Buying an IBM T41, did I make a good decision?

[sdaccord01]

With all the research and everything that I have done, I have just made an order for an IBM T41 2379DJU, the same one listed in the hot deals section with SXGA+. I'm wondering if indeed I made a good decision, with dothan coming up and also windows 64-bit edition. I was about to buy the same compaq x1000 laptop as my friend for a lot less than what I paid for this ($1871.xx), but I decided that durability means a lot to me. I am selling my 12" apple powerbook and love the strength of the casing, and it seems like ibm will hopefully fit the same bill. I am an electrical engineering student and am mainly using it on engineering programs. I was wondering if the processor and the video card can be upgraded? I got the 1.6ghz Pentium M and 32mb radeon 9000. I don't need a gaming laptop really, but wondering if I can play games like CS every once in a while without a lot of lagging. This is a really expensive purchase as I am used to buying laptops for around 1k, and hopefully someone can reassure me that I made the right purchase, thanks.

 

[sotoz10]

i ordered the same one as well thru the spp deal. Trust me i spent months researching for the best laptop, and this is it hands down! you made a wise long term investment. Never get and HP/ COMpaq theyre just built like junk.

 

[nanyangview]

engineers = god
sda, you are a smart man, you deserve a smart laptop. UR A GENIUS!! UR A ENGINEER(GOD) in training. Which school are you in?

anywaz..i have the T40P and absolutely love it. It is very WELL Built with its magnesium cover and titanium composite bottom. Its sure an eye opener. With your config, CS will play fine on your laptop.

 

[sdaccord01]

Thanks for the reassurance on my purchase. I'm in UC San Diego. I was wondering for you guys who have the thinkpads if it is worth it to get that 7200rpm hitachi 60gb hard drive. I've seen it for as low as $250 but it's still expensive and am wondering how much of a difference does it make? I might get that later on if the performance is that much better than the 5400rpm that I got right now.

 

[sotoz10]

the 7200 rpm would increase performance, but u also have to think about it like this also. with the higher rpm, the noise levels will be louder, and since it will spin at a higher rate, ur battery life will suffer as a result, IMO that 5400 rpm is perfect balance of speed and noise.

 

[Frightcrawler]

some people say that the 7200 rpm drive is quieter than the 5400. I cant verify though.

 

[seanlong]

I can barely hear the 7200 rpm drive in my T41p. It's the quietest laptop hard drive I've seen.

 

[sdaccord01]

Just got the T41 today from shopperwiz and I am very impressed at this laptop. Although it does not look as sleek as the 12" powerbook that it is replacing, the quality is definitely there. I was wondering if I should get an additional 256mb or 512mb of ram. The system comes with 256. The only complaint i have, and it is pretty minor, is that the battery does not fit the notebook tightly, there's a tiny amount of wiggle room in the back. I love how cool this thing runs and the sxga+ is definitely good for multitasking. I've heard a lot on people reformatting their hard drives because of the IBM stuff already on the hard drive that lags the computer. Is it really worth it to do that?

 

[eriqesque]

If you reformat the Hard drive and dump the IBM service partition you better call them to order the restore CD's.
You have 30 days to order them or after that it will cost ya $35 bucks.
I have formatted the Hard drive and rebuilt it back to the factory and I can not tell any lag in performance wither way.

 

[External]

I'm considering both the pb 12" and the t41. why did you dislike the 12" pb? what made you switch?
how do you like the t41 now that you've used it a bit?

 

[Shanteli]

Originally posted by: External
I'm considering both the pb 12" and the t41. why did you dislike the 12" pb? what made you switch?
how do you like the t41 now that you've used it a bit?

I owned both before. I say go for the IBM unless you are a die-hard Mac user.

 

[777php]

I just bought my T41 today, I too was also considering the 12" PB. Pretty much the only reason why I did not choose the PB was the fact that the resolution is limited to 1024x768.

I do have a few questions. Does anyone know how difficult it is to swap out the intel wifi card for the IBM a/b/g card and if it is possible to replace the Radeon 9000 with the FireGL card in the near future?

Regardless of the answers, I can't wait for my laptop to come and I have no regrets purchasing my t41.

 

[sdaccord01]

can someone please answer my squeaking palm rest question that I posted in another post? I love the T41, just that my palm rest seems to squeak every once in a while near the mouse buttons that are closest to the keyboard, does anyone else have this problem? The one thing I like about macs is that I think their fit and finish are the best in the industry, no squeaks or rattles whatsoever, I'm a little dissapointed in the T41 in that aspect as it doesn't seem to be as solidly constructed, but it's the best thing u can find for a win notebook.

 

[shoman94]

I ordered mine last night from NewEgg....so I'll see when I get it.

 

[Biggs]

Originally posted by: sotoz10
the 7200 rpm would increase performance, but u also have to think about it like this also. with the higher rpm, the noise levels will be louder, and since it will spin at a higher rate, ur battery life will suffer as a result, IMO that 5400 rpm is perfect balance of speed and noise.

Although it may seem your battery life may suffer from the higher rotational speed, it would also mean you'll load apps much faster. So in the end, everything will still balance out.

 

[vortix]

Originally posted by: Biggs

Originally posted by: sotoz10
the 7200 rpm would increase performance, but u also have to think about it like this also. with the higher rpm, the noise levels will be louder, and since it will spin at a higher rate, ur battery life will suffer as a result, IMO that 5400 rpm is perfect balance of speed and noise.

Although it may seem your battery life may suffer from the higher rotational speed, it would also mean you'll load apps much faster. So in the end, everything will still balance out.

So what's better (as far as power is concerned)...running the drive at a higher rotational speed for a shorter amount of time, or running the drive at a lower rotational speed for a longer amount of time? Has this been studied?

 

[aakerman]

Yes it has, check out tomshardware. Now I know tomshardware isn't exactly "trusted" here; but there were no intel-backed products in the line-up.
He pitted three drives against each other, 4200 rpm, 5400rpm seagate momentus and 7200 rpm hitachi.

As it turns out, the 7200 rpm was actually as quiet as the others, and it decreased the overall battery life by like 2-3 minutes.

I just ordered an IBM T41P the other day - it must be my dream-laptop, save the design... SXGA+, 512 DDR333, 60GB 7200rpm ibm/hitachi drive, ATI FireGL T2 (built on 9600), ibm a/b/g wireless, brilliant keyboard, and a lot of nice details, like a touchpad AND a trackpoint (my preference). Also I got a standard battery off eBay, so I won't have to carry around the extra weight of the high-cap battery, when I won't need it.

edit: and the best part was, I got it from a switzerland shop, with student discount (I'm Danish) - it cost me only 3000$ us dollars, with Danish taxes. That's under half the normal Danish price

 

[Tasc]

Is there any disadvantage to ordering this laptop from Newegg versus direct from IBM? Are you getting the exact same thing? Seems like a good deal, since you can save tax and about $90 off the price.

I guess one main disadvantage is no refunds - I've never had any experience with an ibm laptop, so its a little scary ordering one with absolutely no return policy.

Anyone compare this to the Compaq nc8000, I think that's the only other one I'm looking at...