Shall I really shell out $3300 for the T42p?

[sdaccord01]

You're probably better off buying the cheaper notebook like some people have said. I'm the weird one, i went from an IBM T41 with SXGA+ to an HP zt3000 widescreen notebook. True, IBM quality is pretty good, but mine had a problem with a squeaking hand rest that forced me to sell it on ebay. However, I'm really happy with my hp laptop. I buy a lot of stuff and I sell stuff once I get tired of it too, so I know how technology changes fast. I love the widescreen and it's useful for programming and surfing two webpages at once side by side. A lot of people are impressed by it, and the WUXGA (1920 x 1200) screen is awesome. Granted it only has a radeon 9200, i do my actual gaming on my desktop.

In conclusion, you're probably better off either getting a cheaper laptop now, and upgrade to another one in a few years (selling your old one), or maybe even getting a desktop computer as a backup (maybe get a Shuttle). In that case, u can probably spend less on the laptop getting an ultraportable like an IBM x40 or x31 and get a desktop.

I remember my parents spend over 3k on a dell 700MHz pentium III 4 years ago and the price dropped like pancakes. Don't do the same mistake like me. I buy cheaper things now, and upgrade later. That way, I won't be as heartbroken later on. Good luck in your laptop purchase.

 

[sdaccord01]

By the way, I upgraded to a hitachi 7k60 which is probably the same 60gig 7200rpm, costed only $200 and it makes my notebook much faster.

 

[jkasmann]

Originally posted by: ndee
aphex: ok, that's a good thing, thanks for the input

tommigsr: I might go with a slower Dothan CPU. Get back at me in 3 years with your Latitude D600, lets watch which one lasted longer And a fast harddisk is very important in a notebook IMO but that's just me I know, $3300 is a LOT but oh well, you only live once

I think you are missing his point a little bit. His doesn't have to last three years, because with the $1700 he saved, he can buy a new one in a year and a half with up to date technology. Or use it to buy an extended warranty, plus a nice LCD monitor for home use, a 7200rpm drive, plus....

Take out money for the extended Dell warranty and you are basically talking about spending $1300 on a case. I don't think I would call that a good value.

 

[Frightcrawler]

Originally posted by: ndee
aphex: ok, that's a good thing, thanks for the input

tommigsr: I might go with a slower Dothan CPU. Get back at me in 3 years with your Latitude D600, lets watch which one lasted longer And a fast harddisk is very important in a notebook IMO but that's just me I know, $3300 is a LOT but oh well, you only live once

Judging by your posts, it seems like you have already made your decision.
So, this brings up the question, what exactly do you aim to find out in this thread?

 

[Conroy9]

Originally posted by: ndee
tommigsr: I might go with a slower Dothan CPU. Get back at me in 3 years with your Latitude D600, lets watch which one lasted longer And a fast harddisk is very important in a notebook IMO but that's just me I know, $3300 is a LOT but oh well, you only live once

Well, I bought this inspiron 8000 in februrary 2001, and it's still working great, although I've had to use the warranty a few times to get replacement parts

 

[whuang]

$3,000 investment for a high performance laptop (top of the line) is a good investment!
Especially if you are in to Gaming, heavy programming, 3D applications or anything else that requires as much computing power as you can get.
For that ammount I would rather invest in a laptop with higher specifications.
Especially the display size and video card and processing speed.

For the most value out of the dollar:
17" WSXGA LCD ( Wide viewing angles, Super Clear Glossy Surface Display)
Intel P4- 3.2 GHz (800MHz FSB)
ATI Mobile Radeon 9700 with 256MB DDR SGRAM on board, intergrated AGP 4X :thumbsup: :shocked: :thumbsup:
1GB memory
80GB HDD
DVD +-R/RW Combo drive
108MB Turbo Mode 802.11g Wi-Fi LAN Module :thumbsup:
Tv-in & Tv-out :thumbsup:
and 7 in-one card reader for my digital cammeras :thumbsup: :camera:

Based on my experience, something with this much power will weight a ton!
but you know what? if I am going to spend $3,300.00 on a laptop!
it has better pack a ton of powerful equipment inside!

