Time to replace my T43

[lagged]

My 4 year old T43 is giving out. Today one of the hinges cracked in two

I've been out of the loop with thinkpads since I bought mine but I'm looking at the new T series.

I don't want a widescreen but I guess I have to get one. What size is better, 400 or 500? I need to be fairly moble as I am a student; my T43 was a great size. LED or CFL backlight? Which resolution? My T43 runs at 1400X1050, which is perfect for me, but I don't know what this translates into with widescreen.

I'm probably going to get the 2.53 ghz cpu w/3 megs cache. Any good reason to spend more money than that?

How are the discreet graphics? I play Day of Defeat Source, I think it will handle it ok.

How much RAM do I need for vista? Is it cheaper to upgrade that myself?

What are the differences with the WIFI options? I'd like the best range and reliability I can get on B/G.

Any other little details I should know about the new T series? Any must have upgrades?

I've been searching and I will continue to look around on here to try to answer my other questions on my own.

[archer6]

My 4 year old T43 is giving out. I've been out of the loop with thinkpads since I bought mine but I'm looking at the new T series. <snip>

I have both the T400 & T500. In terms of size the 400 is certainly a bit more portable even though personally I've always carried my 15" and now 15.4" T series everywhere including to and from work each day. For me it's simply a matter of strong preference for the larger display space. With just one measly pound of weight separating them it's been worth it. So that decision is strictly up to your personal preference. While I have both LCD & CCFL back lights I prefer the CCFL for it's even coverage, and better color balance. The LCD tends to be bright with a bit of flare. However as a long time amateur photographer, it's my opinion that most people would not notice the difference. Everything I've studied has indicated that all the talk of LCD's being superior, is largely marketing hype.

I've chosen the 2.53GHz processor and it's nice and snappy. With 4GB of ram being the sweet spot, it's smooth sailing. I also believe that unless one is doing some extremely resource intensive work, 4GB is ideal. Discreet graphics are good and compared to my W500 which is fully maxed out at 512MB on the video card, the T400/500's perform quite admirably. I would highly endorse the idea of you installing the ram yourself, as one does save money that way. One brand that I've had great success with over the years is Crucial. (http://www.crucial.com/).

Another area I would suggest that you upgrade would be from a 5400rpm HDD to a 7200rpm drive. After years of using Hitachi Travelstars, I've gone to the 320GB 7200rpm Western Digital Black drive and it's quite good. While not substantially faster than the Hitachi, it is quieter. I also tried the 500GB 5400rpm WD Blue, and was nicely surprised at it's speed. That said, I've now moved on to SSD drives, but that's another discussion. Briefly, I've spent a massive sum of money to buy the largest capacity, highest quality SSD's after testing many in the middle of the pack and while it's worth it to me, I do not suggest it for others. Why not wait till prices come down, the technology matures, and it becomes a better return on your investment.

As far as WiFi is concerned, I live on it. Everywhere I go, at work, home, starbucks, etc. I've used both the Intel WiFi Link 5100 and 5300, finding the difference nearly impossible to notice. If anything the 5100 is a bit more tolerate of older wireless networks, from a variety of vendors. As far as any other must have's if you use cellular 3G wireless, the optional built in card is very handy. I use one myself and find it faster than the external plug in card I was using previously.

Bottom line...I am very happy with the new T400/500 series, and I've had every model of T-series since IBM first created them. I have used a ThinkPad as my main work computer everyday for a decade with great success. The build quality, keyboard quality, and every aspect of these new models are right up to par. I can endorse either without hesitation.

Cheers...

[aviography]

While I have both LCD & CCFL back lights I prefer the CCFL for it's even coverage, and better color balance. The LCD tends to be bright with a bit of flare. However as a long time amateur photographer, it's my opinion that most people would not notice the difference. Everything I've studied has indicated that all the talk of LCD's being superior, is largely marketing hype.

By any chance you meant LED rather than LCD?

Thanks for the review, I've debated if I should try out the LED backlight for my next purchase, but have no method of seeing one in person.......

[archer6]

Yes, thank you for that correction, I did mean LED backlight.
It is challenging making some of these decisions when one cannot see the machine before you buy it. If you have some flexibility in your expectations you may find the LED is a good choice. I'm not against them, but find after having tried a few ThinkPads with LED, that the CCFL is a personal preference. Much like some people prefer glossy displays. I'm so used to matte that glossy is definitely not for me.
.
Cheers

[KBAM]

lagged,

archer6 offers good advice. Still, in the 16:10 wide format, most students would find ~14" more suited to "mobility" than ~15".

