Need help deciding which to purchase

[Knucklehead]

I am about to purchase an IBM Thinkpad laptop (no need to go through all the details of why Thinkpad, but the pricing seems adequate and the convenience is right as well as the reputation of the Thinkpad brand).

The machines will be used for, well, the sorts of things college students typically use computers for, with the exception of video gaming (hey, females don't seem particularly interested in that stuff) but watching movies on DVD, while not essential, will almost certainly occur.

What I cannot determine is which particular "model" or option makes the most sense (T41, R51 are the choices available to me).

Why would I/she prefer a T41 vs. an R51?

Why "Intel Mobile Pentium M w/Centrino" vs. "Intel Pentium M"?

Why "14.1 in. XGA active matrix" vs. "14.1 in. TFT" vs. "15 in. SXGA+ active matrix"?

Is there any large difference in battery life among those models?

Why "Intel WiFi 802.11b" vs. "802.11b, 802.11g" vs. "Intel WiFi 802.11b/g"?

In the case of the wireless questions, I understand b/g, what I don't know is why I might prefer Intel WiFi b/g vs. whatever the unnamed version is and, additionally, and information you Thinkpad experts can provide regarding the capabilities of Thinkpad built in WiFi. The reason I mention this last is that I use a laptop (Toshiba, company supplied) that has built in WiFi of some sort but the range is completely inadequate - if I wanted to sit next to the bridge I'd just use an ethernet cable) and I have to use a WiFi card anyway just to have reasonable mobility.

Any helpful hints or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Also, any experience with different drive sizes is welcome. The models available have 40 and 60 GB. Either size is adequate, but I'm not finding any models on IBM's site that are 60GB so I'm wondering if the 60GB drives were discontinued due to any reliability issues or such.

Last, but not least, from poking around on the web it seems that IBM does not include recovery CD's (all models are XP). Since my experience is that ALL Windows systems require occassional re-install even when screwed down with personal firewalls and virus software, how difficult is it to get re-install CDs from IBM?

[stgreek]

Let's see...

Why would I/she prefer a T41 vs. an R51?

T41 is lighter and thinner, if you don't move around too much better get an R51. If you get one though do not get the one with shared graphics, they are quite bad.

Why "Intel Mobile Pentium M w/Centrino" vs. "Intel Pentium M"?

Centrino is simply Pentium M + Intel wireless. It is a platform, not a different processor.

Why "14.1 in. XGA active matrix" vs. "14.1 in. TFT" vs. "15 in. SXGA+ active matrix"?

First two are the same, XGA is 1024x768 while SXGA+ is 1400x1050. SXGA+ is much better imo.

Is there any large difference in battery life among those models?

For similar configurations, there shouldn't be any difference as I believe they use the same battery type.

Why "Intel WiFi 802.11b" vs. "802.11b, 802.11g" vs. "Intel WiFi 802.11b/g"?

I believe b/g is the same as g, as it is backwards compatible. If you want faster speeds, get the g. It shouldn't cost more and gives a performance boost of ~3x in real life.

There should be more than enough models with 60GB hard drive, as for the recovery cds, as long as you get them within 30 days from purchase you should be fine.

Hope this helps
Stavros
Hope this helps
Stavros

[Craig]

Funny, we're probably looking at similar deals perhaps? I put a poll up:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=1775

Although not much response, and biased by being in the T series forum, people are voting for the T41.

[Knucklehead]

Very helpful - thank you Stavros

T41 is lighter and thinner, if you don't move around too much better get an R51. If you get one though do not get the one with shared graphics, they are quite bad.

How do I determine whether or not a particular model has "shared graphics"?

BTW, pure "mobility" is not a primary concern. Hauling back and forth from school is the biggest reason, as well as the huge premium on dormroom space. Saving a pound or two for the odd trip to the library or lawn or friend's room is not essential.

First two are the same, XGA is 1024x768 while SXGA+ is 1400x1050. SXGA+ is much better imo.

What, in your opinion, makes SXGA+ better? I poked around here a bit, as well as looking through some of the generally useless "reviews" on less specific sites, and there is some non-specific hint of some problems with 14 in. monitors and some other (beyond me) hints that the extra resolution of SXGA+ is not always usable (some progs or websites can't take advantage of it) and, when used, can push type into "hard to see" range.

I'll gladly accept that SXGA+ is "better", just curious howso.

[stgreek]

Shared graphics is basically Intel Extreme cards. If it has a radeon mobility 7500,9x00 it is stand-alone, and much better.

SXGA+ gives you more screen space. Especially if you write documents/code or edit images you'll love the extra pixels. In a 14" screen it might look a bit small (but still usable), in 15" it should be standard, as it fits the monitor size perfectly. Nothing takes advantage of it. It simply is more pixels, just like that. I have quite a few thinkpads and I believe that the screen quality, size-wise, is:

15" UXGA(1600x1200) > 15" SXGA+ > 12.1" XGA > 14.1" SXGA+ > 15" XGA > 14.1" XGA

I did not include the 12.1 XGA (The X31 one) because of the screen space, but because it is the best 12.1 monitor I have seen (incredibly bright and sharp).