Thinkpads Forum

I am going to be getting my first laptop. I have a part time photography business. I'm venturing into the world of wedding photography. After going to a couple of seminars I've found that showing a visual presentation of photos, ie. a slideshow, on a laptop is a powerful marketing tool.

So I'm considering getting a ThinkPad T series with the UXGA screen. I've read in several forums that the ThinkPad 1600x1200 screens are really good for displaying and working on images. This narrows me down to a T43P or a T60P I think.

In addition to using the laptop for showing off my photography, I will be using it in the field to download images to and occasional image editing in Photoshop. I could also see wanting to drive an external projector from the laptop in the future.

If the laptop has some horsepower, I could use it along side my desktop. There are times when I'm processing several thousand files from an event, and having a second CPU to crunch the files would be useful. By the way the software I use supposedly can take advantage of a multiprocessor environment.

Finally, I will need to keep the laptop with me while I'm on call for my first job, which is a programmer, on the rare occasions that I need to dial in to support our running applications.

After configuring a couple of systems, I was hot to buy a T60 after I saw some were getting 20% discounts. I have not been able to get these discounts. So now I'm considering a T43P instead to save some cash. Should I even consider this for my needs, or just bite the bullet and go for a T60 with the extra CPU power?

Besides the extra CPU power, what other advantages would the T60 have over the T43 for my applications?

Thanks!

John

You should get a T60p with 2 GB of RAM and perhaps a nice IBM leather attache bag. You could also purchase the 80 GB USB 2.0 disk so you may process your files by any of your computers.


Best regards,

Henrik Dahl

It sounds like your money would be best spent on a dual core system indeed. A T60p would fit the bill nicely.

Here is a thread I made compiling some of the Thinkpad discount programs I've found:
http://www.laptoplogic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2101

Of course the best discount is Employee Purchase but you need to know an employee of Lenovo or IBM to get that.

Part of the problem with getting a T60p though is that you have to buy the expensive V5200 graphics card; which you won't need unless you also like to game or do 3D rendering as well. You might want to try to get a look at a 15" SXGA+ Thinkpad and see if 1400x1050 on 15" is good for you, that way you can go with a lower cost GPU.

Definitely start with 2GB RAM. I got final confirmation from Lenovo that T60's support 3GB RAM with 1x2GB DDR2 533 + 1x1GB DDR2 (533 or 667 I'd imagine, but it would run @ 533). Personally for your uses I would pay the premium for a 2GB SODIMM so you have the option to expand to 3GB in the future...

Thanks for the info! Looks like I can at least save a little on a T60p buy using the MasterCard/Visa discounts. I'm getting to feel like you need to know the double secret handshake eyewink combination to get the best price on a ThinkPad!

Part of the problem with ordering a ThinkPad is there is no way to look at these before I buy. I live in the Boston area. I've contacted the local rep and a few resellers. Besides Office Depot which has a few low end T43's on display, the only "retailer" in the area is 2.5 hours away. And although they sell Lenovo products exclusively they don't even have a ThinkPad with a UXGA screen. So I'm buying site unseen. Maybe a lesser model will do, but I'm pretty much looking for the best screen I can buy to display my photography on, which is probably the UXGA screen.

Thanks again!

John

Whatever system you get, don't forget 7200rpm disk, that is the most important performance factor IMO.
But since you do photograpy, wouldn't be better use a Z60 wider screen?

A majority of my photographs are in portrait mode. Since a 15.4" wide screen is almost an inch shorter than a 15" 4:3 screen, I'm better off with a 4:3 screen. I've looked at 17" widescreens, but they are just too big for me.

John

In the beginning I also did not like I could not see the kind of machine I ordered before I ordered it, but I've never got disappointed so I don't care anymore.


Best regards,

Henrik Dahl

Just ordered a T60P 2623DDU along with a spare 6cell battery and the ThinkPad Leather case. Saved about $175 with free shipping by using the Visa discount. Will be ordering another Gig of ram and one of the docking stations when it arrives.

Thanks everyone for all the advice!

Now the waiting game begins...

John

PS. Some of my photos are at the following links if you are interested in looking:
http://www.pbase.com/d70svrider/event
and
http://www.pbase.com/d70svrider/wedding

wingrider

Same reasons for me too. I also am a D70 (Nikon) user doing product shots.

I sure hope our models ship soon.

I enjoyed your football shots, especially the one where the the one Viking is juking trying to avoid 3 defensemen. What type of lens did you take these photos with? They look very sharp for action photos...