T42p vs T41, various questions.

[Cavorite]

Work's going to throw Me some cash in the next month to get a new laptop, and I have narrowed my selection down to the Thinkpad T series for various reasons. (IBM in general for quality, T series for features).

I do a mixed bag of work, and this will be My primary system for everything, in the field and a mobile workstation between home and office, or remote clients sites. A mix of administrator duties and then a fair ammount of GIS and Mapping work as well are my primary work needs, plus a lot more security and high resolution required imaging work on the side which I will use this system for as well. (Digital Photography).

Anyways, I am now at the point of narrowing it down between which T series to get, and a few things are on my mind.

1) Screen Quality (color, contrast, dpi) between the 14" and the 15", as some people have stated that their is a difference between the two LCD's.
I really would like the 15" with the 1600x1200, but if the screen quality is vastly lower than the 14" then I may reconsider and go for the 14".

2) Anyone here used the Fire GL mobile card for GIS work, or any intense non gaming 3D such as Softimage:XSI, Autocad, Maya, etc? Experiences with it would be useful.

3) Battery life w/ the higher capacity battery and the secondary ultrabay battery, anyone tried this combo with the higest spec'd T42p , given a gig of ram rather than 2 though. Just trying to get an idea of what my field life will be like with it.

4) I may end up getting the model with the Fingerprint reader, as it is part of the configuration I can't change to be able to get the processor I would like, however, does anyone have any real feedback as to getting this to be useful for anything? Particularly in something other than a standard windows password system, maybe authentication for SSL / SSH key exchanges, or other more useful encryption and security forms?

5) The difference between the two IBM mini-pci wireless cards, are they the same chipset, different power ratings, any information on this somewhat cryptic differing offers would be nice.

I will probably be doing a dual boot configuration, maybe even more, however, has anyone slipstreamed IBM's configuration into XP-SP2 for a fresh install if needed, and has anyone for that matter tried avoiding reinstallation and just doing a image ghosting and resizing of the partitions?


Oh yes, I should note, I am lucky enough to have an Friends and Family discount to use on the online site, however, some of the configurations are limited via that method, but the substaintial discount on the T series is worth it.

Thanks Much,

-C-

[BillMorrow]

15 inch 1200x1600 (flexview) display is superior to the 14 inch displays..

irt the FPR, there is a dissertation on my web site regarding this..

best wifi card is the ibm with the atheros chip..

the newer thinkpads all come with SP2..

[Cavorite]

It sounds that the 15" is the right choice then.

regarding the Atheros Chip though, aren't both of the IBM branded mini pci cards Atheros, just a difference in specs between the two.. I definatly will be avoiding the Intel wireless, yeck. Just interested in the differences of the two IBM variations since I've never seen a clear definition or whitepapers for either showing all the specs down to the T.

And in regards to SP2, i'm thinking about rolling my own XP disc, which is my normal prodcedure for every machine at work, I'm just wondering if anyone has slipstreamed the IBM packages into an XP SP2 install disc..

-C-

[Leon]

yes, yes, see http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=3827

[ian]

Here I see a definite bias - on a previous post, Leon was seen to reply with a single "Yes" - however here, where the original poster is God (Well, "Me" and "My" with capitals is generally reserved for "Him" isn't it?) Leon actually gets to two "Yes" - I think this shows bias and Leon should lose at least 57 brownie points...

[jeblis]

I just bought a t42 yesterday. So I haven't seen my screen yet, but I happen to work for a company with a lot of thinkpads floating around...

Anyway the big tradeoff with the screens is:

14.1" Smaller lighter laptop, better screen response times

15" Very bright and you can get the 1600x1200 resolution. Has noticible problems with ghosting if you are playing movies, games. err rather some people notice this others don't. ymmv

So I bought the 14" sxga+ (2373-ktu) because I want faster screen reponse and the smaller lighter form factor.

One other tip is that you should look at the psref it has all the models ibm offers and you can get more of a custom system. It also worth the effort to find an IBM employee who can hook you up with the discount.

[Cavorite]

Yeah, I don't care about screen response much, my gaming and such is done on my home system which is more than adequate for such things. The 15" is what i'm pretty set on now, the wide viewing angle will be very useful for field use.

Probably going to get the ThinkPad T42p 2373HTU, or maybe the 2373Q1U though i'm not sure its worth the price to get the faster processor and a finger print reader which as of right now I have no use for.

And yeah, I have the employee discount available, saving me over $1000 off the web price on either of those models, almost $1400 on the Q1U

-C-

[Leon]

but, IAN, if I lose all those brownie points, I won't be able to afford a room at Campanile Auch, and I'll have to stay at your house......

[jeblis]

The Q1U seems to have only three differences. The 2.1 processor, finger print reader, and a wifi with the atheros AR5004X chipset (vs. the intel chip).
Most people think the atheros chip is better.

Also look at the 2373-KXU it's identical to the HTU except it has the Atheros AR5001X+ chipset for wireless, and It's got the 2.0 GHz processor.

When I called yesterday my 2.0 Ghz system was cheaper than the 1.8 Ghz system. You'll need to call and ask if you don't see that model on the web.

[Cavorite]

I can't get all the models through the Employee Discount page, just some of them. I can upgrade the wireless on the HTU for cheap enough, so it's really a lot more money just for the fingerprint reader and the cpu option for me. I kinda have an urge to get the fingerprint reader though and see if i can get it working for some higher end security uses.

-C-

[jeblis]

Just because you don't see a model listed on the web doesn't mean you can't get the discount. I ordered mine with the epp discount and it wasn't listed on the epp website. Hmm looks like mine shipped today....