New to Thinkpads. Questions inside..

[blkmk2gti]

Hey all. I'm headed back to school after an extended period of time and was in the market for a cheap laptop. I'll only be using it for a few online classes, word processing, and possibly some netflix. I didn't need anything super fancy or expensive to I picked up a refurbished T400 for about $250.

Specs:
-Core 2 Duo2.4 GHz
-4GB RAM
-320GB HDD
-Combo Drive
-Win 7 (32 Bit)
-Unknown resolution

I guess my questions are pretty easily answered, so forgive me if they sound stupid. I'm just now reading through the FAQ's and have already started downloading manuals and any literature about the T400. Who knows I may very well answer my own questions. I come from using a borrowed Mac so go easy!

1. Anything I need to look out for with this machine coming second hand?
2. Advantages of upgrading from Win7 - 32 bit to 64 bit?
4. What's Thinkvantage? BIOS?
3. Did I pay too much? There's a 14 day return policy, and I'd seen some T61's going for about $175.

Thanks in advance for all the help!

[Oglon3r]

I am no expert by any means but I have been around the block a couple of times.
http://<promotion of site not allowed>/UJ675
I found this for about $250 on ebay.
If I was on a budget I would've personally chosen this simply over processor family (i5 vs Core2duo) and HDD superiority (320GB vs 500GB).
Other than that I would try to go for the largest screen resolution and Video capabilities.
There are a couple T60ps with 15.4" TFT display with 1680x1050 (WSXGA+) and ATI graphics with 256 MB dedicated video going for about $250.
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Buyers_Guide
The link above can be really helpful when deciding on what thinkpad to choose.
And below we have /g/s guide to thinkpads
http://<promotion of site not allowed>/UJ8IL
Make sure you take a look at both of them.
As far as your questions go.
Anything you buy second hand just make sure it isn't over heating and that the screen isn't dim or come with other imperfections such as dead pixels/scratches etc etc.
You can always build or get someone else to build your own frankenpad with the components you want and at a budget.
On the differences between x64 and x86_32 below is an excellent article on what the cons and pros are.
http://<promotion of site not allowed>/UJBUJ
I would always recommend x64 over x86 due to its memory transfer limitations you decide.
Thinkvantage Bioses are simply the proprietary Bios variant of IBM/Lenovo computers as when compared with Phoenix, Dell and Award Bioses.
As far as paying too much goes. Like I said that is a matter of how much dedicated video if any the T400 you got has, the speed of your HDD 7200 vs 5400 rpm and its resolution.
Welcome to the forum and please enjoy your stay.

[pianowizard]

2. Advantages of upgrading from Win7 - 32 bit to 64 bit?

With 32-bit Windows, you can access only up to ~3.25GB of RAM. 64-bit Windows allows you to use more than that, and 64-bit programs are supposed to be slightly faster than 32-bit programs as well. I run 64-bit Windows on almost all my machines that have 4GB or more RAM. Assuming your T400 still has the Windows 7 COA sticker, it entitles you to upgrade to 64-bit for free. And you can download it for free, legally, from Microsoft's Digital River site, though you still need your COA code to activate it:

64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium x64 ISO
Digital River: http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net ... -65733.iso

64-bit Windows 7 Professional x64 ISO
Digital River: http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net ... -65805.iso

EDIT: I just remembered that the T400 was shipped with Vista. If the seller put 7 on this T400 but didn't give you a Win 7 COA sticker, then you are legally required to uninstall 7 from this laptop. Replace it with 64-bit Vista, which can also be downloaded from Digital River for free:

http://www.heidoc.net/joomla/technology ... load-links

You may have heard bad things about Vista but none of them are true -- they were true only when it first came out back in 2007. On a 4GB machine, I would rather use 64-bit Vista than 32-bit Windows 7. Two of my desktops have been running 64-bit Vista for about a year and they have been 100% reliable.

[Stevo]

As above the main advantage of 64bit is to access more than 3.2GB of RAM. Having said that, that's probably not crucial to your usage.

If I was going to do anything I would put an SSD in there if you can afford it, and the Samsungs are very cheap now per GB compared to even just a couple of years ago. It'll transform the speed and responsiveness of the machine, and even for the relatively light use you describe I think it would be a hugely worthwhile improvement.

Then use the original 320GB drive in a USB enclosure as a backup HDD.

Hope this helps.

S