need t41/t42 buying advice

[sputnik611]

Hi. I want to buy a thinkpad, but am not sure which model I need and which specs to choose. I'll be using my laptop mostly for word processing, screenwriting (Final Draft software), web surfing, occasional DVD watching, and storing and playing a lot of music (maybe 25 GB) using ITunes. I know I want a very portable computer, so I know I want the 14" screen model.

So here are my questions:

1. can anyone advise me on whether to get the t41 or t42?
2. I'm confused about the graphics options. I know there's XGA and SXGA, 32 bit vs. 64 bit, flex-view, etc., but to be honest, I don't really understand what it all means. Can someone simplify this for me and advise me what to get for my needs?
3. any other advice about what specs to choose -- i.e., hard drive size, wireless options, memory?

thanks very much for you help!

[none]

Hi there,

I think you will be fine whether you get a T41 or T42.. The T42 just has a newer generation of the Pentium M processor than the T41, which is slightly faster and has slightly better battery life. T42 are also available with slightly higher end video cards than T41.

For your screen, you should deffinetely go with an SXGA (1400x1050) resolution... They're extremely crisp and bright, and being the owner of one myself, I don't think I could ever go back to 1024x768 XGA displays... FlexView doesn't really apply to you, since you said you want a 14" model. FlexView is a technology that IBM only uses in their 15" models.

As far as 32 bit vs. 64 bit, whichever laptop you get from IBM will have a 32 bit processor... I think you may have meant a 32MB vs. 64MB video card. If you ever want to play games or work in 3D programs, you will find a 64MB video card to be a benifit.. But for everything you mentioned, you will not see a difference between 32MB and 64MB...

IBM also makes a T41p and T42p, which are just the cream of the crop models of both series... Those come with 128MB video cards, and the T42p is the one which has an option of a 15" FlexView UXGA screen. For your purposes, I wouldn't get a p designated model. They're very expensive and nothing you mentioned seems like it would really utilize their power.

For your hard drive, because you have MP3s, I would probably look for a 60GB hard drive, or an 80GB hard drive... Personally I prefer the 60GB, because it's faster (7200RPM vs. the 80GB's 5400RPM). Note that if you do decide to go with a drive larger than your usual 40GB, you're more likely to find one on a T42 than T41.

Don't worry about your memory.. I'd recommand 512MB or 1GB, but memory is one of the easiest upgrades you can get for a laptop. Even if you buy something with 256MB, you can just pop a second module in there any time to increase it.

I can't speak much for wireless options because I don't use the wireless in my laptop... I'm sure someone else on this forum can make some recommendations as to IBM vs Intel wireless, and whether you need it.. Sorry

My recommendation would be for you to contact Bill and ask him what models of T41/T42 he has with an SXGA screen, and maybe 60GB hard drive for your MP3s.. I think IBM's website is a little skimpy on the selection at the moment, since they took down all the older models...

[gcchatel]

First of all, wow to the 25GB of music. I never knew anyone actually had that much. Now to answer your questions:

1. There are so many models of the t41 and t42's that the model name really doesn't matter. The one big difference between the two models is the cache available on the processor. Think of cache as super ram, and the t42 models have 2MB of cache versus the 1MB on the t41. This means a faster computer, but probably not noticeable for your described use.

2. The graphic options differ a lot. XGA, SXGA, and UXGA are the three options available, since you want the 14inch you only get ot pick between XGA and SXGA, these have to do with the native resolution of the LCD.
XGA = 1024x768
SXGA = 1290x1024
SXGA+ = 1400x1050 (my pick!)
UXGA = 1600x1200 on the thinkpads but only available on the 15 inch t42 models.

When you hear about bits involved with graphics, it has to do with the colordepth, this means that you have 2^x power colors displayed on the LCD, where x can be anywhere between 4-32 as far as i know, never heard of 64 bit color on typical graphic cards. By 32 versus 64 you are probably thinking of the video memory which is 32MB for the lower end graphic cards and 64MB for the upper end t42s, you can get 128MB with the high end t42 which go under the model name t42p. Video memory is how much memory your graphics processor has dedicated to it (the t series has dedicated memory, other cards used shared memory or memory that is part of your ram but just allocated to the video card, this is bad). Flexview is only available on 15 inch models, so don't worry about that.

Now for what you need. You would be fine for now to go with the lower end graphics, so the radeon 7500 with 32MB. I would however recommend getting the Radeon 9600 with 64MB, it's a very nice card for the price and will prevent your computer from going obsolete because of lacking graphics in the future. It also comes with the 1400x1050 resolution which is wonderful.

3. Get a big hard drive considering you will be using 25GB just for music. Apart from that, most of the systems should work for you. Memory, hard drive, processor, even wireless are pretty easy to upgrade, so don't worry if you shoot too low on those for now.

You'll love the T series, I know I do.

Gael

[lfeagan]

I would get a T42. They are the newest model from IBM and have their most current CPUs and graphics cards in them. Namely the Radeon 9600 is available on the T42 and not on the T41. There are a large number of other reasons to get the T42. Lets just leave it at you should get a T42.

