I'm interested in a T42 2378-FVU, but I have a few concerns

[Vasant56]

I'm really interested in the T42 2378FVU, but I do have a few concerns. If someone could help me that'd be great.

1. It's a 14.1' SXGA+ screen, is that bad? Will it be really hard to see stuff?

2. Preferably, I'd want to get an XGA, if it's 14.1' (seems like it'd look better), but I kinda want the 64mb 9600 for gaming reasons. Is there any alternative?

3. How much of a difference will a 32mb card and a 64mb card make for gaming? I'm not that big of a laptop person (it's my first one), so I'm not too sure (I'm used to my radeon 9700)

4. Because IBM Canada won't sell this specific model, I need to buy it from a third party site. The default model has only 256mb of ram. I kinda want it upgraded to 512.. how would I go about doing this on my own?


Thanks a lot for the help

[pete0r]

1. no, i haven't used a flexview screen, but this thing works perfectly for me. i like having the smaller screen over my friends who have laptops with 15 inch screens.

2. the sxga+ or whatever the larger resolution with the 9600 (what i have) is very easy to see. my dad has a t23 and it's xga and it's really annoying to me because the icons and everything is so large. you'll thank yourself when you get the sxga+ screen.

3. i don't really know, but i do know i can run doom3 very well on here, as well as every other modern game (bf1942, c&c generals).

4. just go to site that sells memory. crucial.com sells the same memory ibm uses and they even have a thing where you can put your model number in and it'll guarentee the type of ram they'll sell you. i bought my own ram from newegg.com for a few dollars cheaper though..

pete

[stgreek]

I'm really interested in the T42 2378FVU, but I do have a few concerns. If someone could help me that'd be great.

1. It's a 14.1' SXGA+ screen, is that bad? Will it be really hard to see stuff?

2. Preferably, I'd want to get an XGA, if it's 14.1' (seems like it'd look better), but I kinda want the 64mb 9600 for gaming reasons. Is there any alternative?

3. How much of a difference will a 32mb card and a 64mb card make for gaming? I'm not that big of a laptop person (it's my first one), so I'm not too sure (I'm used to my radeon 9700)

4. Because IBM Canada won't sell this specific model, I need to buy it from a third party site. The default model has only 256mb of ram. I kinda want it upgraded to 512.. how would I go about doing this on my own?


Thanks a lot for the help

1. I find the SXGA+ screens to be superb, but ymmv. If you will use graphics programs or need screen estate it is the way to go, otherwise just get the cheaper XGA.

2. Check the TABOOK (see FAQ), there may be XGA models with the 9600.

3. The problem is that there is no 32MB 9600, the 32s are 7500 and 9000 so the 9600 will be miles better for gaming. If, however, you only play strategy games, a 32mb 9000 is more than enough and will save you money.

4. Upgrading memory/hard drive/optical drive on a Thinkpad takes about 45 sec, so it should not be hard at all

Hope this helps

Stavros

[Vasant56]

I will be programming, word processing, and playing games.

I'm just afraid it will be too big of a strain on my eyes to see anything.

Also, if there is the exact same specs, but 15", that'd be great, just like if there's the exact same specs, but with XGA.