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: whuang
$3,000 investment for a high performance laptop (top of the line) is a good investment!
Especially if you are in to Gaming, heavy programming, 3D applications or anything else that requires as much computing power as you can get.
For that ammount I would rather invest in a laptop with higher specifications.
Especially the display size and video card and processing speed.

For the most value out of the dollar:
17" WSXGA LCD ( Wide viewing angles, Super Clear Glossy Surface Display)
Intel P4- 3.2 GHz (800MHz FSB)
ATI Mobile Radeon 9700 with 256MB DDR SGRAM on board, intergrated AGP 4X :thumbsup: :shocked: :thumbsup:
1GB memory
80GB HDD
DVD +-R/RW Combo drive
108MB Turbo Mode 802.11g Wi-Fi LAN Module :thumbsup:
Tv-in & Tv-out :thumbsup:
and 7 in-one card reader for my digital cammeras :thumbsup: :camera:

Based on my experience, something with this much power will weight a ton!
but you know what? if I am going to spend $3,300.00 on a laptop!
it has better pack a ton of powerful equipment inside!

Or instead of buying a 9 pound behemoth, you could get a 17" PowerBook.

 

[BGil]

But you'd be getting a machine that's with 1/2-1/3 the performance, a far lesser screen, no tv-in, much less upgradability, a sub-par gaming machine, no card reader, slower wifi, and an inferior platform for 3d gaming and applications.

 

[Abhi]

Originally posted by: ndee
aphex: ok, that's a good thing, thanks for the input

tommigsr: I might go with a slower Dothan CPU. Get back at me in 3 years with your Latitude D600, lets watch which one lasted longer And a fast harddisk is very important in a notebook IMO but that's just me I know, $3300 is a LOT but oh well, you only live once

He ll throw away his 600m 2 years later... and get another laptop from the 1700$ he saved over the ibm

Btw... i own a T41 and a I8500...

The T41... is simply amazing....

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: BGil
But you'd be getting a machine that's with 1/2-1/3 the performance, a far lesser screen, no tv-in, much less upgradability, a sub-par gaming machine, no card reader, slower wifi, and an inferior platform for 3d gaming and applications.

But you have no clue what you're talking about.

If my overriding concern is to have an uber gaming rig, I'd buy a PS2 or perhaps build a SFF PC. I wouldn't dump over $3 grand to have a gaming laptop.

 

[whuang]

Well??? Would you buy a Honda civic that cost the amount of a NSX?
The point was not if you should get a gaming machine. The point was that if you
was to spend $3,000 on a laptop, I think it would be more worthwhile to invest on something more powerful. If you are not looking for a Laptop with less powerful then you have to ask, Is $3,000 a little much for something with less power (considering the market value of a standard laptop, today)?

-by the way something that powerful is not restricted to just gaming. Heavy duty Programmers, Architects, 3D designers, Digital video producers, Graphic artists and anyone else who needs heavy duty number crunching capabilities - all need powerful computers and may not like the mobile restrictions and other inconveniences of a desktop- (and i am probably just scratching the surface here-

 

[whuang]

Ah! excuse me. got a little distracted.
What I meant to say!

If you are looking for a Laptop with less power, then you have to ask, Is $3,000 a little much for something with less power (considering the market value of a standard laptop, today)?

 

[xcrunner51]

well i figure if someone wants a mobile part, then size, battery life and weight are gonna be issues

 

[dcdomain]

Have you checked www.thinkpads.com? Bill offers some great prices. I bought a T42 for 28% off the list price.

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: whuang
Well??? Would you buy a Honda civic that cost the amount of a NSX?
The point was not if you should get a gaming machine. The point was that if you
was to spend $3,000 on a laptop, I think it would be more worthwhile to invest on something more powerful. If you are not looking for a Laptop with less powerful then you have to ask, Is $3,000 a little much for something with less power (considering the market value of a standard laptop, today)?

-by the way something that powerful is not restricted to just gaming. Heavy duty Programmers, Architects, 3D designers, Digital video producers, Graphic artists and anyone else who needs heavy duty number crunching capabilities - all need powerful computers and may not like the mobile restrictions and other inconveniences of a desktop- (and i am probably just scratching the surface here-

And my point is that the high end PowerBooks excel at those kinds of tasks sans gaming, but apparently that concept eludes you.