As far as hard drive, if you are only going to run Windows (i.e. no dual booting linux) then a 60GB drive should be more than adequate for 25GB of music plus whatever apps you put on there. 40GB would be a bit too small. If you predict your music collection growing somewhat or you have lots of large files you edit, perhaps video pictures, something like that, then you might want to go with the 80GB. By large I mean 200MB pictures, which is not uncommon for photo professionals.

As far as wireless, I would get the Atheros A/B/G chipset. It is very good. The only reason not to get it would be if you just love the name "Centrino".

Note to those who said SXGA is 1400x1050. There is one minor thing missing from your statements. SXGA is 1280x1024. SXGA+ is 1400x1050. (Note the "+" there.) I have a 14" SXGA+ laptop and love it. But I am 24 and have 20/10 vision, so seeing even the smallest of fonts is never a problem for me. But, if you are older, the XGA display may be much more to your liking. Flexview is just a technology to help increase the angle at which you can see the display clearly. Mainly useful if you want to have more than 1 person looking at the screen at at time. For non-Flexview screens if you are offset by more than about +/- 30 degrees the display starts to shift at the extremes. This is not an issue at all for a single person using it unless you bob your head around a lot as though doing aerobics while typing on it.

If you play games at all, you should get the Radeon 9600 64MB laptop. For instance, with lots of pretties on in Call of Duty at 800x600 I easily stay above 90fps no matter what explosions go off. Also, the screen really does a good job at not having blur. Yes, there is some, but I *highly* doubt anyone but me, who is so pissy that I run all my desktop CRTs at 110Hz, would notice. Yes, 85Hz on a CRT is noticable to me. I have had friends do blind tests with me and I can accurately discern 60Hz vs 75Hz vs 85Hz.

As far as the memory, just order one with 256MB and then order a 512MB stick from Crucial.com. Far cheaper way to do it than from IBM. Oh yeah, and order you Thinkpad from Bill. I wish I would have. Se la vie...

If you want to see a bunch of different models, check out the tabook pdf at IBM.com.

Hope this helps some. And the best of good buys to you!
(The cheesy, but funny, line from the Nighly Business Report.)

[sputnik611]

First of all, thanks to all who replied. Your comments are extremely helpful. Now if you will indulge me in some follow up questions...

For those of you who recommended the SXGA+, do you have any problem with the text size? My understanding is that the text is smaller with those kind of screens. I wear glasses, so my vision is fine with them on, but then again I'm in my 40's, so I'm concerned this might be an issue.

I'm still a litttle confused about something -- What is the relationship between the screen type and the video card? If you get the XGA screen, does that mean you would get a 32MB card with it? Or can you also get the 64MB card? And conversely, if you get the SXGA+ screen, can you get either card with that one?

Lastly, what do you think about buying directly from IBM? I think I get some kind of shareholder's discount, which makes it tempting to go with them. But I know many people on this forum sing the praises of Bill.

Again, thanks for your help. This forum rocks.

[lfeagan]

The SXGA+ can be a bit small if you are older. There are ways to change the font size, but my general feeling is that people over the age of 30 might not like the SXGA+. I wish there was some useful metric to compare the "default" text size too. Let's see, its about the same size as you might expect in a book with farily small print, but about 30% larger than the fonts a lot of things use for footnotes, which do tend to be pretty small. But, you can alter the font size easily in Windows. I would highly suggest you go to your local computer store and look at some notebooks with various screen sizes and resolutions. The local computer store would likely have a 15" SXGA+ and I used to have a notebook that did that too and find that there isn't much difference in text size between 14.1" and 15" in terms of readability, so if you find one of these then you should have a good idea of what it would look like.

As another alternative, tell us what your current monitor type is (CRT or LCD), its listed display size (17", 19", 22", etc) and what resolution you prefer to run it at. We should be able to tell you based on that.

As far as the video-card to screen type thing, there is no relationship other than what IBM sells. Theoretically any combination should be possible.

The shareholder discount might be the way to go. Though it varies likely based on the specific model as to who has the better price. Though Bill's service will always be better.

[Plinkerton]

Another addition, though not much help: I like the SXGA+ also. I have a 14.1 inch screen and love it. Though, I am 22 and have 20/13 vision, so obviously that's not too much help to you. My dad wears glasses, and is 53, and he doesn't mind the small size, though I bet if he had to use it on a daily basis, it might be a little small.

On an unrelated note, I have about 12 gigs of music, and 25 is quite impressive. If you want to see some INSANITY of music collections though, head on over to ipodlounge.com. There is a guy there who has 2X200 gig external HDs, just for his music collection. He has about 40 THOUSAND songs. Quite insane. There are a few other people like that there also.

[lvlolvlo]

Have you thought about the X series? You can pick that one up with a 80GB hd which I think will be a. ok and it's super portable and light...

[lfeagan]

Uhh...I thought the max on the X40 was 40GB as per its 1.8" form factor hard drive. Though the X31 could run the 80GB drive of course..

[sputnik611]

Thanks again to everyone for their advice. I guess I need to go to computer stores and check out some screens, see which one works for me.

I have looked into the X series. Seems pretty cool, and I love how light they are, but I don't think I can deal with a computer without a trackpad. Also, if I recall correctly, the screen was a little small for my liking.