Which laptop? P4 ThinkPad vs Centrino Dell

[GizmoFreak]

For the same price, which would you go with?

In the blue corner:
IBM ThinkPad T30, 1.6 p4-m, 512 ram, 40 hd, 14in XGA screen, 802.11b, radeon 7500 16mb vram

In the other corner:
Dell Inspiron 600m, 1.3 p-m, 512 ram, 40 hd, 14in XGA screen 802.11b (centrino), radeon 9000 32mb vram

Warranty is not a consideration here.
The centrino technology (more horsepower, better battery life) along with the better graphics card seem to give the Dell the edge. But the build quality of IBM ThinkPads is also a strong factor.

 

[theNEOone]

what are the prices?


EDIT:

Doh. Looks like I can't read.

Well, for the same price I'd go w/ the dell. Out of curiosity, what are the dimensions of each notebook?

 

[GizmoFreak]

I just know the widths off hand... 1.6in for the T30 and 1.2 for the 600m.

EDIT: I meant thickness!

 

[afzan]

I'd go with the centrino because of the battery life.. and the coolness factor is higher as well.. 😀

 

[Shalmanese]

What do you do with it? If battery life or gaming performance is a worry, then go with the dell. If peace of mind and an all-round good laptop experinece is desired, go with the thinkpad.

 

[BCYL]

For the same price I would go with the Dell...

The battery life on those Centrino laptops are amazing! What good is a laptop without power???

 

[GizmoFreak]

Originally posted by: Shalmanese
What do you do with it? If battery life or gaming performance is a worry, then go with the dell. If peace of mind and an all-round good laptop experinece is desired, go with the thinkpad.

Definitely will not be doing gaming on it. Battery life is definitely a factor, but I'd like to have a good quality laptop which will last a few years.

 

[NeoMadHatter]

dell 600m. i'm trying to get one. waiting for some deals.

 

[bigshooter]

i'm gettting a inspiron 600m, but am still trying to decide whether i should check out the latitudes, i like the notebook stand option.
I'm also trying to decide if the intel wireless is worth it for power saving features, or if the truemobiel (orinoco gold if i'm informed correctly) is good too. The truemobile minipci card has trimode capability as well as a bluetooth addon, and you can get linux drivers too!

 

[Bloodstein]

Originally posted by: bigshooter
i'm gettting a inspiron 600m, but am still trying to decide whether i should check out the latitudes, i like the notebook stand option.
I'm also trying to decide if the intel wireless is worth it for power saving features, or if the truemobiel (orinoco gold if i'm informed correctly) is good too. The truemobile minipci card has trimode capability as well as a bluetooth addon, and you can get linux drivers too!

Intel wireless saves power?

I know the chipset and the chip itself saves power but does the wireless as well?

 

[bigshooter]

I don't know. That's why I was curious. If it doesn't then i'm just getting the dell truemobile.

 

[Bloodstein]

Originally posted by: bigshooter
I don't know. That's why I was curious. If it doesn't then i'm just getting the dell truemobile.

Hmn...what's the difference anyway?

 

[GizmoFreak]

Originally posted by: Bloodstein

Originally posted by: bigshooter
i'm gettting a inspiron 600m, but am still trying to decide whether i should check out the latitudes, i like the notebook stand option.
I'm also trying to decide if the intel wireless is worth it for power saving features, or if the truemobiel (orinoco gold if i'm informed correctly) is good too. The truemobile minipci card has trimode capability as well as a bluetooth addon, and you can get linux drivers too!

Intel wireless saves power?

I know the chipset and the chip itself saves power but does the wireless as well?

Intel claims the Centrino combination (using their wireless card) is optimized to work together and thus saves battery life. They claim that third-party cards have not been extensively tested and comparable battery life cannot be guaranteed. Take from that what you will. I'd go with the combo card.

 

[GizmoFreak]

Any more opinions on this? Especially since more people seem to have been able to check out the 600m at this point.

 

[patsun123]

has anyone actually used the new Dells?? Are they any good? Also, how come you can't get an IBM with Centrino in it... Anandtech here did a review of a couple Centrino notebooks that you should check out if not already...

link

 

[GizmoFreak]

Originally posted by: patsun123
has anyone actually used the new Dells?? Are they any good? Also, how come you can't get an IBM with Centrino in it... Anandtech here did a review of a couple Centrino notebooks that you should check out if not already...

link

Those are the 2 computers I am choosing between. This is due to cost considerations. While I'd love to get an IBM Centrino, they cost significantly more than either of these.

 

[Derango]

I have a 600m. Solid notebook, highly recommended.

The case is very solid (still plastic though). The performance with a pentium M 1.3ghz is fast...I dunno what else to say about it. I'm very happy with it 🙂

EDIT: forgot to mention. ~3.5 hour battery life, 80% of that was while playing SimCity 4

 

[Avatar26]

Derango, I've seen you post a couple of times about your 600m. I'd be interested to see what you have to say on the positive and negative fronts about that little guy. I would have pulled the trigger on one already, but the build quality and battery life questions really have kept me from doing it. What specs did you order it with, BTW?