Thinkpads Forum

Have a requirement for a laptop, and looking at all makes, i.e. dell's, sony's, ibm/lenovo's.

Seen that i have a t42 and very happy with it and knowing how robust and slim it is. I want some advice on the following spec below.
Budget is between £900-£1150

Your advice appreciated.

Core 2 Duo 2Ghz or above
2GB DDR2 667hz Ram
Over 100gb harddrive

Able to have dual monitor support with docking station so I can plug in my 2 monitors, keyboard etc.

Less than 3kg

No smaller than 15" display

You requirement for 15"or above really means that you need a T60 or T61 with a 15.4"widescreen. These weigh 2.7 kg and do meet your other criteria (processor, memory, disk, dual monitors) as well.

But I don't know the UK pricing ...

dsi-ap wrote:buying a lenovo - which one?

When you say "Lenovo", many people on this board would assume you mean the Lenovo 3000 series (at least I did). If you want to buy a Thinkpad, you should specify "Thinkpad".

I agree with Tom that a 15.4" widescreen T60/61 would be the only Thinkpad that meets your criteria. And BTW, have you thought about what resolution you want? You want a screen that's at least 15", but if it has only 1024x768 (XGA) or 1280x800 (WXGA) resolution, it won't show any more details than a 12.1" XGA or WXGA screen, and things would also look fuzzier.

For the dual monitor support you have two options:

1) Use the DVI port for one monitor and the VGA port for the other.

2) If you want dual DVI (which is what I'm assuming) you'll need to get a PCI express graphics card and make sure that it will fit in the dock. Also, you can only do this with the Advanced Dock.

Search for a thread about an Advanced Dock mini-review....tons of information there about PCI express cards and the docking station.

Thank you all for your informative responses.

@Superego
I like the idea of using both the vga/dvi ports already on the ibm thinkpad mini-docks. I guess this will work as you suggest for dual monitor support?

@pianowizard
Thx for pointing out but hte res on the wxga.. I know when got my t42 i was dissapointed with only getting 1024x764 max on the flat pannel but is fine when hooked upto a dell 17" tft.
I also think its safe to say thinkpads are a gd option, and the look slimmer than the lenovo's from what i've seen.
The chap that will be getting the laptop would like something smart, robust, slim/light, gd feature set and gd performer.

@tomh009
Thx for pointing out the T60 & 61 will work with these, when i speka to an ibm sales when they call back.

@All
From the spec above and getting a mini-dock will there be any problem loading Vista Ultimate, i.e driver etc.

Thank you.

I have been looking at the Lenovo ThinkPad R60e 0658
Is there a docking-station that can be use like the mini-dock that comes witht he T42's?
I have been quoted the laptop with a USB port replicator which i want to stay well away from in favor of a true type docking station.
thanks for advice

dsi-ap wrote:I have been looking at the Lenovo ThinkPad R60e 0658

No Core 2 Duo, and only 1024x768 resolution. The "economical" (R60e) models of the R-series have the most basic specs and should be avoided unless one has a very low budget. These are the models that Lenovo (and formerly IBM) try to use to compete with Dell's ultra-cheap Inspiron laptops. Since you can afford up to £1150, you should look at the R60 (without the "e") at the very least.

And the "e" has no docking connector, which defeats the whole purpose of the OP.

Lenovo ThinkPad Z61m 9450
Core 2 Duo T7200 / 2 GHz Centrino Duo RAM : 1 GB HD : 120 GB DVDWriter Gigabit Ethernet WLAN : Bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g TPM fingerprint Win XP Pro 15.4" Widescreen TFT 1680 x 1050 ( WSXGA+ )

From the above, does anyone see wether this laptop is capable of dual monitor support, or what can be done on lenovo laptops to get them to support 2 Flat panel displays.