You don't need to buy a bag of bricks to get a well-engineered, performance portable computer for that much money. Frankly, I don't feel a bag of bricks is a defining characteristic of a laptop, but suit yourself.

 

[Frightcrawler]

Originally posted by: whuang
Well??? Would you buy a Honda civic that cost the amount of a NSX?
The point was not if you should get a gaming machine. The point was that if you
was to spend $3,000 on a laptop, I think it would be more worthwhile to invest on something more powerful. If you are not looking for a Laptop with less powerful then you have to ask, Is $3,000 a little much for something with less power (considering the market value of a standard laptop, today)?

-by the way something that powerful is not restricted to just gaming. Heavy duty Programmers, Architects, 3D designers, Digital video producers, Graphic artists and anyone else who needs heavy duty number crunching capabilities - all need powerful computers and may not like the mobile restrictions and other inconveniences of a desktop- (and i am probably just scratching the surface here-

How close minded are you? If you truly believe that portables (dothan and g4's) cannot compete with "tanks," you must be more ignorant that I originally thought. The laptop industry is no longer a "bigger is better" world.

 

[whuang]

Hey, relax just giving my view. The name calling was not called for and unappreciated
(very uncivil and unprofessional.)

Don't get me worng Mac (apple) are great machines. However, they just don't seem to want to invest in certian nitch markets. Unfortunately, for those who needs protable convinence and very High end specifications, Powerbooks just don't seem to run that high. But for every one who loves powerbooks
hey This seems to be the top of the line powerbook.

http://store.apple.com
Power Book G4
$2,799.00

17-inch TFT Display
1440x900 resolution
1.5GHz PowerPC G4
512K L2 cache
512MB DDR333 SDRAM
80GB Ultra ATA/100
ATI Mobility Radeon
9700 (64MB DDR)
Backlit Keyboard
Gigabit Ethernet
FireWire 400 & 800
AirPort Extreme built-in
DVI & S-Video out
Processing speed 1.33GHz- 1.5 Ghz

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: whuang
Hey, relax just giving my view. The name calling was not called for and unappreciated
(very uncivil and unprofessional.)

Don't get me worng Mac (apple) are great machines. However, they just don't seem to want to invest in certian nitch markets. Unfortunately, for those who needs protable convinence and very High end specifications, Powerbooks just don't seem to run that high. But for every one who loves powerbooks
hey This seems to be the top of the line powerbook.

http://store.apple.com
Power Book G4
$2,799.00

17-inch TFT Display
1440x900 resolution
1.5GHz PowerPC G4
512K L2 cache
512MB DDR333 SDRAM
80GB Ultra ATA/100
ATI Mobility Radeon
9700 (64MB DDR)
Backlit Keyboard
Gigabit Ethernet
FireWire 400 & 800
AirPort Extreme built-in
DVI & S-Video out
Processing speed 1.33GHz- 1.5 Ghz

If you don't think the 17" PowerBook is portable and high-end, then this conversation is over.

 

[UltraWide]

Get a decent $1500 laptop or $2000 tops, then with the rest get a Desktop with a medium sized LCD, it is the best of both worlds trust me. Mobile computing isn't there just yet.

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: UltraWide
Get a decent $1500 laptop or $2000 tops, then with the rest get a Desktop with a medium sized LCD, it is the best of both worlds trust me. Mobile computing isn't there just yet.

Is your medication flashing you back to 1994?

 

[dcdomain]

I looked at the Macs before deciding on the IBM's because at first I was actually going to be able to get a Powerbook for a cheaper price than the T-42. However, after speaking with a bunch of my friends (art students) who have various Powerbooks I didn't like what I was hearing. I've always though Apple made (or at least contracted out) quality notebooks. However, out of about 4 Powerbooks that I saw, every single one of them suffered from various little problems. What annoyed me the most was the fact that when you close the screen, the LCD panel was actually bent and one of the corners would be open leaving a hole in the seam.

Aside from that, I think they are great machines, I wish a PC maker had the same level of designers Steve Jobs employs.