to go without any delay from a prefetcher or something like that)

It runs standard software, Office 2007 Home and Student with Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote 2007 fine. (it's a little slow to start but that's RAM more than anything) Outlook 2002 (since I have a licensed copy hence why I went for the above Office Home 2007 option), I syncronise two handheld PCs (Workpad z50 and a Velo 1) with it. There's a fair wodge of web development done, multimedia stuff with video files and streamed music all work fine, even RealPlayer isn't a dog! Although iTunes 7 for the PC is on this, but iTunes is a dog on Windows I find anyway, but that's Apple being non-standard when it comes to Windows for you...

Essentially bar two apps which I solely use on my Mac (Photoshop and InDesign CS2, I don't have a Windows licensed version), this T40 handles everything I want of it really well. If it ever slows down it's memory more than anything.

I'd say the construction of the T2x/30 is better but the T40 I have is not awful at all, just don't ever pick it up one handed from the front left. It's slim and sleek as others have noted but deeper than the T2x and T30. Excellent battery life and generally IMHO a better laptop than the T30.

Also the Pentium M does spank the P4m as wonderful noted, I regularly have to use a 2.4GHz HP laptop for a client and it has the same specification, PC2100 RAM, 512MB etc. as my T40 and [censored] is a dog compared. I'd say pretty much my T40 with 512MB is on par with a 2.66GHz desktop Pentium 4 PC I use at work. The P4 sometimes pips it to the post but it has a 533MHz FSB (vs. the T40's 400MHz FSB) and a 7200RPM ATA-133 disk.

I'd say with some confidence with >=1GB RAM and a 7200RPM drive in my T40 it would edge past the 2.66GHz P4 Northwood (desktop, not laptop Pentium 4 Mobile) on most things except media encoding which I never do anyway bar the odd CD rip into iTunes.

My advice for the bang for buck, T40 or T41 with the T41 being a little bit better (PC2700 RAM vs. PC2100), active hard disk protection and supposedly a slightly more rigid chassis underneath.

Either way, I absolutely love my very ordinary T40. I'm just as fond of it as I was my T23, and now--that was a laptop to travel with!

Anyway enough of my paean to the wonderful T40.

Vicky

[Steel185]

I appreciate all your replies. I think I will look for a T-41 or a great deal on a T42-43.

JHEM, I'll take care of the bad guys for you, thanks for the support!!