x301 or choose T400?!

[would]

Hi,

i think i need your help choosing my new notebook!

I'm thinking of buying a X301 with 4GB RAM and 80 GB Harddisk (Intel) and 6Cell battery.
But: How is the performance of this machine? My concern is the processor (and a little bit the price )
Will i feel a performance difference during normal use? I have a T61 now (Signature)
Is it able to decode Full-HD videos (Displayport) with the X301? (By the way, i hate the fact that the T400 has no Displayport. Makes choosing more difficult for me...)

I know 3D is nearly a no-go with the X301 and the X4500....

If the performance "feels" different maybe i would choose a T400 instead (T9550, 4GB, 320 7200rpm, 9Cell).

How is the build quality of this machines? Is it the same? Which is better? (X301 vs T400).

I really like the X301 "look and feel" - but it's pricey - is it worth it? it nearly costs 50% more than the T400!

Using my notebook for: Office-Work, Photo-Editing, FTPing, Internet, Looking DVDs and movies and sometimes for running VMs!!!

One last question: How is the fan-noise? Is it louder than the T400 or the T61?

Thanks guys for your help!

[Marin85]

Despite its cpu the X301 has excellent performance for a lot of tasks due to the SSD. Again because of the SSD I think the X301 will feel much snappier and faster than your current T61, but I´m afraid you may need some more cpu power for decoding HD videos than what X301 offers. I don´t mean that it couldn´t handle it but 1.2 GHz or 1.4 GHz cpu would do it much slower than say T9500... From what I have heard and seen, the build quality of X301 is simply excellent! T400 tends to exhibit some flex in particular areas, also you might not be very happy with the keyboard of T400 if you are rather from the old ThinkPad school , but you could swap the keyboard. AFAIK X301 comes with NMB keyboard which is considered by many folks to be very good. Regarding VMs X301 would run them without problems, but again it very much depends on what you are doings in these VMs... For the other task you mention X301 is quite outstanding. Both machines X301 and T400 are very silent (compared to T400 when running on integrated graphics, but it´s relatively silent even with full load on the dedicated gpu), but I would say X301 is probably iota more silent...

Hope this helps

Marin

PS: I can´t say if X301 is worth the extra money... Considering that T400 can be configured with SSD for the same amount of money as X301 costs, probably not since all other relevant components of T400 are better performance-wise. Also, FYI both machines come with displays with LED backlight.

[would]

by the way: is the touchpad a synaptic (x301 and t400)?

thanks

[basketb]

Wouldn't both the X301 and the T400 be a waste of money (wrt. performance improvements) given the T61 in the OP's signature and his/her usage pattern?

[would]

i sold my T61 already! For the money i get i nearly can buy the T400 (have to pay 50 euro more)

p.s.: i want LED - need the brightness

[Marin85]

by the way: is the touchpad a synaptic (x301 and t400)?

I believe, both are synaptics.

Wouldn't both the X301 and the T400 be a waste of money (wrt. performance improvements) given the T61 in the OP's signature and his/her usage pattern?

Actually, yes

i sold my T61 already! For the money i get i nearly can buy the T400 (have to pay 50 euro more)

Wow, that must have been a good deal

p.s.: i want LED - need the brightness

That seems to be what everybody wants nowadays...

[Greg Gebhardt]

Well the 301 sure does offer brightness. I use mine at about 1/2 of the brightness it is capable of. Has way more capcity that I would use.

[FragrantHead]

X301 comes with Samsung SSD, doesn't it? Are you planning on buying one with a conventional hard disk and putting in the Intel SSD yourself? Which one, the X25-M 80GB? Isn't that a 2.5" drive? What's the drive size in an X301? Wouldn't be surprised if it's 1.8". Anyone know?

[would]

X301 comes with Samsung SSD, doesn't it? Are you planning on buying one with a conventional hard disk and putting in the Intel SSD yourself? Which one, the X25-M 80GB? Isn't that a 2.5" drive? What's the drive size in an X301? Wouldn't be surprised if it's 1.8". Anyone know?

in this case it comes from the factory with the Intel SSD preinstalled. It's a CTO. The 80GB SSD is also in tabook!

but i think i'll go with the T400 because of the price, dockingstation, .... and i'm not that kind of a road-warrior...

[Marin85]

but i think i'll go with the T400 because of the price, dockingstation, .... and i'm not that kind of a road-warrior...

All I can say here is that T400 is a nice machine and with it you don´t really sacrifice that much of portability, it´s still 14'' widescreen with switchable graphics and "no-low-fat"-cpu

Happy ThinkPadding

Marin

[Nubulin]

I am in sort of a similar situation. Coming off a T60P in my signature.

I think other than the SSD I think I would see LESS performance out of the X301 and marginally improved performance out of the T400?

I am mainly looking for smaller footprint and more portability with equal or greater functionality in terms of day to day performance on standard office apps, VM's, etc. Want the brighter screen and must have WWAN. I have no real need for lots of video performance. Originally I wanted the ability to run a 30" when docked, but never did. I use it as a notebook and have a workstation for the real work.

For the price the T400 is a bargain, but I doubt I will see much improvement? Plus I think it is bigger? Will the X301 even compare to what I have now? X200 is perfect size, but WXGA and no touchpad blows....

[Marin85]

Except for the graphics card (which I assume wouldn´t be really a problem since you have a workstation for the real work) I think X301 will "compare" to your T60p. Actually, I suspect you will have the feeling that X301 is outperforming your T60p, just because of the SSD... For daily office work and browsing X301 is simply perfect and it even might turn out to have a better screen than the 14'' on your T60p (considered by many folks to be one of the worst screens put on a ThinkPad ) and definitely much brighter, X301 also has better battery life than T60p. Your only concern could be the VM. Depending on what you do in/with VMs, the X301 cpu might be indeed the bottleneck (but again, since you say you have a workstation for the real work, I assume, the X301 cpu should be fine for those kind of daily tasks...), yet even so the SSD seems to compensate well for the weaker cpu (people even run Photoshop on X30x...). There are also folks reporting successfully running VMs on a X30x.

As far as T400 is concerned, I believe it has quite some to offer: faster cpu (up to 2.8 GHz with 6MB L2 cache), faster memory, brighter (and probably slightly better) screen, long battery life, much less heat, silent. But, yes, unlike your T60p, the T400 is a widescreen model and thus *bigger*. I´m not sure though whether the T400 even weighs less than your T60p (if that matters to you), there are here more knowledgeable people who could answer such a question

Hope this helps

Marin

[mattbiernat]

Actually, I suspect you will have the feeling that X301 is outperforming your T60p, just because of the SSD... Marin

that is true for opening and closing explorer and simple small programs. however when it comes to more CPU intensive tasks such as word processing in bloated MS2007, your T60 will feel faster. this goes for windows vista, in my heavily tweaked windows 7b my x300 actually outperforms T60. so it also depends what OS you will be running.

[Nubulin]

Yeah, I guess I was assuming apples to apples comparison. I can throw a SSD in my T60p and I bet it will run rings around the X301. I want more portability, so I think the X200/s is in my future.