Need help choosing new laptop

[tik34Load]

I currently have a T60 with a T2400 (1.83Ghz) processor. It's served me pretty well up to now, but I'm getting tired of running into road blocks when trying to run stuff with it. I would ike to stick with a lenovo brand laptop as I've liked the reliability and durability of this T60. Also, I don't do much heavy gaming, but I do like emulation.

Here are my major points
-Price at $200-400; I'll definitely consider refurb units.
-Able to watch HD 1080p videos on youtube
-HDMI/DVI out to TV
-At least one USB 3.0 port
-Able to work with emulators for DC and PSP (and maaaaaybe GC, but not important) at normal non flashy resolutions relatively well.
-Decent upgradeability (RAM, HDD, maybe CPU)

The T450 seems like it might fit my needs, but if there's something better out there that's still affordable, durable, and reliable I'll consider it also.

I really don't know what my needs are as far as CPU speed, cores, GPU, and all that. It's confusing me seeing that the processor speed of a T450 is at 2.3GHz too; how is it possible a laptop released nearly 10 years after the T60 has a CPU speed only 0.5Ghz faster?????

[dr_st]

Welcome to the forum.

I really don't know what my needs are as far as CPU speed, cores, GPU, and all that. It's confusing me seeing that the processor speed of a T450 is at 2.3GHz too; how is it possible a laptop released nearly 10 years after the T60 has a CPU speed only 0.5Ghz faster?????

Because processor improvements stopped being about faster clock speed and started being about multiple cores and improved architecture.

[Whitieiii]

Start with a T430 and build it up.. should meet all your requirements and if your worried about speed just got for an i7 model with dedicated graphics... i got a T430 i5 for $75 and added 8gb ram and SSD for cheap and sold it for profit it's a nice upgrade from what you have and would fit the bill... Still quite usable and can be modded to use a t420 keyboard for same layout as you already have... Unless you really know you need newer id suggest starting out with a T430

[tik34Load]

Start with a T430 and build it up.. should meet all your requirements and if your worried about speed just got for an i7 model with dedicated graphics... i got a T430 i5 for $75 and added 8gb ram and SSD for cheap and sold it for profit it's a nice upgrade from what you have and would fit the bill... Still quite usable and can be modded to use a t420 keyboard for same layout as you already have... Unless you really know you need newer id suggest starting out with a T430

That actually seems like a good choice. The only thing that concerns me is OpenGL. It's officially stated that my T60 supports OpenGL 2.0, but the reality is it only supports up to 1.4 under Windows. Intel's specs are telling me that there is Open GL 4.3 on the T430 and OpenGL 4.3 on the T450. However, how can I know what's actually supported on Windows?

Also, I'm seeing alot of i7 T430's on newegg, but none mention a dedicated graphics card which I assume to be the NVIDIA NVS 5400M. Do all i7 T430 laptops have this dedicated card by default?

[Whitieiii]

Start with a T430 and build it up.. should meet all your requirements and if your worried about speed just got for an i7 model with dedicated graphics... i got a T430 i5 for $75 and added 8gb ram and SSD for cheap and sold it for profit it's a nice upgrade from what you have and would fit the bill... Still quite usable and can be modded to use a t420 keyboard for same layout as you already have... Unless you really know you need newer id suggest starting out with a T430

That actually seems like a good choice. The only thing that concerns me is OpenGL. It's officially stated that my T60 supports OpenGL 2.0, but the reality is it only supports up to 1.4 under Windows. Intel's specs are telling me that there is Open GL 4.3 on the T430 and OpenGL 4.3 on the T450. However, how can I know what's actually supported on Windows?

Also, I'm seeing alot of i7 T430's on newegg, but none mention a dedicated graphics card which I assume to be the NVIDIA NVS 5400M. Do all i7 T430 laptops have this dedicated card by default?

No not all came with dedicated graphics but I use eBay for my old laptops... I just got an x260 i5 for $200 on eBay just needs some upgrades for me...

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