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Used Pentium M laptop vs. modern atom / amd for writing/office stuff

S

slackerinabox

Lifer
I'd like a laptop specifically and only for creative writing, mostly in my basement away from a crying baby. I'm hoping to not even have wifi enabled because I'm easily distracted, and don't want to leave one of my fancy macs in my humid, unfinished basement. Cheap is key. Just enough battery life to give me time to save and shutdown during say a power outage.. Really simple requirements.

Cheap and comfy typing experience is key. My options are used old school thinkpads (like the T42 with a Centrino 1.7 Pentium M - I'll add an ssd) or a netbook class (but with 13"+ lcd) new notebook. I'm thinking that the used thinkpad would be the way to go because of the outstanding keyboards, but am open to your thoughts.

Think very, very cheap - I don't want to have to justify this purchase to the mrs. (especially since we have 3 other laptops).
 
Used thinkpad, definitely. They're still more powerful than any modern Atom-type processor, and the build quality and comfort is outstanding. Try to get one of the ones with a 4:3 aspect ratio screen- you get far more vertical screen space, which is much more useful for writing on. The Thinkpad T42 is an excellent example.

Anandtech did a nice article on the T42 a couple of years back, and still had glowing impressions of it: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4052/ibms-thinkpad-t42-lcd-a-blast-from-the-past

EDIT: Although watch out, as the hard drive is an old IDE one, so an SSD upgrade would be tricky if not pointless (the SSD will be entirely choked by the limited IDE bandwidth, even if you could get one).
 
NTMBK said:
Used thinkpad, definitely. They're still more powerful than any modern Atom-type processor, and the build quality and comfort is outstanding. Try to get one of the ones with a 4:3 aspect ratio screen- you get far more vertical screen space, which is much more useful for writing on. The Thinkpad T42 is an excellent example.

Anandtech did a nice article on the T42 a couple of years back, and still had glowing impressions of it: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4052/ibms-thinkpad-t42-lcd-a-blast-from-the-past

EDIT: Although watch out, as the hard drive is an old IDE one, so an SSD upgrade would be tricky if not pointless (the SSD will be entirely choked by the limited IDE bandwidth, even if you could get one).
Click to expand...

Thanks very much for confirming my hunch! Found an incredible deal on an off lease T42 already upgraded to SSD (I'm sure the IDE bandwidth limitation with nullify any speed benefits, but I have a big fear of used spinning hard drives crashing in the middle of a project) - only $115 shipped on ebay. Take that, netbooks! 🙂
 
Yours is a very confusing request.

If you are a writer, then you want something that facilitates the creative work effort. Reliability, best screen and keyboard and new/fresh battery are primary attributes.

Finally, if you already have that many notebooks, then make use of them (versus collecting them). Just keeping up notebooks with good batteries is expensive as the ask price of a new OEM battery easily can be more than $100.

The Mrs is probably pissed because of all the money (and even time?) needed to be spent on computer maintenance, and bringing another unit onboard is not going to improve matters.

If none of the other units are satisfactory, then get rid of them. It is better to have one good unit than four pieces of junk. Two units are sufficient. A larger screen model (15+ inch) for formal work and perhaps a smaller, lighter weight model (eg, 13") for portability.
 
C1 said:
Yours is a very confusing request.

If you are a writer, then you want something that facilitates the creative work effort. Reliability, best screen and keyboard and new/fresh battery are primary attributes.

Finally, if you already have that many notebooks, then make use of them (versus collecting them). Just keeping up notebooks with good batteries is expensive as the ask price of a new OEM battery easily can be more than $100.

The Mrs is probably pissed because of all the money (and even time?) needed to be spent on computer maintenance, and bringing another unit onboard is not going to improve matters.

If none of the other units are satisfactory, then get rid of them. It is better to have one good unit than four pieces of junk. Two units are sufficient. A larger screen model (15+ inch) for formal work and perhaps a smaller, lighter weight model (eg, 13") for portability.
Click to expand...

