Laptop Questions - IBM, Dell

[Seleur]

Hey guys.

I am going to be a freshman in college in the fall, and I am looking to get a laptop to last me for the next few years. Anyway, I have several deals available to me in terms of what I can get, and I am looking for advice on what would be the best choice for me. I am interested in a quality laptop, that will allow me good multimedia, overall stability and performance. The school I am attending promotes the IBM Thinkpad T40 the most, which I am heavily considering, but I am a bit concerned that its small screen (14.1 inches) and the 32 mb video card might compromise multimedia quality. Other things I was considering were the Inspiron 8500 from Dell, and the Latitude D800. For simplicity's sake, I can get any of the 3 machines for about $2000.

The specs: The IBM is 1.6 Ghz Pentium-M, ATI Radeon 9000 at 32 mb, 512 mb ram, 80 gig harddrive, 14.1'' screen, 4.9 lbs.

The inspiron 8500 I was looking at was Pentium 4-M (whatever it is) at 2.4 Ghz, 15.4 inch screen, with a 64 mb nvidia card, and 512 mb ram. The Dell D800 has identical stats to the Inspiron 8500, only it is a 1.6 Ghz Pentium-M, and is slightly heavier.

Obviously, the IBM is the lightest at 4.9 lbs, the 8500 is around 6.9, and the D800 is around 7.3, but weight isn't that big of an issue.

What would be the best choice for me as a student who enjoys some casual gaming and overall quality, but by no means a hardcore gamer.

Thanks a lot,
Chris

 

[Pennstate]

"ONLY a 1.6Ghz???????" Pentium M 1.6ghz is the fastest banias chip that you'll find in a laptop right now.

IBM all the way. 14.1 sxga+ screen and radeon 9000 is more than adequate.

pENTIUM-m cpu is faster "per megahertz" than pentium 4 m

The ibm will play 99.9% of all games

STAY away from DELLs!

Also, before you ask a question next time, try using the search function. These dell vs IBM, P4-m vs p-m debates are well-covered

 

[CastorTr0y]

Originally posted by: Pennstate
"ONLY a 1.6Ghz???????" Pentium M 1.6ghz is the fastest banias chip that you'll find in a laptop right now.

No, there are 1.7's

 

[AmigaMan]

Originally posted by: Pennstate
"ONLY a 1.6Ghz???????" Pentium M 1.6ghz is the fastest banias chip that you'll find in a laptop right now.

IBM all the way. 14.1 sxga+ screen and radeon 9000 is more than adequate.

pENTIUM-m cpu is faster "per megahertz" than pentium 4 m

The ibm will play 99.9% of all games

STAY away from DELLs!

Also, before you ask a question next time, try using the search function. These dell vs IBM, P4-m vs p-m debates are well-covered

You know I was about to flame you for bashing Dell cuz I have one (Latitude C840) and I figure I had to defend it. But then I remembered that my builtin ethernet port is flacky and my CD ROM drive doesn't spin up half the time when I insert a CD. It does feel a little plasticky too. So I guess Dells aren't what they used to be.

 

[Seleur]

Thanks for your replies. I am quite aware that the 1.6 Ghz on the IBM is fast, I didn't think otherwise. What I was concerned about was the multimedia, as I mentioned in my most.

Any advice?

Thanks!
Chris

 

[Seleur]

Bump

 

[JackHawksmoor]

Well, that Dell's definetly more powerful for games, and the slightly larger screen would be nice, but I'm not sure how great they're built...

On the other hand, IBM ranked really poorly for reliability in the recent PC Mag survey (but Apple, IBM, and Toshiba were picked as the best overall notebooks).

 

[UltraWide]

If you can afford the IBM 2373G1U model then it is the best laptop out there right now for most uses, but it costs ~$2,700 online which is quite a bit of $$$. I would not get the Dell, I saw them at the mall the other day it felt very plasticky and cheap. It doesn't have that solid IBM feel (I used to have a T30).

 

[Seleur]

Thanks for the responses. Unfortunately, I only get the deal on the aforementioned systems, so I can't get the one with the 64 mb card.

 

[Siddhartha]

Don't get a laptop for gaming.

 

[mkool]

IBM all the way! they have great security features built in, which wll no doubt be needed as a college student. I just got myself a used thinkpad , an r31 to be exact for collaborative work, and its a great machine!

1.13ghz p3
384mb pc133
30gb hdd
cd-r/w
14.1"
wifi
xp pro

All for $670 off ebay! I checked ibm's site, and it has a warranty until 2006, so yay for me. I already exersized its warranty features, so i know they're good for their customers. I also know ibm's are well built, and well supported. If you get an ibm, you will have a very stable machine. I have always been of the opinion that ibm's have slightly less bleeding-edge components because they value stability over performance (slightly), although i am not saying in the least that they have poorly performing laptops.

I have had the chance to work with some new dells as well. While I think the dells are solid machines, I do not get the same feeling that i got with the ibm. With my ibm, i get the feeling of a company who spent the time and paid attention to every little detail to make the machine great. The dell's i've seen look like your standard oem build with a dell logo slapped on.

anyway, imho ibm is the top dog.

 

[sk560]

vote for thinkpad... hands down.

 

[JZilla]

Originally posted by: sk560
vote for thinkpad... hands down.

And another.

But it's actually quite simple. Do you need the gfx power and widescreen that the Dells have? Personally I wouldn't want to have a widescreen laptop. And weight IS an issue once you start dragging them around. That is why you want a laptop, yes? If not, you might aswell buy a desktop and a lcd. But in the end, I am a very happy IBM owner (R30). If you do decide to get one of the Dells, make sure to buy the Latitude.

Edit: And as Dr.Smooth (heh) said, laptops are not that funny to play games on, especially not fps. It can be done, but a desktop is way better.

 

[NeoMadHatter]

if given a choice, i'd take the T40 easily, no contest. but that's if i had the money to afford it. my dell 600m is great for the price though