C200 or N100; silly question, but which is better please?

[squeek500]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and am looking (as most people have before me) for advice on which one to buy, the good bits, bad bits etc. I've done a fair amount of homework by reading several review sites, searching this forum (so if I missed oa thread, please point me in the right place), looking at prices, components etc, and am currently torn between 2 laptops from Lenovo that I'm happy to buy. The choice is down to the C200 or the N100. Both of the similar spec systems, at least 80GB HDD, 1.73GHz CPU, Duo Core, and the only advantage I can see of the N100 over the C200 is that there is greater speed, larger HDD, Vista Premium (instead of Home Basic) and (yes, I'm taken by it...) a finger print reader!

Looking on dabs.com, I've seen the C200 for £379, and the N100 for £469. I'm happy to pay for the N100, but not if there's not much point. The chances are I'm likely to install my version of XP when it arrives anyway as I'm not convinced about Vista yet, but at least I know it's compatible. My main concern is the robustness, and reading from previous reviews on this forum, the Thinkpads get all the kudos with their roll-cage and shock protection, but without trying to make a comparison, I believe the C200 & N100 are a little flimsy. Anyone that could confirm this, or know if it's a sturdy unit, would be great. I'm going to primarily be using for working on at home, and the occasional international travel, nothing too dramatic like F1 racing, unfortunately.

Any advice on whether the C200 is actually a better notebook would be greatful, or if there are other recommendations, I'd be very happy to consider. Ideally I'd love a Thinkpad, but I haven't the funds as my budget wont stretch much more than £500.

Thanks all in advance

Cheers
Squeek

[AlphaKilo470]

The C200 has a Core 2 Duo which is a little newer than the Core Duo in the N100. Also, the N100 has a wide aspect screen whereas the C200 has a standard definition 4:3 screen. In the N100, you have a choice of Intel integrated graphics or an nVidia graphics chipset. The C200 only offers integrated graphics.

[squeek500]

Thanks for your reply... in your opinion, does that mean I would be better off getting the C200 do you think? I just don't want to wast my money if there's very little difference.

Is it a major difference about the Core Duo and Core 2 Duo?

Thank you

[AlphaKilo470]

I'd go with the C200 unless you really need a better graphics system.

[squeek500]

Cool, thank you very much!

I'll probably go with that one then. Just on a sideline, would you know roughly how long this laptop would likely last with it's components, I would say I'd be happy to buy a newer laptop in around 2-3 years, so as long as it'll last that long, It'd be great. What are your views? - I'd obviously look after it, try not to drop it etc, but it will be transported fairly often between rooms at home, and the occasional international travel. I'd also likely see about upgrading the RAM to 2GB if I had the money as well. (I'm a little useless on laptops.)

Also, (and last question)... if I have a genuine version of WinXP Home SP2 on a CD at home, and it comes with Vista Home Basic pre-installed, would you suggest installing the WinXP instead or leaving it, cos I've heard loads of rumours about Vista being beta tested on us lot so it's a little poor, but then in contrary, I've heard other rumours about Microsoft stopping the use of XP, and forcing everyone to be on Vista?

[AlphaKilo470]

As long as you don't abuse it, I'm sure the thing would last at least a few years. The build quality isn't as good as that of a ThinkPad and the case scratches really easily but the system is still built well and the keyboard is every bit as good as the ones on most ThinkPads.

I would recommend having at least 1gb of RAM. If you can upgrade to 2gb RAM for a good price, that'd be nice but I don't think more than 1gb would be essential.

XP would probably perform really well on the C200 but before installing it, I'd at least try Vista out to see if you feel it's worth keeping. I have Vista on my 3000 and haven't had any issues with it yet and actually enjoy many of it's new features. I also once ran it on a ThinkPad A31 with 512mb RAM and a 2ghz P4-m with decent (but not spectacular) performance. My main gripe in Vista is that there are alot of objects that have a new name and location.

[squeek500]

Excellent, thank you for your help and advice... it's much appreciated. I think my mind is made up! - C200 it is, and I'll try out Vista and see how I get on. When I tried it in the shop I wasn't too impressed, but it'll probably grow on me like most things.

Cheers!

[AlphaKilo470]

I wouldn't go out of my way to move over to Vista and probably won't be fully transitioned over until I buy my next desktop. The OS doesn't give anything I need but it does provide some convenience features I like alot and there wasn't enough I could find wrong with the OS to bother bumping my N200 down to XP.