What thinkpad to get after a t60?

[garnet]

I know there is such a topic, but couldn't find it. Merge it to the old one if needed.

So, the question is: what is next after a t60. The one in my signature. It's been with me for 6 years. Still works great.
However I will need new laptop and was wondering what thinkpad should get next.

What I need in a TP:

minimum 14 inch screen, best 15 inch or 15.4 inch
Hight resolution at least 1050 px vertically
IPS/flexview desirable

Processor: i3 and up, I think.

The weight is not such an issue. All suggestion welcome.

[Ibthink]

Well, IPS is only available with the current gen models for the T-Series. This means you models of choice are T440s/T440p (14" 1920x1080 IPS/AHVA) or T540p (15.5" 2880x1620 IPS). All older T-Series models, T61 - T430/T530 are only available with TN screens.

Of course, if IPS is just desirable, and not neccessary, a T530 or a T520 with FHD also would be a solid choice. These screens are TN but pretty good ones. I personally would get a T440s again if I had the choice now, and I recommend the T540p in your case (the 3K screen must be phenomenal), some people might disagree with me because of the new CLickPad setup of the T540p (which is just a case of "getting-used-to", but, oh well...).

[Saucey]

It might be way above your budget (way above mine heh) but I've been eyeballing a Dell M4800 with its QHD display and its K2100m GPU... Yes plenty of power there, my only quam is that it doesn't have a centered keyboard due to the numberpad. I don't mind lugging an IBM USB numberpad at all!
It is quite big, 15.4" wide-screen laptop is no joke to carry around after walking 2 miles with it.

I really don't know other which laptops are good and IPS....

Though not necessarily a business laptop but an ultrabook, a 13" Apple Macbook Pro sports an IPS display. But I'm not sure if I'm ready to give into not being able to repair my own laptop.

[ajkula66]

My pick would be W520.

If you're OK with the 6-row keyboard layout, W530 is an option as well.

While the 3K IPS screen in the T540p/W540 is nice, I'm seriously underwhelmed with the Windows' ability to scale. Nowhere near Retina clarity, and I'm not a Mac guy by any stretch of imagination. With that said, FHD panel on T440p/s is a really nice one, and I could enjoy it at 100% even with my seriously deteriorating eyesight.

One final recommendation for anyone and everyone contemplating a *40 series ThinkPad: do your absolute best to try out the new TrackPoint/keyboard setup in person. The change is drastic enough - whether one loves or hates it - to warrant such an approach.

My $0.02 only...

Good luck.

[Norway Pad]

One final recommendation for anyone and everyone contemplating a *40 series ThinkPad: do your absolute best to try out the new TrackPoint/keyboard setup in person. The change is drastic enough - whether one loves or hates it - to warrant such an approach.

I second that. I found the whole *40 TouchPad experience to be so drastically different from what it used to be, that I would not recommend spending lots of money on one before you know if you can live with the solution. Added the fact that the *40 series has a design that has pretty much left the classic Thinkpad style, but that's more an issue for us hard-core fans. Apart from that, the 440s I have used is a generally good machine.

[garnet]

Thanks guys,

what exactly is the issue with *40 trackpoint/keyboard?
I am not at all happy with the new keyboards, I'd rather prefer the t60 style KB. I know this is impossible these days.
To me it seems all new Tpads have at least 1 thing I will have to compromise with. Rather sad when you spend $1500+ on a TP.

[ajkula66]

what exactly is the issue with *40 trackpoint/keyboard?

Let's just say that if you were an old-time TrackPoint user, a bunch of re-learning will most likely be required in order to get the "new" setup to behave as you expect from it. Buttons integrated into the pad are...different, to say the very least.

As for the keyboard, if you're a touch typist who uses a lot of shortcuts and is used to the old 7-row layout...you might not be a happy camper with the newer 6-row keyboards.

Is it possible to adjust? Absolutely. It all depends one one's patience level...personally, I have none for these "advancements"...

My $0.02 only...

[systemBuilder]

What I need in a TP:

minimum 14 inch screen, best 15 inch or 15.4 inch
Hight resolution at least 1050 px vertically
IPS/flexview desirable

We (our family) is going through the exact same decision-making right now. We are daily users of a T60p and Lenovo Y580, which has a sucky scratchpad and is unusable without a mouse.

I had a T420 at my previous employer with NVS 4200. It worked pretty well, except the 802.11 (under Win7) would spontaneously disable itself at random times, a really annoying bug, either in Windows or the BIOS or something. Suddenly you had no connectivity and you had to go into the driver and re-enable the driver. The 1600x900 screen at 14" is way too small. Only 85 square inches. If you take the 4:3 subset of that screen, you have a 67 inch screen. Compare that 67 inches to the 101 inches of an SXGA+ laptop like our T42, T42p, T60p. That's a horrible loss of screen real estate. So when upgrading a 14.1" 4:3 laptop, a 15.6" HD-aspect ratio laptop is a MINIMUM.

