Looking at a T60 - Recommendations?

[admsteiner]

Hi all,

Had my T42 stolen (well, knapsack was stolen, T42 was inside), which means I'm now in the market for a new laptop. Alas, I haven't been keeping up with the various T60 models, or which are good deals right now.

I'm hoping to order the laptop in the next couple of days, I have a loaner (an old Dell we had doorstopping around) and would appreciate people's advice on which models to look at.

Warranty is not an issue, my credit card will double it if its 1 year. Neither is a DVD burner, as my desktop fulfills that role. I'm primarily using it for school, my desktop does everything else (and with 2 20" LCDs, no resolution on a TP will give me more screen space ).

Thanks for the input guys
--Adam

[marlinspike]

Out of curiousity, if your desktop does everything except get used at school, why not an X60?

[NS]

Hi all,

Had my T42 stolen (well, knapsack was stolen, T42 was inside), which means I'm now in the market for a new laptop. Alas, I haven't been keeping up with the various T60 models, or which are good deals right now.

I'm hoping to order the laptop in the next couple of days, I have a loaner (an old Dell we had doorstopping around) and would appreciate people's advice on which models to look at.

Warranty is not an issue, my credit card will double it if its 1 year. Neither is a DVD burner, as my desktop fulfills that role. I'm primarily using it for school, my desktop does everything else (and with 2 20" LCDs, no resolution on a TP will give me more screen space ).

Thanks for the input guys
--Adam

Why don't you have a look at the T60p brochure?

[admsteiner]

Tried out the X40 and X60 a few months back. I find the keyboard to be too cramped, after a few hours of typing my hands begin to hurt. I also find the 12" too small (in terms of real estate, not visually).

When I first got my T42, and what I'd really love now, is a 14" machine with no built in optical drive. So I usually just put in the space saver.

--adam

[admsteiner]

Why don't you have a look at the T60p brochure?

hehe. took a loot at the tabook, narrowed it down to about a dozen models, but I figured I'd ask around to get people's impressions generally. Plus, you never know what good sale IBM is running. I remember buying 2 Z61s (one family, one friend) around the time of the Olympics. IBM had a great deal on a special model. Hoping there's something similar now.

[Kyocera]

admsteiner, I got the model right below the P and could not be more satisfied (except for the wireless issues with the intel) mine has the 2Ghz, 128M ati, 14" with 1.5gigs ram and a 72k100 HD.

The machine is quiet and runs very cool and is really solid feeling.

The keyboard also feels very snappy and solid, not sure which one I got, but I really don't do all that much typing. Pretty sure you would like the 14" model for size and portability, mine originally came with a 9 cell which I traded to a forum member for a 6 due to the type of work I do. The 9 cell added to much bulk and weight for me.

[admsteiner]

admsteiner, I got the model right below the P and could not be more satisfied (except for the wireless issues with the intel) mine has the 2Ghz, 128M ati, 14" with 1.5gigs ram and a 72k100 HD.

Thanks for the recommendation Kyocera. I'll have to read up some more on the Intel wireless issue. I'll probably place the order tomorrow. Will let you guys know how it goes.
--adam

[admsteiner]

Ordered the 2623-KEU, just got it, but will return it. Has a dead pixel, very visible, and bluish. So now the question is - when will the Vista laptops come out, and should I just wait, since i have a few weeks for this one....
--adam

[pianowizard]

when will the Vista laptops come out, and should I just wait, since i have a few weeks for this one.

Vista reduces battery life by around 30%. I would stick to XP. Even if the notebook comes preinstalled with Vista, I would downgrade to XP.

[iatacs19]

If you bought after Oct 26th you can get Vista coupon for free I think.

I was looking at the 2623KFU, it seems to have everything the T60p has except for the FireGL GPU, debating whether it's something I need or not...

[ronan_zj]

Ordered the 2623-KEU, just got it, but will return it. Has a dead pixel, very visible, and bluish. So now the question is - when will the Vista laptops come out, and should I just wait, since i have a few weeks for this one....
--adam

dead pixel sucks, I dont wanna see any dead pixel on any IBM laptop, for we pay a lot of money on it.

[admsteiner]

True, that's why I'll be returning it to get one without the dead pixels.

I'll probably go the coupon route, especially since the Vista preinstalled laptops won't ship till February. Not sure if I'll actually install Vista, but we'll see.

Battery life doesn't really bother me, I'm always near a plug in school.

--adam

[ronan_zj]

True, that's why I'll be returning it to get one without the dead pixels.

I'll probably go the coupon route, especially since the Vista preinstalled laptops won't ship till February. Not sure if I'll actually install Vista, but we'll see.

Battery life doesn't really bother me, I'm always near a plug in school.

--adam

why do u need Vista ?
I dont wanna my laptop fan runing 24/7.
so , XP is enough for daily use.

[pianowizard]

why do u need Vista ?

Exactly! Remember Windows 2000? XP came out in Oct 2001, but even now, 5 years later, Win2K is still not obsolete. I bet WinXP will stay useful for a very long time. I may get a 256MB graphics card for my Dell desktop just to try Vista with Aero, but all of my laptops will continue to use XP until they die or when I sell them.

[tomh009]

why do u need Vista ?
I dont wanna my laptop fan runing 24/7.
so , XP is enough for daily use.

Certainly XP will continue to work. But sometime in 2007 I'll be running Vista, even if there is a slight cost in battery life. Why?

Security (run normally without admin privileges, network access protection). Laptop performance (sleep mode, hybrid disk support). File synchronization tools. Better control over updates. And maybe even the photo gallery.

There are other features that are maybe nice to have, but the ones above are really enough to outweight the slightly increased power consumption (keeping Aero out of the comparison).

[marlinspike]

XP Pro will have update support from MS for 5 more years.

[admsteiner]

Well I have an added reason pushing me towards Vista, or at least redeeming the coupon -- I may sell this laptop in August, once I've taken the bar exam. By then, everyone will be buying Vista laptops, not XP ones, and having Vista will help resale value.

[tomh009]

Vista reduces battery life by around 30%. I would stick to XP. Even if the notebook comes preinstalled with Vista, I would downgrade to XP.

There are lots of reasons to run Vista ... but nevertheless, I don't buy the 30% figure. Data is just starting to come in, but even with Aero, it's looking like only 20%, and less so if you turn off Aero.

Once hybrid laptop drives become available next year, the power consumption gap will be reduced further.

[claudeo]

I bought a T60 1953 as a replacement for my stolen T42 (stolen from my house, although I spent a lot of time with it on the road around the world... the irony of it all...)

I needed it immediately, so I ordered a stock item from CDW. I found it is exactly what I need, after adding 1G of Patriot memory from Newegg.com. It fits perfectly in my trusty carrying case and backpack; travel weight is very similar to the T42. Of course it is quite a bit faster. It also feels more rigid -- but still not enough to feel safe lifting it by the corner. It has better security with the embedded chip, so if it gets stolen it is even more impervious to data loss than a well locked up T42.

The only thing missing is the S-video output. Of course it has been a bit of a nightmare to get rid of some of the crapware (Symantec Security suite -- not bad, but ended up clobbering itself on a system restore, and get ready for some real sticker shock if you want to purchase at the end of the trial period) and to reinstall and configure various applications and to go through some of the more recent updates (that's a topic for another thread).