Thinkpads Forum

hello

As a complete newbie to buying a laptop please help

i recently ordered a T400 with basic config specially the processor. big mistake as it is quite slow

I need to order a T400 again but this time want to make sure i order the right one. my requirements are simple
-i want a super fast but reliable machine. lots of online surfing (no gaming or intensive graphics).
-used for business (online) purposes
-what processor should i use?
-which one is better for graphics -an ATI or Intel?
-how much RAM should i select (not sure what the 7200 or 5200 speed is about)

Basically what determines the speed of a computer that i should opt for.

I do know that the T400 is a solid machine and based on all the reviews and feedback it is pretty much what i want, just not sure what config i should select for it

thank you all so much for any help

Curious.

You describe your usage pattern, which consists of nothing heavy or resource-intensive.

It sounds as if the system you had may well have been more than sufficient.

Perhaps you can describe what problems you ran into with your previous T400 - what exactly was slow for you?

thanks

here is the thread where I have added more information

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=77250

Even with the lowest T400 (P8400 2.26ghz, 2GB ram) that still seems like more than plenty to browse the internet with multiple browser windows/apps open. Perhaps something with Vista going awry? Disable Aero?

I don't believe going with the ATI discrete graphics option will help any for this use.

Increasing the HD to 7200rpm would be another step to increase performance.

Still seems like something else is going on here as it should be plenty of machine. my T60p has a slower CPU and 2GB ram and it's fine.

I agree that your T400 should already have been fast enough....
Just get a midrange processor and intel graphics
Having 3Gb of ram is probably the ideal at the moment as you would never max that out with what you are doing.
The 7200 drive wouldn't speed up browsing that much and if you don't like noise, it's more noisy.

The keys for speeding up your browsing are most likely a good fast internet connection and a fast internet browser.

Do a speed test of your internet.... http://www.speedtest.net/

Also download Mozilla Thunderbird or Google Chrome for a big speed difference (Internet Explorer is very slow I find)

Hope that helps!