recommend me a thinkpad

[Martin_172]

hi guys, i recently bought a ThinkPad T40 for going traveling, spent a little bit upgrading it and really liked it however i got a good offer to sell it so went for it, to be honest i was always a little worried about the issue with the radeon 7500 chip going bad and needing fixed anyway, so im looking for another thinkpad.

im pretty open to any suggestions really, i just want another one as i love how well built they are for using on the move. here's what i fancy, its not set in stone just would be a benefit...

looking for something with no "common failures" to worry about
dual core power would be nice, but a quick single will do
windows 7 ready again would be nice (suppose its only the graphics hardware/drivers going to hold it back here)
SATA for a SSD hard drive (i have a spare 60gb SSD from an upgrade to my main machine)
reasonably small and good on battery
it must have a thinklight for typing in the dark ( i dont know if these are standard equipment now?)

as for a budget, to be honest ill pay what its going to cost to get something nice, id prefer to go 2nd hand rather than pay the crazy prices they are new, say a maximum of £500 but the less the better (i only paid £90 for the T40 and that done the job!) but as i said, if i feel its worth it ill spend what i need to spend.

cheers

[underclocker]

Used T410. Not sure about UK pricing, but certainly in the US, you can find one in your price range. A T400s or T410s would also work nicely, but they are a little more fragile (plastics & LCD) than a typical ThinkPad.

[rkawakami]

reasonably small and good on battery

If this requirement is fairly high on your list, then I'd go for something in the X series. You can have a light laptop when you detach the Ultrabase and optical drive. For an older system, think about an X60/X61 with an extended battery. Newer systems would be the X2xx/X3xx series.

[ssd_thinkpad]

For £500 (VAT excluded) you can even configer and deliver a x220 with premium panel from lenovo with coupons.

If you go light, the x series is the best. Here the x-s series (x60s, x61s, x200s, x201s) is both stable and thinner and lighter than their non-s counterparts. For battery life the x220 and then the x200s series is the best. Don't take a slow and power hungry celeron cpu. With your budget and if you take care about battery life, I would take a look at the x200s.

Batteries are always expensive, so take this into your consideration. A battery for a x60 can be as expensive as a battery for the state-of-the-art model x220.

[underclocker]

reasonably small and good on battery

I always considered the 14" T line as reasonably small - even more so, with the popularity of 15.4", 15.6", 17" and larger LCD'd machines! The X line I'd call small. For traveling, I personally use a 3lb. X100e, but for some a 4 lb. T400s or 5lb. T410 is fine. Anyway, the OP should clarify...

[mnowell69]

i would also recommend an X series. Although i have always stuck to IBM branded models in the past, i recently decided to buy a T400 and an X61. Still haven't tried them yet because i am travelling with my trusty TP240x, but if they are like my others i will be happy.