Please Advise, New T60, Student, To wait or not to wait!

[patrascu]

Hello,

This is my first post. I am currently a full time student and just ordered this laptop two days ago:

http://www.universitycomputers.com/ePOS ... design=210

After ordering, I found this forum and started reading about some of the limitations of the current T60s. My question is:

Should I cancel my order and wait until the new Santa Rosa based t60s come out????

My problem: I will only be a student until the end of March; so I have to place an order before then to get the discounted price.

Is there any chance that the new T60s will come out by then? Also, since I want to use Windows Vista right away (I have been using Beta2 and RC1 for the past 7 months on two of my computers), should I wait until it comes pre-installed?

Any other advice?

Thanks,

Adrian

BTW, I've had nothing but trouble with Dell, Acer, HP...etc and am really looking forward to getting a Thinkpad.

[own6volvos]

Santa Rosa while showing some performance increases, is going to be nothing like the spike in performance between pentium M and core duo. The core duo to core 2 duo jump was minimal but it enhanced the processor itself, and the santa rosa bump is only changing the system around the processor. Mostly the same clock speed, slightly higher bus speed, but nothing much else. If you want to get the laptop, then purchase it. Lenovo isn't going to be doing anything until late spring/summer, and even then might not start fully shipping rosa platform units quickly until next fall/winter.

[Ken Fox]

It looks like a good deal. Be sure the configuration and form factor will suit you in your "new life" after you leave school. For example, this is a pretty large and heavy laptop compared to many other Thinkpads and if you are going to be lugging it around everyday you might come to regret the 15" widescreen format.

Try to find out if your school has a special online site from Lenovo where you can buy directly without having to go through a dept. in your university. You might find more options and better pricing there. If you want to defer placing the order until the last minute, presumably you would still qualify on that website to place an order that would not actually get delivered until after you are gone.

The other thing you will get out of examining the offerings on a University specific Lenovo webpage is that there might be 1 or 2 or 3 very very good deals there that are better than the limited offering you can get through the computer center in your school.

[patrascu]

Thanks a lot guys. I appreciate your replies. Since Santa Rosa based Thinkpads will not be shipping until the 3rd or 4th quarter of 07, it sounds like i don't have much of a choice. Also, the reason I went with the 15.4" T60 is because I wanted a widescreen laptop with dedicated graphics.

The only other consideration is Windows Vista. The laptop I ordered comes with XP Professional and a Vista upgrade. I checked the Lenovo website but I cannot figure out which version of Vista I would be getting. If anyone knows which version of Vista Lenovo will be giving as an upgrade for XP Pro, please let me know.


-Adrian

[patrascu]

One other option:

I could get the Macbook Pro with faster CPU and faster GPU for just $140 more.

http://www.universitycomputers.com/ePOS ... design=210

I would be giving up the better screen, better hard drive protection, the free Vista update, the better battery, and the 3 year warranty. I would be gaining the two things mentioned above plus DVI output, camera, backlit keyboard, etc.

This is a very difficult choice. I'm not really sure how much better the 2.16GHz (MBP) is than the 2.0GHz (T60), or how much better the ATI x1600 (MBP) is than the x1400 (T60).

I'm really tempted to switch my order to the Mac.... but I need some advice. I will not go to the Mac forums because I will absolutely not get an objective response there.

Also, those two laptops are my only good choices. I tried pricing similar laptops through Lenovo and Apple's academic websites, and the prices are still quite a bit higher than going through Boston U.

Adrian

[jjesusfreak01]

One other option:

I could get the Macbook Pro with faster CPU and faster GPU for just $140 more.

http://www.universitycomputers.com/ePOS ... design=210

I would be giving up the better screen, better hard drive protection, the free Vista update, the better battery, and the 3 year warranty. I would be gaining the two things mentioned above plus DVI output, camera, backlit keyboard, etc.

This is a very difficult choice. I'm not really sure how much better the 2.16GHz (MBP) is than the 2.0GHz (T60), or how much better the ATI x1600 (MBP) is than the x1400 (T60).

I'm really tempted to switch my order to the Mac.... but I need some advice. I will not go to the Mac forums because I will absolutely not get an objective response there.

Also, those two laptops are my only good choices. I tried pricing similar laptops through Lenovo and Apple's academic websites, and the prices are still quite a bit higher than going through Boston U.

Adrian

If you are gaming...the MBP is probably alot better for you. If it is mainly being used for business oriented work, the TP is probably a little sturdier, but they are both solid laptops.