Thursday, May 17, 2007

New notebook frustrations

It has been a while since I upgraded to Vista. I believe it was back when Beta2 was just released. Anyway, I had at one point dual-booted XP and Vista in order to get most things to work (VPN client especially) but now since most products have been updated, its all Vista. So, for the last month I've been evaluating, demoing, and spec'ing out several Vista powered Wireless-N capable laptop computers:

MacBook Pro 15" - Was a little big and the case felt cheap, plus the arrogant Mac sales force is irritating. I felt that learning Mac OSX would be nice, but not worth the extra expense. They also do not offer accidental damage protection, which seems to be a requirement for me.

Lenovo T60p - I think it was my favorite besides the ATI graphics card. The price for the performance definately was one of the best.

Dell Precision M65 - Nice PC, but big and heavy. Also more expensive than most.

Sony (All models under 15" monitor) - Integrated shared video memory doesn't cut it. That is the lesson I learned from my VGN-S460. Sorry Sony, but I'm not buying your products until you figure out how to make laptops with small form factor and decent video cards.

Asus, Toshiba - Asus' website is horrible! Toshiba's products didn't seem very exciting, and as my relatives have had several, I believe they do not survive when subjected to the type of abuse my laptop has been privy to.

Lenovo T61P - I hear the release date is June 9, 2007. I am VERY excited about this PC.

Alienware - Expensive for what they are... They also are slow to provide Santa Rosa capable models. Lack of a viable docking station also hurt them.

Voodoo - Worse price than Alienware, with similiar issues.

Falcon NW - Ugly and more expensive than I can entertain.

I am coming from a 13.3" form factor Sony VGN-S460 that is quite small and light. I feel that I could handle something a bit bigger and heavier, but not double, like the 15" Dell Precision M65 or MacBook Pro. So, I am leaning towards the Lenovo T60P or T61P product line due to the form factor and weight. Santa Rosa chipset would be a bonus as 802.11g sucks at my house.

I will wait for the T61P, make a decision that day, and live with it for 18 months.

Specs for T61P I would like:
2.2GHz Core 2 Duo
2GB DDR2 (1 DIMM)
Integrated 1GB readyboost capable memory
Wireless N
140GB 7200RPM HDD
SD Card Reader
Dual Layer DVD writer
nVidia 256MB video card
Advanced Mini dock
14" WUXGA (IPS would be nice... but I think Lenovo is discontinuing that)
Vista Ultimate
... Extra batteries.
SSD is not really a big deal to me, since the technology is still entirely too expensive.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I had a Lenovo T60P on order when I heard about Santa Rosa and the pending release of the T61P. The Lenovo rep told me the release date for the T61P is June 5, 2007. He said "things like this happen on Tuesdays, so watch the website every Tuesday." I canceled my T60P order and am waiting for the T61P.

Nick said...

Heh, I cancelled my T60p order a while back also. Now let us hope that the release date is met.

Anonymous said...

I'd like the T61p to come with a SDD

Unknown said...

T61P??? I heard it was gonna be today, but today has come and almost gone... still no T61P. Where did you get your information about the release date of Jun 9th for the T61P?