Thinkpads Forum

In the market for a new notebook.
Still having fun w my T40P Thinkpad, but would like newer, etc.
Looking at the T400 series.
"Want" something that is quick, light for travel, great on a desk, will hook up to external monitor w ease... and look great.
Has to be able to play DVD's, movies, concerts, etc. Lots of RAM,
Multiple USB ports, long battery life, great screen and keyboard.
Wanna try Win 7

Stuff like that.
I don't HAVE to get a T400 series, but just starting there. Looks kinda like the "flagship" of the ThinkPads, but not sure.

I'm OPEN to any advise.

Thanks.

Frank

Light - Check, the s subseries is a little lighter if you need it.
Monitor - T410 does Displayport+VGA, T400 does VGA, check the s subseries for the ports, or you can have a dock.
Optical disks - Check
RAM - Any reason you need a lot of it?
USB - Check
Battery life - Check
Screen - Lottery, I got a decent screen in the T410 but it will never replace a full on desktop IPS panel or a CRT. It does serve as a decent replacement for my T43's IPS screen. Other people tell me they get horrible screens.
Keyboard - Thinkpads have awesome keyboards. People say stuff about flex but you'll have to try the machine out first.
Win7 - I call this the legitimate successor of XP personally, I didn't like Vista.

If you care about the screen over everything else, get a T510 with the FHD display, it will compromise on your weight

>>RAM - Any reason you need a lot of it?<<

Thanks for your information.
I find I never seem to have enough RAM.
I have a tendency to open up a lot of programs.
Frank

Could you tell me several things on your current setup(s):
RAM installed
RAM used at max
Pagefile settings
Pagefile used at max

>>Could you tell me several things on your current setup(s):<<

I really haven't a clue.
I'm using an old T40p w XP.
Probably whatever "default" is in that.

Frank

What are you looking to spend? That would help narrow things down a bit.

>>What are you looking to spend? That would help narrow things down a bit.<<

Doesn't "really" matter. I'm not a Fortune 500 Company, but I'm willing to spend what it takes to get what I want.
Hope that doesn't sound facetious. I apologize if it does.

I've had numerous ThinkPad's over the years and love them.
Currently, I'm looking for something that I can take to the local Starbucks and bring back home and hook it up to a big monitor or flatscreen TV... And I'd like it to do so with a minimum of aggravation. To me it's speed & comfort<g>.

Thanks.

Frank

If price is really not a deterrent as you say...

I'd suggest:

T410 - if you want the best connectivity and the longest battery life (with 9-cell battery)
T400s/T410s - if you want the lightest possible PC and are willing to sacrifice some battery life

Stay away from older T400 (not s). They use Lenovo's old design for 14" widescreens, which looks anything but great and are a bit on the heavy/clumsy side as well with the 9-cell battery.

If you want to go really light, the X301 is another option, if you don't need a lot of CPU power. If you want a great screen, the X200/X201 with the AFFS Mod is another option, but there's no onboard optical on the X20x series.

>>T400s/T410s - if you want the lightest possible PC and are willing to sacrifice some battery life<

Is the only difference in the battery??
I see from the Lenovo Web site that the one of the T410s has "switchable" graphics????
Why would I want, or not want that. It gets very confusing.

Thanks.

Frank

Since you mention playing DVD movies, concerts etc., I would not recommend the T4x0 series at all, certainly not the T410s, which I have. This is on account of the poor screens. The high black-level, low contrast screen, of which the T410s/T400s is the worst and the rest of the T4x0 series not much better, makes it unsuitable for watching DVDs, at least if you want to get any pleasure out of it. If it has to be a Thinkpad, I'd look into the T510 with a full HD screen, not merely on account of the resolution, but because it is meant to be a half decent screen.

The 14.1" WXGA+ LED screens apparently can come from two sources, either LG or Samsung. I got a Samsung panel (Grr.) and notice some flickering on greys and have very poor red reproduction.

See: Why all the TN LCD hate and (older) IPS love? (V.92 warning)

There's also a Toshiba/M a t s u s h i t a, which is what I have. Not good. No flickering that I can see, but very high black-level, poor contrast, very poor vertical viewing angles. Yellow-greenish tint, prior to calibration; impossible to get consistent colors after calibration, since very (vertical) viewing angle dependent. Out of the lot of them I think the LG may be the best, but that's probably not saying much.