BOUGHT! WTB: A30p/A31p/T23/T30/T40 - $790 delivered to UK

[tiorapatea]

Need a new laptop to replace my wife's Vaio N505X, bought on the advice of one of her previous boyfriends . It still works but it feels sluggish and I don't feel it's worth upgrading the memory to 128 from 64MB because at heart it has a 333MHz Celeron.

The replacement needs to be in good cosmetic condition, or else my wife will get upset. If not, you need to point me to links where I can discover how to respray the top of the case, remove sticky marks etc. and explain why you have not already done this.

Basically, I would like her to be able to run XP and use the internet over an 802.11a wireless network. Also, I'd like to boot it with Debian Sarge/Unstable when she's not looking. I envisage this machine being used about ten hours a week or 500 hours a year for about three years - is this realistic with a second-user Thinkpad?

We are in London, UK. Our maximum budget, after taxes and delivery charges, is £450, or $790. I believe I will be liable to VAT @ 17.5% on any laptop imported from North America. If anyone knows of any additional taxes/charges, please let me know.

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but specs for this might be:
Pentium III-M >= 1GHz or newer Intel series.
512MB RAM
40 GB disk
Dual band antenna in screen (will waive this requirement, not sure whether I need it or whether I might retrofit or go with 802.11b)
Valid XP licence and recovery CD/ability to order recovery CD for little cost
Screen - needs to be "young" or I need advice on the life of these things. I may live with dead pixels if I am told about them but backlight longevity is worrying me.

I don't mind upgrading RAM and hard disk but screen swaps/motherboard swaps, that type of thing, I'm not ready for.

I have a definite weakness for screens with an IPS panel (I think this is called Flexview). I think that means a subset of SXGA+ or all UXGA screens. For my wife, the screen IS the computer and I'm worried about getting something she does not like. I believe these days that fonts/other things are fairly scalable, at least on a per-application basis, in Windows so I'm hoping that 1600x1200 or 1400x1050 will not cause difficulties in this area - please advise. Anyway, the IPS thing is why I have put the A30p and A31p models on the list - if it were not for the screen I would not favour a machine of this size.

Sorry to be so imprecise/long-winded. I don't really know what Windows XP needs to run well and I am trying to learn about Thinkpad intricacies.

p.s. where is a good thread here on the performance differences between T23, T30 and T40?

p.p.s. Great site, glad I found it.

[tiorapatea]

More research, more questions, still no offers.

The more I think about it, the more I would love an A31P or an A31 2652-[MQ][35]U. I guess these are pretty rare though, especially ones that are for sale. I know this is supposed to be for my wife but I might just have to get her another one.

Those Type numbers drive you crazy, though, because the ones I see for sale are never in the tawbook. Is this a European model thing, or what?

Confused about antennas: is a 5 GHz antenna different from a 2.4 GHz antenna? In other words, can a Wifi equipped T23 (antenna in lid) be used with an 11a Mini PCI card and get the benefit of the antenna? This may be academic because it turns out the Orinoco AP-2000 I bought may be going to be a b/g Access Point after all, at least for now.

Bluetooth: I realise that could be pretty nice. It seems to be rare though in my model range.

Firewire: Why do so few Thinkpads have this? The Vaio does and I have an external Firewire CD/RW drive - although it's broken at the moment. I might even consider an X31 2672-JGU, because it has Firewire, bluetooth, 11a/b Wifi and Gigabit ethernet.

Keep 'em coming !

[bill bolton]

More research, more questions, still no offers.

You are expecting a lot for the budget you have set, even with local delivery!

Cheers,

Bill

[tiorapatea]

Well, T23s are selling for between £250 and £300 on ebay UK (£300=$525).

1.175*525=$620 (Value Added Tax)

Postage from N. America at, say $90, equals $710. Plus, I would expect that prices in the US are lower than $525 for T23s, even specified to 512MB, 40GB. For example, XTI had a great machine on offer here at $495.

I agree a T40 is a stretch unless local to me but, let me say, for the right machine, I might go a bit higher (say $900) but I don't really want to do this until I have become more desperate.

The major issue seems to be that this market (the forums) is somewhat illiquid, especially for non-Americans. But I can wait!

[tiorapatea]

Couldn't sleep this morning so I fired up my ebay search and saw a newly-offered Buy-it-now T40 "as new", 512MB, 40GB, "wireless", licensed XP Pro, from a guy with about 1500 100% positive feedback, in the UK for £375. Now that I've bought it, I am going to read the full description! Normally I like to ask about thirty-three thousand questions before bidding but I don't think I had time for that.

Thanks for reading about this saga. I still love the idea of an A31P but I couldn't resist this one.