bwinter: Laptop shopping

Beth Winter (

bwinter) wrote,
@ 2008-04-14 17:23:00

Entry tags:

blather, technical

Laptop shopping
Out of curiosity, has anyone had any experience with a Lenovo ThinkPad R61?

Our office has the T60s, and while I'm on a Dell, the ThinkPad squad like theirs. Since my home computer is hitting the 6 year mark this June, it's time for something new. And June 30 will be the stop-mark for new computers with Windows XP - I can definitely do without Vista for the moment, though the R61 is Vista-ready.

The configuration I'm eyeing would be 2GB of RAM, 2GHz dual Intel, 160GB hard drive. I think this would last me a while - not necessarily another six years, but at least three - considering my main home tasks are done in Firefox, MS Office (2002) and the now elderly Paint Shop Pro 8, plus whatever forays I make into GIMP and Inkscape. I'd miss the smooth Dell curves, but somehow the ThinkPad seems to have more personality to it. I think it looks like a Bob, or possibly a Logan.

(Post a new comment)

	smtfhw 2008-04-14 03:54 pm UTC (link)
	I am very attached to my Dell. The first one gave 6 years service, and the current one is in its 4th year now... (Reply to this)(Thread)

	bwinter 2008-04-14 05:28 pm UTC (link)
	I generally like Dells, but the ThinkPad looks sturdier. I like sturdy :) This one's been through too much, really. Plus price-wise, it's working out very much in the ThinkPad direction at the moment. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	arabwel 2008-04-14 03:55 pm UTC (link)
	I habve no experience with R61 but my ATL sitting next to me uses a T61 and in geenral, I advocate Thinkpads over any other laptop. And not jsut because I work for a certain company, either - I;m not in sales :P And I think more computers shoul be named bob. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	bwinter 2008-04-14 05:29 pm UTC (link)
	I've been eyeing Thinkpads for ages, but they always seemed expensive :) In the last 6 years prices have changed a lot. (Actually I think it might be a Logan. It looks like a Logan. Or something that says grrr a lot.) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

arabwel
2008-04-14 05:35 pm UTC (link)

that they are. I got mine practically for free - a 4 year old T30, 200 euros. and I consider it a steal, even with the need for a new battery. And foir a machine that old, it is grand - I epect to be using it if not as aprimary macine then as a backup for at least 3 more years, and possibly for server interfacing even longer since it has a serial port.. btu I digress :P

(*nod* tis computer actually still has no name... it needs one, though. biut it sut resists being nbanmed...)

(Reply to this)(Parent)

alighiera
2008-04-14 05:30 pm UTC (link)

Since I'm just on IM with someone on a six-month-old Thinkpad... *interviews the fellow geek on the other end*

Nick: They're not bad at all. Worth the money
Nick: But it pays off if you carry it around
Nick: that's where it really gets good
Nick: on a desk at home, might as well get a cheaper HP or FS. Long as it's no Sony
Nick: CPU don't matter, hard drive's gonna be extarnal anyway
Nick: 2gigs RAM's painful on vista, though, so might wanna look at more or the toppie's a lost cause in two years
Nick: Carry laptop, thinkpad good. Desktop laptop, thinkpad shiny but not so important

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	bwinter 2008-04-14 05:37 pm UTC (link)
	Out of curiosity, what's FS? And cheaper HP... wonder in what country that is, because definitely not here. Memory-wise, I should probably ask someone if that 2GB comes in one chipset or two. One chipset = buy another once Vista is stable :) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	alighiera 2008-04-14 05:41 pm UTC (link)
	FS = Fujitsu Siemens. HP here works in two lines. There are the high-end real HPs, and the somewhat more reasonably priced HP Pavilion series. I've got one of the latter, and I'm quite happy with it. I'm still awed that we once managed to live with 32MB. However did we cope? I'm on 2GB now, and I'm considering upgrading. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

bwinter
2008-04-14 05:46 pm UTC (link)

Over here, Pavilions are Vista-only, alas. You can get HP laptops with XP, but they're more expensive than the ThinkPad and come with only 1GB of RAM and 80GB of harddrive. Same goes for FS. Sounds like Lenovo's the only one still selling reasonable models with XP, really.

*snickers* 16K RAM should be enough for everybody, right? ;) My first had 8MB. I'm on 768 MB right now and feeling the pain.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	alighiera 2008-04-14 07:46 pm UTC (link)
	Seriously? Unless you're planning to do wildly exotic things, Vista might not be a total catastrophe. I'd swear that mine runs a lot more stably than XP ever did. My work computer is on 512 MB. A nightmare, and whenever I mention it to my boss she says yes, I can get a better CPU if I think I need one... the concept of RAM is a bit more alien. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	bwinter 2008-04-15 04:52 am UTC (link)
	I've just heard a lot of bad things about Vista's resource management, I guess. I've had decent luck with XP - did I mention I haven't reinstalled it once in six years? :) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	alighiera 2008-04-16 08:59 am UTC (link)
	Oh, wow. I installed XP every two months... Vista so far is on its fifth month with only one re-install, so the track record is better. Methinks that whatever I do to computers, it's hard on the OS. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	bwinter 2008-04-16 09:10 am UTC (link)
	Oh dear. Is this the time to admit that the only time I've reinstalled the OS was in 1999, when my harddrive failed badly enough that it wasn't possible to clone a disk image to a new one? :P (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	alighiera 2008-04-16 09:13 am UTC (link)
	blink And you actually used the computer? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

bwinter
2008-04-16 09:26 am UTC (link)

Every day, including heavy graphics work for a while and installing dozens of plugins :P That was the one reinstall not related to a computer/OS change over five computers since 1995.

Back with Win 3.1/95/98, after installing each program, I used a piece of software called Delta to see what it had changed and rolled back .dll write-overs etc if necessary. This cut back on needing to reinstall because new software broke something. I also don't play games, which counts for a lot, and I'm generally careful with security - I've never used peer-to-peer other than BitTorrent for a while, for example.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

alighiera
2008-04-16 12:29 pm UTC (link)

What usually breaks my OS is my love for trying out new software. Deinstalls never get rid of everything, so eventually there are just too many remnants lying around. I don't think I've lost a single OS install to a virus or a real security issue. It's just a matter of too many programs bugging things down.

Using something like Delta might help with that, but the effort... might as well calculate an hour every few months to get a clean and pristine system. :-)

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	bwinter 2008-04-16 01:35 pm UTC (link)
	Delta was only really feasible in 3.1/95, when the Windows folder was manageable ;) I have to admit I've cut down heavily on new software installs unless I'm sure I'll actually use something. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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