What laptop reccomended

[lukich]

Hi this is my first post on this forum
i have a T40 but that is simply far too big to carry around to school etc
i have been looking at the x series and I am stuck between the X31 and X40
I was wondering if somebody could be kind enough to let me know the major differences i.e thickness,battery life, overall build
thanks
luke chaudhry

[qviri]

X40 is lighter. X31 is faster. X40 has more battery life. X31 is more upgradeable. Build quality is similar, X40 may be a little more fragile.

[fschwep]

Go for the X31 over the X40. No contest. Also see here:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2438. X31 is slightly thicker and less 'sexy', but it has better battery life, a separate graphics card with dedicated graphics memory, and a standard 2.5 inch harddisk that is easy to upgrade. It also has good backwards compatibility with for instance older laser printers (indestructible HP Laserjets from the Stone Age) as it still has a parallel printer port. The X31 and X40 have different types of flashcard readers too: CF for the X31, SD for the X40. Many digital SLRs and somewhat older digital compacts use CF cards, if you have one of those you can upload your photos by plugging in your CF card directly into the X31.
There are quite a few X31s available on eBay these days, at reasonable prices.
Note also that an X31 will fit in the same minidock as the T4x and R5x series, but the X40 will not. So your T40 and X31 can share one dock.

[voneschenbach]

Luke,

I think the X31 is a much better deal (if you do your shopping) - you can then spend that extra cash on maxing the memory and getting a better hard drive. I don't think I will be lured into any of the new machines until you can get a basic X60-sized machine with something like an Atom processor and lots of battery life for $800 new. The ultra-low voltage processors are close, but still not quite there. I am just taking notes, connecting to work through citrix, surfing, etc. I use my desktop machine for the photo and video editing.

[fkelly]

I agree with the previous poster. I would start out with the X31 and work towards maxing out the memory (2 gig) slapping in a 7200 rpm drive and hanging on for the ride.
When that begins to get taxed by your usage of spyware programs, youtube, itunes etc. then you can move up to the X60.

I took this exact path and my wife is happily pecking away on the X31 (she is a moderate web browser, streaming vids, email and alot of ms office).......I use the X60 and do what the wife does x10, plus alot of spreadsheets. I have alot of windows open and multi-task. I do not like that lag when I hit enter. The X60 has delivered in spades.

There are some good prices out there for the X31. A yr ago they were $500, I think now they are in the $300-$350 range. You would spend about $150-$200 for HD and memory but you would have a maxed out machine.

[lukich]

Thanks for all the help
also if somebody know could you please tell me if the x31 has got usb 2.0 to power all of my perihpals
also due to a low income (paper round)
i only have a mere 230 GBP to spend

[voneschenbach]

It does - one on the rear, and one on the left back side.

[lukich]

Thanks again
the reply rate on this forum is amazingly fast
Another thing is also how thick in mm is the x31 cwith the lid closed
And are SSDs worth the money because i require alot of storage space for music production but im not sure whether the speed of a normal HD is good enough
cheers
Luke Chaudhry

[voneschenbach]

From a UK review site:

273 x 223 x 30.2mm (WxDxH)