Thinkpads Forum

I'm thining of buying TP61 from lenovo. I'm not that familiar with WXGA screens so I'll be getting an XGA screen.

My Model comes with the following specs:

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7100 (1.8GHz 800MHz 2MBL2)
Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic Operating System Language : Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic - US English
Display type: 14.1 XGA TFT
System graphics: nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M (128MB)
Total memory: 1 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)
Keyboard: Keyboard US English
Pointing Device: UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
Hard Drive: 120GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
Optical device: CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo 24X/24X/24X/8X Max, Ultrabay Slim 1
System expansion slots: PC Card Slot & Express Card Slot
Wireless Card: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG
Battery: 9 cell Li-Ion Battery 1


I'll be paying about $1200 /mo.

I'll be using the PC for my Real Estate business, so it needs to be reliable and occasionally, I'll be playing some car racing games, like need for speed, etc...

My question is this. Am I getting the best bang for the buck?
Secondly, am I going to have problems with Vista and should I just pay $25 extra for Win XP pro?

Thanks,

vk60402 wrote: Secondly, am I going to have problems with Vista and should I just pay $25 extra for Win XP pro?

Thanks,

At this point in Vista's life I would say yes, pay the extra $25 for XP. Right now Vista is neither fast or reliable (depending on which programs you need to run). Maybe after SP1.

$1200 per month?

When you buy a ThinkPad, you never get the best bang for the buck in terms of features per dollar.

You will get a machine you can count on more than any other brand except the ToughBooks. They are made well. Parts are widely available and reasonably priced. I recommend that since this is for business (and you can deduct the expense) that you get on-site warranty service and ThinkPad Protection (insurance against accidental damage) to help ensure your business isn't brought to a halt.

Of course, it's possible the machine could fail, and the repair technician could send your machine off for repairs for a few days. If that can stop your business, then you also need to keep your data somewhere else so it's ready to go. That's besides the backups you should have because ANY piece of technology can fail at any time.

You've bought a fine machine, and it will serve you well for years to come - even well after the warranty is gone.

Welcome!

carbon_unit wrote:

vk60402 wrote: Secondly, am I going to have problems with Vista and should I just pay $25 extra for Win XP pro?

Thanks,

At this point in Vista's life I would say yes, pay the extra $25 for XP. Right now Vista is neither fast or reliable (depending on which programs you need to run). Maybe after SP1.

I would install XP as well. I recently purchased a T61 with Vista Business installed and spent three weeks trying to make everything work correctly. In the end I purchased the Windows XP downgrade CDs (http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... WNGRD.html) from Lenovo for $50, which was a bargain after the amount of time I wasted messing with Vista.

swaffoja wrote:

carbon_unit wrote:

Btw, there was an error in my original post. I'll only be paying 1200 TOTAL for my TP, not 1200/mo

If you don't mind me asking, what sort of a problem did you have with Vista? Was it a single application that could not run or was it the whole PC in general?

Your system is fine for your needs.

Vista is just as stable as XP. Don't be fooled. Unless you have a specific piece of software that doesn't yet run under Vista, choose Vista.

I run XP Pro SP2 on most of my laptops at work, and I run Vista Ultimate on my personal machine. XP works great but it also has its quirks.

barrywohl wrote:Your system is fine for your needs.

Vista is just as stable as XP. Don't be fooled. Unless you have a specific piece of software that doesn't yet run under Vista, choose Vista.

I run XP Pro SP2 on most of my laptops at work, and I run Vista Ultimate on my personal machine. XP works great but it also has its quirks.

Thanks for that bit of info. Am I going to need extended warranty or will I be able to purchase it later?

Lastly, WXGA screens are cheaper than XGA, but are they better?

Personally there is simply too much that we don't know about how you actually intend to run your machine, and what you intend to do on it. Me I would order it with Vista, I also run Vista Ultimate on a T60p and find it works very well for me. XP is walking dead, it's reached it end of life. Sure there are people who know XP and who refuse to do things differently who'll find a reason as to why they must have XP or why it is better. Make no mistake neither XP or Vista is perfect, and both will crash, and fail!

Get the protection for your machine, you must order it with your machine or within 30 days... It will protect your machine from drops and falls, spills, and other physical abuse. It's one less worry to deal with.

How you use your machine really makes a difference, as an example will you use it to show clients pictures of other locations? If so my guess is you really will regret getting a WXGA screen. On the other hand if you often have a need to compare two documents side by side you might find the wxga useful. As I personally can't imagine not using your machine to show clients pictures of other homes, and the old FlexView screens really blow away the screens available today I would give serious thought to a used T60p with FlexView. Pictures are truly worth a lot of words. Again not knowing what you intend to do with your computer makes it hard to say what you need, but if images are important to you, then you might want to seriously think about a bigger and faster hard drive. If a new notebook is in the plans every year or so, that effects choices to, if on the other hand you are planning on the same machine for three four or more years, then I think there are wiser choices out there. Also how much you love to tinker with the notebook plays a role here, and if you don't love to tinker who will maintain the notebook? I am sorry but there is simply so much that is being assumed here, very little of the above has real meaning IMHO. It's very basic meaningless info. All of it true, and yet it may or may not be meaningful to your use.

DAH wrote:XP is walking dead, it's reached it end of life.

MS will still support XP for a very long time. Service Pack 3 will be coming out soon as well...