Ok, help me choose between the T30 and R40

JMaster

Golden Member
Feb 9, 2000
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I'm planning to buy a laptop VERY soon, and here are my choices...

IBM Thinkpad T30
Pentium 4 - M 1.8 GHz
256 MB
20 GB
14.1" screen (1024x768)
wireless not included
2.8 hrs battery life

IBM Thinkpad R40 (Centrino)
Pentium M 1.3 GHz
256 MB
20 GB
14.1" (1024x768)
wireless included
6.2 hrs battery life

They are about the same price, what do you think I should get?

 

Siddhartha

Lifer
Oct 17, 1999
12,505
3
81
Originally posted by: JMaster
I'm planning to buy a laptop VERY soon, and here are my choices...

IBM Thinkpad T30
Pentium 4 - M 1.8 GHz
256 MB
20 GB
14.1" screen (1024x768)
wireless not included
2.8 hrs battery life

IBM Thinkpad R40 (Centrino)
Pentium M 1.3 GHz
256 MB
20 GB
14.1" (1024x768)
wireless included
6.2 hrs battery life

They are about the same price, what do you think I should get?

What are you going to be using it for? Desktop replacement?
What do they weigh?
 

JMaster

Golden Member
Feb 9, 2000
1,240
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Originally posted by: Dr Smooth


What are you going to be using it for? Desktop replacement?
What do they weigh?

Just basic stuff, like web surfing, and IMing (in class when I get bored :))
I guess I want to know that I could play games on it too if I wanted.
In terms of weight, I think they are pretty close, around 5 lbs. The T30 is thinner, I think.
 

GizmoFreak

Golden Member
May 20, 2002
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0
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Unless you really need the extra battery life, I'd go for the T30.

It's their higher-end line and as such seems better constructed
 

OldSpooky

Senior member
Nov 28, 2002
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Here are the pros and cons:

T30
Pro: The T30 is a very sturdy machine with a top notch screen and keyboard. It has titanium reinforced casing and can take much more punishment than an R series machine.

Con: Battery life of Pentium 4-M machines sucks. The 845M chipset in this machine has no USB2 support.


R40
Pro: Battery life, wireless, more advanced i855 chipset with USB2. The R40 also has a firewire port if I'm not mistaken.

Con: Construction. The R40 will not be as sturdy as a T class notebook. The R40 won't be as tough, but I'm sure its not a piece of junk either.

It's a tough call, but I'd get the T30 if it has wireless antennae built in (so you can add a wireless card later).
 

HokieESM

Senior member
Jun 10, 2002
798
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JMaster--I'm in your situation, too. I've been reading this thread actively to see what the other ATers have to say.

One suggestion: if you're just doing "light" applications, you might want to check into the T23. IBM still has a few of these for sale at a great price (around $1400), with wireless already included. They're P3-M 1.13GHz (which is plenty fast enough--about as fast as the P4-M 1.6 at office apps), with DVD and included 802.11b. They only include 128MB RAM--but order more or put in a 256/512 stick and they'd be good to go. Oh, and battery life on the P3-Ms are better than the P4-M, but not as good as the Centrino. Same thing with weight.

If you're like me, durability is a MUST. And from what I've read, that means a T-series. I have a nice desktop and I'll just be carrying around the laptop to do some writing and research (in the library).
 

JMaster

Golden Member
Feb 9, 2000
1,240
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Originally posted by: HokieESM
JMaster--I'm in your situation, too. I've been reading this thread actively to see what the other ATers have to say.

One suggestion: if you're just doing "light" applications, you might want to check into the T23. IBM still has a few of these for sale at a great price (around $1400), with wireless already included. They're P3-M 1.13GHz (which is plenty fast enough--about as fast as the P4-M 1.6 at office apps), with DVD and included 802.11b. They only include 128MB RAM--but order more or put in a 256/512 stick and they'd be good to go. Oh, and battery life on the P3-Ms are better than the P4-M, but not as good as the Centrino. Same thing with weight.

If you're like me, durability is a MUST. And from what I've read, that means a T-series. I have a nice desktop and I'll just be carrying around the laptop to do some writing and research (in the library).

Thanks HokieESM, I'll look into the T23 as well.
If you buy the Thinkpads from IBM's website, it seems to be pretty expensive. I've found some cheaper deals (about 2-3 hundred dollars cheaper) at other online vendors (like PCConnection) just by googling.
 

andrey

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
3,238
1
81
I personally would recommend T30. I have one very similar to the spec you're looking (mine is model T30, 2366-91U) and I'll tell you that T-series are much better notebooks then R-series, X-series or even A-series. T-series are made from titanium reinforced composite and not some cheap plastic which will scratch or break easily. Titanium composite is made to last and takes abuse without even a scratch! T-series also perform in tests much better than other similary configured notebooks. Hard drive with 16MB of cache at 5400 rpm does make a difference! And for battery, even although specs say 2.8 hours, I easily get 3.5 out of mine if I'm just watching DVD or doing some typingl; during programming and compiling, the average run time is about 2~2.5 hours.

As far as wireless, all T30 have built-in WiFi antenna, which is inside LCD, and you can add wireless MiniPCI card pretty easy if you'll decide to do that down the road. All other accessories in T-series are UltraBay 2000 compatible, and that has been the standard for IBM since early days. This makes accessories such as additional battery, numpad, second hard drive, etc.. widely available at very decent prices. As of now, there only a few accessories for R40 which will fit new UltraBay Plus, and because of that, accessories for R40 are very expensive and will stay that way for at least another 6 months or so.

On the side note, my T30 accidently felt from the table times while I pulled the power cord, but to my amazement, it still works and performs beautifully after that. When my Dell Inspiron 4150 felt from the same table (that's one unlucky table in my office, he he), I had to replace entire LCD and a lid. In IBM's case though, there was not a scratch, not a crack, not a thing! I was very impressed and I don't think I'll ever buy plastic laptop again after this experience :)

So, after all that being said, definitely get T30. You will love it! :)
 

Siddhartha

Lifer
Oct 17, 1999
12,505
3
81
Some people have observed that the T30 is a more robust system and I have a T20 and have had no problems with it. But for a moble system, it is hard to argue with a six hour plus battery charge.

I vote for the R40.