prepurchase ?'s: 6 cell battery, mikes, 7200 rpm, Windows 7?

[rjnagle]

Some pre-purchase questions:

1)I'm unclear about whether Thinkpads come with a built in mike? I see there are camera options, but the Lenovo site doesn't even mention a microphone anywhere? That's really important!

2) Does the 6 cell li-ion battery jut out excessively out of the laptop?

3) What's the difference between these two options: Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology and Intel WiMAX/WiFi Link 5350 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology? Is Wimax something really close on the horizon? I don't have a cellphone plan for internet.

4)Do you have any idea when manufacturers will start providing free upgrades to Windows 7? Any idea when that happens? (I will be using it mainly for ubuntu, so its not that big a deal).

5)Is a 7200 rpm a worthwhile upgrade? is the performance difference between 5400 and 7200 worth paying for?

[ZaZ]

I think they all have a microphone, unless someone cares to correct me.

Excessive is subjective, but the six cell battery sticks out on the T400 and does not on the T500. There's a picture of the six and nine cell batteries here in Notebook Review's review of the T400.

WiMax is a wireless standard like WiFi, but with much greater range. There's very few places you can get it. Portland is one place you can I think. I'd say for the near future, it's probably not an option.

Supposedly anyone who buys a PC with Vista on July 1st or after will get a free upgrade to Windows 7, subject to any manufacturer's constraints, but I don't know that anything is set in stone.

The best option is to get the smallest slowest drive, then buy one after and upgrade it. Lenovo over charges for upgrades. Plus you can sell the old drive or throw it in the Ultrabay for backups.

[miketoro]

The best option is to get the smallest slowest drive, then buy one after and upgrade it. Lenovo over charges for upgrades. Plus you can sell the old drive or throw it in the Ultrabay for backups.

Do you think this holds for SSD? I'm thinking of the x301 where the 64gb SSD is the lowest option ...

[ZaZ]

Hard to say as I'm not as familiar with SSDs. You got to figure what an aftermarket drive costs, minus the price at which you can reasonably sell the old drive, then compare against what Lenovo charges for the upgrade.