Which T520 should I upgrade to?

[fefrie]

The 14" T60 is getting a little long in the tooth. It's time to upgrade.

Things I like:
SXGA screen. It's a good resolution where things are not too big and not too small.
The keyboard and touchpad. Nice feedback and easily customizable.
Fingerprint reader. It's nice to be able to log in with a swipe.
Restore Discs. It's just simpler that way.
Ran reasonably cool

I've upgraded the ram to 3gb and upgraded the HD to a SSD.

The 4:3 screen size was a huge reason to keep the laptop because at the time, it was the best form factor for work at home and transportable to mobile work spaces, but since I transitioned to a windows tablet, the T60 is shoulder crushingly heavy. So any new laptop will be home based and almost never be transported.

So what specs should I be looking for.

I'm not really interested in the processor speed, but I am interested in the fastest ram and cache speed possible for that form factor
I want at least 1000 vertical pixels, and a 15" model since I won't be carrying it around anywhere anymore.
Rear facing usb ports would be nice.
Classic T60 keyboard is a must.
Runs cool.
Occasional lightweight video editing would be great.
W7 Restore discs for simple factory resets.
Finger print reader.

I'm not quite sure what I want with a video card. I'm really not itnerested in games, however the video editing is an occasional requirement.

I'm pretty sure that whatever I upgrade to I'll be happy. Just changing from a SATA I interface to a SATA III interface would be einough of a jump in improvement. I'm even planning on taking my Intel 330 ssd with me. It's a bit small, but it's never really limited me in what I want to do.

Moderator edit: Moved thread from (initially being posted in the) T6x-forum.

[brchan]

The FHD screen in these models will meet the pixel requirements and be much better quality than your 14.1" T60. A 2720qm T520 or possibly a 2520m T520 should be enough for the occasional video editing.

Now that there is a bios mod for enabling classic keyboard support on xx30 models, you could also consider a T530 and do a classic keyboard mod on it. There is a good performance boost over the previous generation and will be more usable in the long run. xx30 models also get better battery life and run cooler.

[TonyJZX]

Would you mind showing the links for the T530/430 bios that includes support for the classic keyboard?

[PandorasThinkpad]

Upgrade to an Intel Graphics only T520 machine....this will be usable without any problems even with linux derivations....and upgrade it with an not too huge quad core and use the discrete graphice cooling invironment for it...and just try to find an T520 with FHD (AUO B156HW01 V.4) Display....

This will be good enough for nowadays...

Greetings,

PANdoRa

[RealBlackStuff]

Would you mind showing the links for the T530/430 bios that includes support for the classic keyboard?

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=69&t=120776

@fefrie:
Alternative could be this:
I have a W510 for sale with 1GB nVIDIA Quadro FX 880M and the highly-sought-after AUO B156HW01 V.4 1920x1080 LCD.
It has "only" an i5-560M CPU (2.66GHz) and 2 RAM slots (for up to 16GB RAM), but it could do everything you'd want.
PM me if interested.

[TonyJZX]

Is an Intel gfx powered laptop practical at FHD type resolutions? May not be good for some people.

[brchan]

Is an Intel gfx powered laptop practical at FHD type resolutions? May not be good for some people.

The intel HD graphics chip is more than capable of running FHD displays. Now if you want to do gaming or rendering, that is a completely different story.

[TonyJZX]

I used to run Intel gfx on 2 x Dell 1,920 x 1,200 screens.

Define "run". Doing just 2d stuff and maybe running a video on the 2nd screen and the usual applications office maybe something enterprise grade like SAP... it was merely "ok" with some slowdowns. I wouldnt be do PS or Premiere on it.

The cpu was fine, the ram was fine. I realise this may be at the limit of what Intel gfx of this generation can do.

In fact, Intel havent even moved to three screen support, even to this day.