Re: Laptop choice

John,

Thanks for the advice!  The dual core comparison is something I was 
wondering about.  I didn't know how much of a difference that would make. 
I'll definitely be adding on the power adapter or 2nd battery and buying 
some additional RAM.  I don't know if I'll have the option of changing the 
RPM for the Thinkpad, and they don't list what it comes with other than 60 
GB.  I'll have to give someone a call and find out.

Thanks,
Mike


Michael Jacobsen
System Programmer, IT
First Financial Bank, NA
(812)  238-6319

pctech-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote on 05/26/2006 09:34:52 AM:

> One thing no one mentioned is that the Dell is a dual-core CPU; the
> mobile equivalent to have 2 CPUs in the laptop.  Multitasking and
> operations in general will be much faster/smoother with >1 cores.
> 
> We buy Dells here at work and the Latitude D6xx series is our main
> offering to employees.  We probably buy over 1000 of them a year.  The
> Intel video is just so-so but it will suffice.  Weight-wise, the
> Latitude 4xx series are the lightweights at around 4ish pounds, 6ish
> pounds for the 6xx series, and 7.5+ pounds for the 8xx series; I
> currently lug around a 2 year old D800 (PentiumM 2GHz, 1GB RAM, 60GB
> 7200 RPM disk, 1900x1200 LCD, DVD burner).
> 
> Tweaks I would make to either config:
> - Bump the hard drive to 7200 RPM.  It's a speed boost that will help
> everything.  You probably don't need more space; just more speed.
> - Bump the RAM to 1GB minimum.  Laptops generally have 2 RAM slots: 1
> hard-mounted on the main board & 1 expansion slot.  If the 512MB comes
> on the main board Using 1 slot), I'd seriously consider adding a 1GB
> stick to the 2nd slot to bring it to 1.5GB total.  Don't buy the RAM
> from Dell or the school; check kingston.com, crucial.com, or
> pricegrabber ( http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_attrib.php/page_id=43
> ; specifically
> http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_attrib.php/page_id=43/popup2%5B%5D=12
> :210/popup1%5B%5D=40:207/popup3%5B%5D=20:208 ).
> - Get an external hard drive or a stack of blank DVD-RWs so you can make
> backups. (DVD-RW would require tweaking up the CD-RW/DVD to a
> CD-RW/DVD-RW)  The external HD is probably the most convenient.  They're
> fast & cheap.
> - Consider a second/longer life battery or a travel power adapter.  The
> Dell travel charger I have runs off of wall current or plug in to a car
> auxiliary power plug a.k.a. cigarette lighter.
> 
> John A. Jones, CISSP
> Americas Information Security Officer
> Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.
> V: +1-630-455-2787 F: +1-312-601-1782
> john.jones@xxxxxxxxxx
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pctech-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:pctech-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
> On Behalf Of Michael Jacobsen
> Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2006 12:17 PM
> To: pctech@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [PCTECH] Laptop choice
> 
> I am going to be purchasing a laptop for graduate school and the school
> is offering a couple choices through them.  I was wanting to know what
> you guys think.  Here are the choices:
> 
> IBM Lenovo Thinkpad T43
> Intel Mobile Pentium M760 2.0 Ghz
> 512M RAM
> 60GB Hard Drive
> CDRW/DVD Combo Drive
> 64MB ATI Radeon X300
> 14.1-inch 1024X768 LCD
> Intel 802.11 a/b/g Wireless
> Integrated 56K modem and 1GB ethernet
> Secure Chip and Fingerprint Reader
> 6-cell Li-Ion Battery
> Windows XP Professional
> Three year Warranty/One year Battery
> 4.9 lbs
> $1,534.00
> 
> OR
> 
> Dell Latitude D620 Intel(r) Core? Duo T2300 (1.66GHz) 667Mhz Dual Core
> Genuine Windows(r) XP Professional, SP2, with media Standard Touchpad
> 14.1 inch Wide Screen WXGA LCD Panel
> Internal English Keyboard
> Intel(r) Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 950 512MB, DDR2-533
> SDRAM, 1 DIMM 60GB Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 5400RPM No Floppy Drive Dell
> Wireless? 1390 802.11g Mini Card 24X CD-RW/DVD w/ Cyberlink PowerDVD?
> 6 Cell Primary Battery
> 3 Year Limited Warranty plus 3 Year NBD On-Site Service Weight unknown
> at this time.
> $1,133.00
> 
> 
> 
> What would you choose?  I'm leaning toward the IBM mostly because of the
> brand name, but the Dell being $400 less is tempting, too.  I've never
> owned a laptop before either so that's why I'm looking to see what you
> guys think.
> 
> -Mike
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