Whats the best thinkpad for me?

[j0z3]

Hello there forum!

In the past few days Ive been looking around different laptops and notebooks from all manufacturers, all of the laptops Ive seen have a core 2 duo and a intel GMA chip, which is ok for me but as far as material quality and features of each manufacturer they are almost all the same(with a few exceptions of course).

I'm looking for a laptop that can be next to me 4 years of college.
My price range is top $350usd.
Doesnt matter what screen size, 14" or 15", wide or not.
What matters the most is a graphics card at least a x1400 or better, the processor has to be a dual core and the lighter the better.

Ram can be 512mb ddr2, I have a few modules laying around so I can upgrade at no cost.
Harddrive is also the same as RAM it can be 30gb I have a SATA 120 laying around.
I also have a T5470 fully functional, only problem is that I dont know which ThinkPad supports it with my current price specs.

Can you guys help me out?
EDIT: yes, I do play a few games such as CS:S and Starcraft 2, dont mind playing at the lowest settings as long as I get 20+ framerates.
NOTE: r60? t60? t60p?

[billp117]

Sounds like a T61 series ThinkPad will do the job...used of course.

[pianowizard]

There aren't any laptops that are guaranteed to work for four years. The T61 in particular has a very high failure rate. If you really want to use the same laptop throughout your 4 years of college, get a new laptop and purchase 4 years of warranty for it, but of course such a laptop would cost >>$350.

[j0z3]

@pianowizard I had a Inspiron b120 for 4 years and the motherboard died from a power surge, If you take care of it, it'll last a few years.

@billp117 exactly which model has the dedicated video card?

[pianowizard]

@pianowizard I had a Inspiron b120 for 4 years and the motherboard died from a power surge, If you take care of it, it'll last a few years.

Of course many laptops have lasted more than 4 years, but there is no way to predict in advance.

Read about the T61 graphics issue here.

[j0z3]

@pianowizard
Well, no t61 or any Nvidia ThinkPad for me.
Thank you, any suggestions?

[RealBlackStuff]

In that price range I'd be looking at a T60 or R60 with 14.1" SXGA+ (1400x1050) and integrated Intel graphics.
They come mostly with Core Duo CPUs, but you can upgrade the CPU to Core 2 Duo T7600.
AFAIK your T5470 will also work in a T60/R60.
And they take the cheap DDR2 PC5300 RAM Sodimms.
These machines take SATA hard disks, at least up to 500GB, although they are limited to SATA-I speed.
However, SATA-II speed HDs also work without problems.

I have such an R60 (type 9457-Y1R) with T2500 (2GHz) Core Duo CPU and 14.1" SXGA+ (4:3 format, not widescreen).
PM me if interested.

[j0z3]

AFAIK your T5470 will also work in a T60/R60.

So the t60 supports t5470? I thought gma950 did not support these processors.

[dr_st]

T5470 seems to be Socket P, so won't work in T60/R60...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_In ... processors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socket_P
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=31788

[RealBlackStuff]

Thanks, learned something useful today.

@j0z3: Sorry if I gave any false hope.