dell precision m60 vs t42

[jkresh]

Will be buying a laptop for school soon, and it appears that with a similar configuration I can get the m60 pretty close to the t42 (though I have to check on ibms exact educational discount), biggest difference is that the m60 will have a wuxga screen and a quadro fx 700(128meg), vs. the t42 with sxga and 64meg 9600. IBM may come out a little cheaper (though will definitely be more expensive if I go to the uxga and 128meg card). So basically in terms of quality how do they compare, because if it?s close I think the dell may be a better deal. Comes to 2700 for IBM (assuming 15% discount) vs. 2500 for dell, though the dell is a 1.5ghz Dothan vs. IBM 1.8 (IBM only offers uxga with the 1.8, and dell wants $400 to go from 1.5 to 1.7) so IBM is obviously faster, but with an inferior screen. I do like widescreen (desktop has been for 3 years, and have had 2 widescreen notebooks). Any thoughts?

 

[jkresh]

anyone

 

[GnomeCop]

wow, I'm surprised with this board... no one has said "get the IBM" yet...

 

[smb]

What are the warranties on them ? the Dell complete care is a really great investment, even if you don't plan on dropping, sitting, throwing or breaking it.

Quality is about the same with the Dell being a bit heavier. The IBM has a titanuim frame and could probably withstand moving around alot more.

maybe that will help you.

 

[jkresh]

both with 3 year next day onsite. Dell has complete care and gold support.
In terms of hardware difference dell has the better screen, probably better graphics, but slower processor (they want 400 to go from 1.5(dothan) to 1.7, which i cant justify). If ibm gets teh 1.7 out with the 9600 it will probably be 200 cheaper, but that is with a 15sxga vs wuxga and 64meg vs 128 (9600 vs fxgo). I figure i have about a week to decide (so it will get in with about a week before the semester starts and i will have time to set it up).

 

[juancferrer]

since you already like the widescreen, get the dell.

 

[jkresh]

leaning towards the dell, just want to make sure build quality is high as I cant afford to have much downtime on it (which is why am i looking at a business machine instead of an inspirion and getting the highest level of warranty they have)

 

[jkresh]

assuming 15% off from ibm it appears to be within $100 to go from the dell to the ibm, quadro700 vs firegl, 1900x1200 vs 1600x1200 1.5 vs 1.8), though dell has complete care while ibm doesnt. Assuming similar qaulity i guess it comes down to widescreen(+++) vs 300mhz and ati (have an aiw on my desktop so ati on laptop is nice). Decisions, decisions.

 

[kalster]

why does your son need a work station level card, just wondering


is he going to be doing any autocad or opengl level stuff

 

[jkresh]

its actualy my machine (being 21 it would be difficult to have a son in college). Reason for the workstation cards is simple, for the dell becasue of my deal i can get the precision for the same price as the d800 (actualy slightly cheaper) so why not. For the ibm i want high res screen (previous laptop had wuxga, hp zt3000 before resistor blue, from cosco so i just returned it, and desktop is 1600x1024 (sgi 1600sw). With the ibm the only way to go to uxga is to add the firegl, and having the extra 64megs of memory is nice. Wont likley be doing much atuocad (some opengl programming is quite possible) but do deal with protein manipluation(more cpu intensive then graphics but cant hurt to have higher end graphics card).

 

[kalster]

Originally posted by: jkresh
its actualy my machine (being 21 it would be difficult to have a son in college). Reason for the workstation cards is simple, for the dell becasue of my deal i can get the precision for the same price as the d800 (actualy slightly cheaper) so why not. For the ibm i want high res screen (previous laptop had wuxga, hp zt3000 before resistor blue, from cosco so i just returned it, and desktop is 1600x1024 (sgi 1600sw). With the ibm the only way to go to uxga is to add the firegl, and having the extra 64megs of memory is nice. Wont likley be doing much atuocad (some opengl programming is quite possible) but do deal with protein manipluation(more cpu intensive then graphics but cant hurt to have higher end graphics card).

oops I read son somewhere, different thread I guess

Well I have a IBM T41 with the SXGA display and I REALLY like it, I have owned dell laptop's before, albeit Inspiron and find IBM to be superior, but Lattitude is a different cup of tea I guess

 

[smb]

Actually you will want a better resolution. the only thing is I have a Dell 5150 with 1600x1400 and at times it's too small. If I go to 1400xwhatever the screen fon't get really ugly. But, the warranty alone would put the Dell in my favor. Believe me, you can't go wrong with the gold care warranty.

 

[jkresh]

comes down to goldcare/completecare/widescreen vs 300mhz and ibm build quality, I am going to call ibm today and see what discount i am actualy getting and how long it will realy take to ship, if this price is about what the dells and the shipping date isint too bad i will probably go ibm, if not i will go dell.

 

[CombatChuk]

I've never really dealt with Dell's business level laptops. Didn't think too highly of their consumer laptops. IBM has never let me down, the Fire GL card would be nice if you're into OpenGL

 

[jkresh]

assuming i get a good discount from ibm thats were i am going as i guess my school deal with dell just changed (the model i configured yesterday for 2487 was close to 3000 today) it appears that if i go with the preconfigured model the deal is better then before but they are no longer offering deals on the business level dells, so that all but eliminates it. Guess i will have to live without a widecreen machine.

 

[CombatChuk]

Widescreen is nice, but IBM quality is more than worth it.

 

[jkresh]

I know (currently have a still running 770dvd, basically an internet terminal but wow thats lasted). Just have been widecreen for desktop and laptop for 3 years now, was hoping never to go back. Seems widescreen hasnt hit the business market realy yet, more for the larger desktop replacement/gaming machines.