If you had to buy today and/or best EVER Thinkpad...........

[redgtxdi]

Ya, this is a loaded question & since there's no "general" group I thought I'd throw this question of popularity into the most popular subgroup.......

I realize my A22M is on its last legs. It's a great laptop but I've done everything & can't see spending $300-$500 on a new mainboard. Soooo.....that said....I wonder if there's a better choice between of these 2.....

#1.) Just buy a new circa-$700 laptop & enjoy that it's new w/ 1 yr warranty, etc. etc.

or

#2.) Buy another P3 generation Thinkpad (thus my loaded "best ever Thinkpad" part of the question) and maybe buy a 3 year extended warranty. (also ends up about circa $700)

It's hard for me to tell which P3 version is/was most popular but I really don't need a P4/Centrino to do the stuff I want to do. TIA

[stgreek]

Get a T23. It is the best sub-1000 notebook out there, and you can find some on Ebay with over a year remaining warranty, so you dont need to pay extra for it. It comes with 866-1200 PIII and feels very fast, it is also the best built T series out there.

[K. Eng]

I second the recommendation for a T23. Those machines are more durable than the 14" T4x yet lighter than the T30.

I have seldom met anyone with a T23 complaint - most if not all of the T2x design quirks were worked out by the time the T23 came out.

[redgtxdi]

That's very interesting already........(of course, I know this board will be Thinkpad biased but).......

I was gonna mention the "T23" as an example, but thought I'd leave it open to see what came up & already 2 folks highly recommending the T23!!

[Stunt101]

I don't know which model it was exactly, but I rented a PIII 14.1" ibm thinkpad w/ a PIII and I wasn't impressed by it at all.

Then again, it had microsoft windows Millenium Edition.

[JHEM]

Add my vote for the T23 to Brian's and stgreek's. Arguably the best of the T2x series machines and widely available under $700 with up to a year or more of warranty remaining.

There are even NIB (new in box) machines available, but they'll be a lot more money.

You can extend any remaining three year warranty to five years for approx. $200.

My T23 has joined my venerable PIII 850MHz 600X as one of the machines I'll probably keep forever.

Regards,

James

[redgtxdi]

I've seen several pictures of the T23 (browsing ebay just now) but one thing I can't find is the speakers???? My A22m has them just beneath the hinges on the keyboard area and are covered with little grills, but I can't, for the life of me, see speakers on even the closest up pics of the T23. TIA

P.S. And to play the devil's advocate.........after somebody answers above, if I can throw out that a *new* laptop would, of course come with all newer parts, newer technology (not necessarily better, of course) and in particular, USB 2.0!!! (I'm probably forgetting things that go along with "newer" but, you get the jist)

[JHEM]

They're under the palmrest on the beveled front of the machine.

Work very well.

You can get a PC card to USB2.0 adapter for less than $5!

Regards,

James

[William Lueders]

I was always very fond of my old 770ed! Way too heavy and all that but everything always worked, all the time. Very reliable. Had a wonderful keyboard and the 14" screen (vga) was very bright and nice. Never should have passed this one on!
I just replaced a 4yr old A20p that I was just as fond of. This still stays in the fleet as my youngest daughter is thrilled with it.
But I should mention that I have had several 701c's and loved each for the novelty and how well they worked at the time. Way too slow now.