I don't see what's so confusing - our laptops as of right now are as follows:
-11" macbook air (2012), my computer - my daily driver, I would not leave it in my basement
-13" macbook air (2012), my wife's computer - I don't touch it
-chromebook - our under the bed "let's google something!" computer - useless without wifi

I'm not a pretentious sitting in the cafe while writing type so battery life isn't really all that important. My basement is a completely raw and unfinished (there are creepy crawlers down there and it's humid/damp) and it's really meant to be used as garage with no entrance from our house even though it's attached - I have to exit our house, walk around the block enter from the street again. Since this is Brooklyn we're talking about and the only time I could really write late at night, I wouldn't want to lug around my shiny mac while the drunks and crackheads are milling around. I'd be fine leaving a beater $100-$200 laptop down in the basement, however.

As for "all of the time spent on computer maintenance" - what the hell are you talking about? None of my laptops are user serviceable and are still under warranty. I don't spend a minute of my day maintaining my laptops.
 
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re: "I don't spend a minute of my day maintaining my laptops."

If you value what you do on such machines, it is recommended that you at least back them up.
 
Yeah agreed that the T42 is a good idea.

Alternatively, I would have suggested setting up a desktop if you're not stuck to the laptop form factor.
 
Another vote for the t42, assuming it will run the software you are intending to run. Does it come with XP? Is that going to be okay?

I've got a 1.5 GHz Pentium M laptop and it still works just fine. Mine is PATA not SATA for sure so the SSD thing might be tricky...
 
lakedude said:
Another vote for the t42, assuming it will run the software you are intending to run. Does it come with XP? Is that going to be okay?

I've got a 1.5 GHz Pentium M laptop and it still works just fine. Mine is PATA not SATA for sure so the SSD thing might be tricky...
Click to expand...

Not at all. Just pricey.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/SSDMLP040/

Running happily in my Thinkpad T30. It's a screamer.

Also a waste of money. But I do that every now and then to resurrect beloved older machines. Years ago, I spent $130 to get a SCSI->IDE adapter, so I could install an ATA HD in an old SCSI Powerbook.
 
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My 2 cents worth -

You definitely need a 4:3 aspect ratio. Decent keyboard is another "must have"

My Dell D410 with 1.5GB RAM runs Windows 7 Home Basic just fine.

You don't need a silly little netbook with fiddly k/b and aspect ratio good only for watching Bruce Willis blow things up.
 
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Got my t42 for $115 measly, installed windows XP on it and it runs like a champ. The unit came with a tiny (16gb) ssd and 2 gigs of ram. XP + Open office + chrome is exactly what I need. I kinda like that having too many tabs open and flash HD slows it down - will keep me focused on productivity. The keyboard is outstanding, the touchpad very usable (getting used to the nub, which I'm sure I'll prefer), the case absolutely rigid, weight balance just right, and the ASPECT RATIO IS KILLER. Seriously, my macbook air 11.6" was my daily portable driver, but I'm really questioning the need to leave the house with it now - spectacular value, and multitude times better than my graveyard of netbooks and e-350 cheapies.
 
I feel the same way about my T30.

Such ideas quickly disappear when I realized that even with a new battery, it only runs about an hour on a full charge, and the slow, power-hungry CPU is pretty much always under load.
 
dave_the_nerd said:
I feel the same way about my T30.

Such ideas quickly disappear when I realized that even with a new battery, it only runs about an hour on a full charge, and the slow, power-hungry CPU is pretty much always under load.
Click to expand...

Was that with the Pentium 4, or Pentium M model?
 
dave_the_nerd said:
Pentium 4-M. (Mobile derivative of the Netburst.)

A Pentium M might give one a bit more battery life, I suppose.
Click to expand...

I have the pentium m t42 and the battery life (at least with the used battery) isn't all that impressive. About 2.5 hours on a full charge. May try a new battery but I don't leave the house with it all that often. Mostly I like how it's not ball roasting hot. Weirdly, standby seems to be for days, all with a little light on when I hibernate. I'd thinking powering down that LED would be more efficient, but a minor complaint for an excellent laptop I got for about 1/2 the price of a used netbook
 
Dude just get IBM Thinkpad T-60 with 15'.
Make sure it has a Core 2 2Ghz with 2 GB Ram.
You can install SSD and get a full benfiit of Sata Gen 1
With 15' screen you will have 4:3 screen very ideal for writing
It will have A,B,G WiFi and Bluetooth.
You can re-calibair the Battery for Max usage. IBM battery manager have utility for that.
Now with Sata HDD, off lease you looking at $100-130. Those laptop build for 24Hrs Ops.
 
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