is it worth $500 more?

[stingygrrl]

I'm looking at these 2 and having a mighty hard time deciding:

IBM THINKPAD T41 $1,608
3 YR WARRANTY, take to local shop
2 batteries ($99 each)
Win XP Pro (value $75)
802.11b (adding G requires proprietary $100 card)
30 gb hard drive
4.9 lbs
14.1" screen
2 USB 2.0
No firewire
APS hard drive protection (possible issue it's destroying hard drives??)
CDRW/DVD ROM
Magnesium cover
Top Notch Cust Svc repuation
Repuation for excellent build quality
PC2700 RAM
Embedded security system
Spillproof keyboard
32 MB radeon 7500


COMPAQ X1000 $1,040
1 YR WARRANTY, mail in
1 battery
Win XP Home
802.11 b/g
40 gb hard drive
6.6 lbs
15.4" screen (I like)
2 USB 2.0
Firewire
HD protection N/A
DVD ROM
plastic shell?
Poor rep for svc?
Reputation that will break in 2 yrs.
PC 2100 RAM
no embedded security system
possible free MSFT wireless G station
32MB radeon 9000

is it worth the extra $500?? The real issue is wil the compaq last 4 years? the IBM will with their 3 yr adn the 1 yr amex gives us. is it worth sacrificing firewire, 802.11g, a smaller HD. I play ZERO games!

 

[Abhi]

If I wanted a laptop to last 4 years, i would put my money on the T41..... definately.

 

[Frightcrawler]

No games = IBM.

 

[moparmaga]

My HP has been rock solid, a great notebook for much less money than others like Dell, etc. I say go Compaq.
If it does happen to break (it won't unless you drop it or otherwise) you can use the money you saved to get it repared.

 

[DaWhim]

what screen for t41? SXGA+ makes a huge difference

 

[stingygrrl]

the t41 has a XGA screen. I'm typing on the X1000 now and like this res (except it's a little higher-- WXGA for widescreen).

One thing that's worrying me about the t41 (hope to get it tomorrow) is that I've read scattered reports that the active hard drive protection actually kills drives! I'm not sure if it's been fixed with a BIOS update or different HDs. It might be limited to 60GB hard drives and mine is not that. I've googled it a lot but can't get a lot of hits. I've checked out thinkpads.com too. I'll call IBm about it next week.

What tests should I run? just sandra and 3dMark? (might need help interpreting them). My desktop (Epox 8RDA+, Barton 2500, 512 mb, etc) is a nice rig so I never bothered to test it out with any of those programs.

PS, it's also a gift from a relative for doing a lot to help them with an ongoing problem over years. So although I don't want to gouge them, I don't want to be paying for repairs and new batteries either in 18 months. ( I think when they offered, that I'd pick a $700 one but they also keep saying 'get the one you want')


Such a dilemna!!

 

[godthisblows]

I'd personally say to go with the IBM, one of my classmates has the x1000 and something went wrong and Compaq gave him the runaround at first. Also are you going to be carrying this thing around because the weight difference might surprise you after carrying them around for a while

 

[Frightcrawler]

don't worry about the active protection thing. you can always disable it if you wish.

 

[rainypickles]

the top of the x1000 is aluminum, or some metal. its not entirely plastic.

could you just fork out some money for the extra warranty on the x1000? then at least it would work for 3 years, assuming customer service works out.

btw, i have a x1000 and i love it.

but weight and out-of-the-box reliability might matter to you. for me, its not worth the price difference. (i mean, reliability does matter, but i have 3yr warranty.)

 

[aakerman]

frightcrawler: It's not because of the APS, it's the harddrive itself that there is a problem with (hitachi 7k60).
But don't worry stingy, there is a fix for it - has been out for a couple of weeks.. www.ibm.com - find t41, and then downloads.

I'd say the T41 also - it's a better machine.
Do you really find yourself needing a widescreen? When I bought my first notebook a couple
of months ago, I went with a widescreen too - I just thought.. "WOW WIDESCREEN, NICE!" -
but in real life use, it never came in handy.. just made the computer bigger and heavier


edit:
spillproof keyboard? can you tell me more about that???

 

[stingygrrl]

I truly can't decide. I use the compaq and think, 'hey this is nice machine'. then I use the IBM and think the same thing.

I do like the idea that the repair place for the IBm is 10 min away and I can go there and if they can't fix it, IBM can overnight parts in.

I want to run some benchmarks and see how they perform. But that means doing a clean OS install on both, and that will have to wait until I get some unrelated work done first.

I can get past the firewire, bec I have no firewire devices and I have it on my desktop if I really need it.

As for the 'g' card, I can't see myself using the wireless for anything but the internet, which is something like 20% of 'b''s speed, so why even bother with 'g'? overkill?

stay tuned to this batchannel...

 

[stingygrrl]

Originally posted by: aakerman
frightcrawler: It's not because of the APS, it's the harddrive itself that there is a problem with (hitachi 7k60).
But don't worry stingy, there is a fix for it - has been out for a couple of weeks.. www.ibm.com - find t41, and then downloads.

I'd say the T41 also - it's a better machine.
Do you really find yourself needing a widescreen? When I bought my first notebook a couple
of months ago, I went with a widescreen too - I just thought.. "WOW WIDESCREEN, NICE!" -
but in real life use, it never came in handy.. just made the computer bigger and heavier


edit:
spillproof keyboard? can you tell me more about that???

I called IBM yesterday and they told me the HD issue is not on my HD, it covers 60GB (and maybe?? 80GB hard drives)

I think the sales rep I ordered it from said it had a spillproof keyboard. I'll have to see if I can find anything. I'd like to call him back and get the spiel again bec I didn't take notes adn now I can't remember it all. But that stuck with me bec I just replaced my desktop keyboard about 4-6 weeks ago due to a coffee spill. So I'm pretty sure that was on the list!

 

[aakerman]

hehe.. well cool if it has! because I am expecting my T41p any day now, and I didn't know about the spillproof keyboard..

I am a bit put off by all the different problems, people are having with their r50s and t41s though.

 

[kalster]

Originally posted by: aakerman
hehe.. well cool if it has! because I am expecting my T41p any day now, and I didn't know about the spillproof keyboard.. I am a bit put off by all the different problems, people are having with their r50s and t41s though.

what problems are people having with t41s

 

[Abhi]

Do you really find yourself needing a widescreen? When I bought my first notebook a couple
of months ago, I went with a widescreen too - I just thought.. "WOW WIDESCREEN, NICE!" -
but in real life use, it never came in handy.. just made the computer bigger and heavier

This aint useful??