And to answer your rez question, in 14" wide format, you want WXGA+ (1440x900), as it's a reasonable approximation of what you already have--4:3 SXGA+ (1400x1050). Yes, you'll give up some vert (many have lamented the shotgun transition as a matter of display-vendor arrogance), but the extra width is actually useful for day-to-day computing, and one can live without 150 pixels.

As to backlighting, it's a question of tradeoffs and personal prefs. In any case, Lenovo isn't currently offering WXGA+ LED displays for the T400 on the Web, so it's CCFL on CTO production (but there are some in retail channels). In WXGA+, LED backlighting seems to be offered only for the T400s, which sacrifices discrete graphics for weight-savings. For many, a non-starter.

--BAM

Edited to correct WXGA+ rez spec above; posting from a PDA is always treacherous...

[lagged]

Thanks to everyone for the great advice. I'm still on the fence of T400 vs T500, but there is a retail story that carries Lenovo around here so I need to go and look at them in person.

I'm kind of hung up on the back light because that was one thing that failed on my T43. It just left a bad taste of CCFL. Is the High Nit screen a worthwhile option on the T400? I do find the brightness of my T43 lacking sometimes.

I'm definetly getting a 7200 RPM harddrive, and I'll probably get 2 gigs of ram in 1 stick so I can upgrade it myself.

Is there a difference between the 3 meg cpu and the 6 meg cpu? $120 difference?

What is this Intel Turbo memory hard drive cache for 50? It sounds like a gimick.

Do I want the express card and pc slot or the express card and smart card reader? Or is the smart card reader just an adapter that goes in the pc slot? I've never used these slots of my T43 so I guess it doesn't matter. Is the media card reader worth 10 bucks? It would be nice to have this integrated.

Is the built in camera an ok option? Is it integrated or is it just an add on? I'll probably get it for 30 if it is sleak.

I assume the warranty options are the same as when I bought last time. I thought IBM services was fantastic.

[ssd_thinkpad]

Thanks to everyone for the great advice. I'm still on the fence of T400 vs T500, but there is a retail story that carries Lenovo around here so I need to go and look at them in person.

That's the one most important thing: To see the models in person.

The T500 WSXGA+ display (CCFL) has the best contrast ratio (difference between black and white) of 500:1. This is the panel in the T400 / T500 models with the highest contrast. Lots of people like high nits, remember that the amazon kindle has exactly 0 nits - there's no backlight. Still the technology provides you with very high contrast. Another example: Your study books have 0 nits - but high contrast. The higher backlight does not give you much improvements when you are in the library, the higher the nit, the more black colors turn into gray: You'll have the same contrast ratio between black and moderate white than between now gray and very white.

Biggest difference other than the display is the weight: Just remove the dvd do feel how the thinkpad weights then.

When considering buying a dock: Only the integrated models can output dvi with the intel gpu. The switched models can only output dvi when the dedicated gpu is activated. Using the integrated gpu is better for temperature and noise.

[lagged]

Does the high nit have that downside at normal brightness levels? I don't want to sacrifice my indoor use for the 2 percent of the time I will be in bright daylight. Do you know roughly how the regular CCFL brightness compares the T43?

I'm not terrible concerend about weight if its not that much different than my T43. And I'm not too concerend about the size difference of T400 v T500. I know it won't fit on a lecture desk either way.

I don't need a dock either. But thats neat that it can switch between the onboard video and the dedicated gpu.

[KBAM]

lagged,

Yes to 7200RPM HD; CPU with 6MB L2 cache; 2GB in 1 DIMM (and buy the second elsewhere if a savings).

You don't need the Turbo Cache module (and for Vista/Win7 only).

If you don't now have legacy PCMCIA devices, choose ExpressCard. Forget SmartCard (not useful, too specialized). Media Reader is handy, as is Web cam.

You'll like the hi-nit display for color saturation/quality but for many, its lower rez is fatal. See if you can demo a 14" WXGA+ LED unit. Not IPS/FlexView, of course, but it's nice. Have it myself.

--BAM

[ssd_thinkpad]

Does the high nit have that downside at normal brightness levels? I don't want to sacrifice my indoor use for the 2 percent of the time I will be in bright daylight. Do you know roughly how the regular CCFL brightness compares the T43?

I'm not terrible concerend about weight if its not that much different than my T43. And I'm not too concerend about the size difference of T400 v T500. I know it won't fit on a lecture desk either way.

As much as I know, if you set the high nit thinkpad to normal brightness, the contrast seems to be better. Remember looking into high nit areas (lamp, high nit backlight, sun) must not improve your eye health. Do you currently have a 14 or 15 inch T43? For me the display size is the most important issue. But weight is also very important for me, far more important than size. It's best to just check these models out by person.