Need advice on laptop upgrade.

[ken3983]

I have an A31 at the moment. Don't get me wrong. I love it and it's a durable little sucker. I am going to spend about $600 on a laptop and I prefer to stay with IBM(Lenovo) cause they are the most rugged ones I've owned. I have looked at the Ideapads, but who has good advice on what's a good deal? I want at least a dual core and and I'm going to install Windows 7 Ultimate x64 so I don't care what OS is on it at the time. I'm just looking at hardware cause I got the software ready to go on it.

Ken

[RealBlackStuff]

T61 with Intel or ATI graphics (do NOT buy the nVidia graphics!).
14.1" 4:3 screens are hard to find, but are there.
Other models include 14.1" and 15.4" widescreen.

[underclocker]

$600 is a great budget for used ThinkPads. You'll certainly be able to find a powerful unit with warranty remaining. I'd look at T60p's, which come in 14", 15" and 15.4". You should also find some T61, T400 and T500 machines in that range. W500's, really powerful 15.4" widescreen machines (like a T500p, which is not offered), sell as low as $850. If you wait until the summer, they'll be in your range. T61's and up had built in camera options, too, if that's helpful for you. The cameras aren't great, but do work for Skype, etc.

Check out Lenovo's outlet page for one off deals on new or near new machines.

You could post a looking for ad in the forum marketplace asking for the most laptop for $600 and see what you get offered. Good luck.

As an eBay example, here's a new T500 (sealed in box) for $650 delivered (nice spec's including webcam, but the resolution is only WXGA --> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0370590703

[A31]

T61 with Intel or ATI graphics (do NOT buy the nVidia graphics!).

Just out of interest, why the ATI graphics and not the NVIDIA graphics?

[ajkula66]

RBS made a typo, since T61/p were not available with ATi (T60/p were) and the reason for this very wise suggestion is the high rate of failure amongst nVidia-chipped T61/p units, due to manufacturing defect by nVidia...

Lenovo claims that their design overcomes the issue that other manufacturers have encountered with these GPUs but I'm not convinced...

[t140568]

I ordered my T500 from Lenovo's Outlet store for $648.02 about 2 weeks ago, so I'd second the Outlet.