Buying Soon. Dell 600m vs IBM Thinkpad T42 (Price worthy?)

[JHEM]

Interesting notion about still receiving coverage directly from IBM, however. I'm not going to follow up on it, but if anyone does please let us know the result.

IBM Support will gladly take your phone call pertaining to a HD you purchased second hand.

Then they'll ask you the model and serial numbers of the Thinkpad the HD came out of!

This is an old, old story and something to be aware of when purchasing OEM drives that purportedly come with a manufacturers warranty. In general, OEM = No Warranty!

If in doubt about the warranty status of an Hitachi HD, go here: http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/ibmredirect.html and click on "Warranty check". Plug your S/N in the field where indicated and you'll have your answer immediately.

Regards,

James

[brewt]

Great response time and relevance by Hitachi! I only asked them via their web form about an hour ago.

Yeah, that's nice that it wasn't a canned generic response. I think the only way the person who bought your hd would get any warranty would be through you. They would ship it to you, you'd have to call up IBM and go through the diags and everything and then they'd ship the drive to you, then you'd ship the drive back to them (or I guess you could get it shipped right to them) and of course you need to ship the drive back to IBM. Not fun

[JHEM]

Es tut mir Leid. I am in lovely Houston, TX.

That's OK, you're forgiven.

Your penance is to go to Pappadeaux's, preferably the one on South Loop, and order a Crawfish Platter with half fried crawfish and half shrimp etouffee with dirty rice.

Then tell us all how good it was!

[censored] I miss Pappadeaux's!

Servus,

James

[kki000]

Well i guess its been beaten to death, but i'll beat it some more.
I owned both. The 600m was great when i bought it over a yr ago. It had the best vid card with reasonable price in decent form factor. It was plasticky creaky thing, but it worked well.
For the price, i think the 600m is still hard to beat for all you get.

When i upgraded to my 2378fvu, the main reason was for the better vid card, 9600vs 9000. I work on the old dell everynow and again since i gave it to my sister and now im taken aback by how cheap it feels.

Seriously, if yer looking to save money and dont mind the video card, i would still recommend the 600m. If you can splurge get the ibm.
Its hyundai vs acura... both get you there reliably, it depends on how much you value the ride.
K

[daeojkim]

Seriously, if yer looking to save money and dont mind the video card, i would still recommend the 600m. If you can splurge get the ibm.
Its hyundai vs acura... both get you there reliably, it depends on how much you value the ride.
K

I would call thinkpads BMW of notebooks, Dell... a Hyundai would be a good comparison.

[CoolRunnings]

I'd agree with that assessment... Might put Dell a bit higher though - say comparing a Nissan to an Accura

[ehd]

bad comparison.. bmws break down often =x even tho i love em..

anyhow you can always see an ibm first hand if you go to a campus computer store, as they usually stock em since they have 'educational pricing'

also about the 30 day return policy... can you return it for pretty much any reason... say that i want a t43 but im sick of waiting so buy the t42 and return it a month from now saying that the new t43 is out as an excuse to return it... is it a big hassle shipping it back.. they dont compensate for it do they...

[atct86]

My roomate has a 600m and I have my t40.

All i can say is that the dell is much thicker. It also feels alot cheaper especially when opening and closing the screen. Lastly i do not like the keyboard.

The only real advantages I can see are price, and easy acess Wi-Fi card.

[AtmosMan]

atct86, I can relate:

I have a T40 and my girlfriend has a 600m.

My assesment was as follows:

The general build is better on the T40. It is also thinner. The 600m and the T40 weigh exactly the same, but since the Dell is thicker (i.e. has more volume) the density is lower, and it doesn't feel as well put together as the T40. The quality of the Dell isn't horrendus by any means, but the T40 is just better.

The keyboard is *much* better on the T40. I have used other Dell laptops, but the 600m keyboard is the worst Dell keyboard I have used.

The one thing I liked better on the Dell was the screen.


Speaking from a non-biased point of view:

If you have never used a Thinkpad, let alone hear of it, and just bought a Dell cause that's the most popular brand, or is the cheapest, you probably won't be disappointed with the quality of the machine. But once you use it next to a Thinkpad, it is clear the Thinkpad is better built.

The other very important part of this decision is customer support. Many believe Dell customer support is terrible. I have never had to deal with Dell customer support. I know several people that own Dells and all of their experiences with Dell's support has been very positive actually. I have not experienced IBM's customer support, so I can't provide you with my opinion.

Remember support is all subjective. There will always be good and bad experiences no matter the brand. It's luck of the draw really. Right now on paper, IBM has better odds than Dell (America based vs. India based support for one.) Dell is trying to get better at customer support though. I believe they are building a couple of service centers in the midwest.

There is much more to these arguments, but it is a basic assesment.

So, if you can afford it, go with the IBM. If you want to spend the extra cash somewhere else, or save it, the Dell will be just fine too.

-Brian