My employer said that the W520/T520 was nothing like the T420 in the internal design. They said the W520/T520 was a far less reliable device, and they did not offer that model. It could be they were just cheapskates. If I were getting another USED laptop today, it would probably be a T520 with accelerated graphics, which probably means 1600x900 or full-HD, and NVS 5400 chipset. Those were the last good thinkpad keyboards. Those were the 2nd-last good thinkpad ultranavs. The scratchpads kinda suck (too abrasive - multi-touch is iffy - and they eventually wear a "bald" spot in the middle which looks like crap), but they get the job done, far more than the horrible current generation of thinkpads (t440s, T440p, T540p, etc.) sold today with apple-wannabee-scratch&screampads!

I have also been eyeing a Thinkpad Edge E545 with A10-5750 graphics. Check it out (onsale at lenovo website, or on Amazon). 1366x768 display, some decent 3D game numbers (better than Intel HD 4200, 4400 for sure), It has a lower quality build but for $570-$625 new (72+ 64wh battery, bluetooth, win7, true ultranav, PRICE INCLUDES 3rd party 4 GB ram so A10 can achieve its 3D potential) it has a lot of old-time thinkpad goodness to offer. No thinklight, but it is/was the last thinkpad with Ultranav until they introduced the Edge 330 a week or two ago. The barebones model (Thinkpad Edge E545, A6-5350 CPU) is the #2 selling thinkpad on Amazon @ $400, but you couldn't play any games on that model as it has 1/3rd the shaders.

Also, and I want you take this recommendation seriously, because we are the original thinkpad bigots, using them at our employer since 1998, we bought a horribly expensive T42 ATI 9600 for family use in 2006, and I'm typing this on a T430s as I speak. I keep looking at new Lenovo products and asking for an IPS display. Then I wonder if I can get 8, 10, 12 hours from the battery. Then I ask for a 256 GB flash drive without being ripped off $400 for the thing! Then I ask, "Where is the build quality?" Then I ask, "If everyone HAS to accept a new scratchpad, is there some manufacturer that makes one THAT WORKS?" If you can accept a silver thinkpad, I think you'll come to realize that Apple has taken the Thinkpad's place in the marketplace. Lenovo seems to want to make just cheaper and cheaper junk. The new Y50 is nothing but a g505 budget device with an NVidia 860 chip - but pure junk for keyboard, display, scratchpad, battery! And the whole product line is going in that direction!

You can buy a MacBook air or an (onsale now) MacBook Pro 13.3" for $1300 with retina and a 256 GB flash drive (outdated because the new-last-week Macbook Pro Retina has a measely 100 Mhz more clock speed!) The MacBook Pro is a 16:10 display so they are trying to still give value for money in usable screen real estate. If you cannot stand Snow-Leopard or whatever, you can actually run Win7 or Linux on that beast. Think about it. The Iris (Intel 5100) graphics play almost every game available at 1366x768 - medium detail. IRIS CHIPS COST A LOT. No other laptop maker offers them! If you are willing to pony up for Apple quality and portability, they are the loss leader in value in their price-segment value niche, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 13. Nobody does it cheaper for what you get. People freaking love those machines, the way that they used to love thinkpads.

This is likely our next thinkpad : A MacBook Pro Retina 13.3" 246 GB Flash for $1300 + tax.

[jdk]

Agreed on the build quality of the MacBook Pro. Playing in the Apple store yesterday, I found that it is very easy to get a full 1440x900 on the Retina Model, and the interface scales well. Glass trackpad will not show wear, and Apple still does the trackpad better than everyone else.

The other new-ish laptop that impressed me is the Dell XPS 15. It has the same rubbery feel as the new Yogas, but a gorgeous 15" 1080 display. Trackpad is probably the best one on the PC side of things. The keyboard is okay, but at least it doesn't have a dead spot or play in the middle like the current generation of Latitudes.

[brchan]

Build quality, display, and touchpad of MacBooks are good (most of my Computer Science friends use Macs for development), but there are numerous issues to consider:

1. Lower durability. I know a few people where the screens on their macbooks broke and developed horizontal/vertical bands in some areas. Also, the case scratches and dents easily. This is also why so many people put their macbooks in sleeves to protect them. Thinness is great, but compacting components into a very small space, and making the laptop out of a solid block aluminum which does not provide much shock absorbtion, and adding only rubber feet is not the recipe for a durable and reliable laptop.

2. Keyboard is shallow and significantly lacks the feel of any thinkpad keyboard, and the layout and key combos you must press can get annoying. Also, no legendary trackpoint, which IMHO, is superior to any trackpad.

3. No servicability. Anything that breaks must be repaired by Apple, and they charge rediculous repair prices. However, their support tends to be very good.

4. Overpriced.

[ajkula66]

2. Keyboard is shallow and significantly lacks the feel of any thinkpad keyboard, and the layout and key combos you must press can get annoying. Also, no legendary trackpoint, which IMHO, is superior to any trackpad.

This was a dealbreaker for me personally, no matter how hard I tried...