T500 vs. M4400

Hi!
So I'm kinda caught between those two. (Gonna buy something during November or December) Portability isn't that big of an issue, since I won't be lugging it to school and back. Only to work and back and that's 3-2 times a week. I will use it for gaming, but not hardcore crysis 100% High kinda gaming.

T500 pros:
DDR3 Ram
Hybrid graphics
Legendary Thinkpad quality

M4400 pros:
LED screen (Maybe in Nov.-Dec. the T500 will alse have LED...?)
Better dedicated GPU (Quadro FX 770M -3DMark 6000+ vs. T500's ATI 3650 3DMark 4000+)
Kinda dig the backlitkeyboard
Looks sleeker and thinner

I might also look into the much rumoured 16" XPS (when and if it comes out somewhere in Nov.), but I think that 16" size is a little too big for me...
So is the Thinkpad quality THAT much better then the Precision's? I've heard great things about the latest Latitudes and Precision's... Also how much of an edge does the DDR3 Ram really have... considering that I would use the laptop for 3-4 years for sure, possibly more.
Also I might not use the full potential of the hybrid graphics, since I mostly have it plugged in and I don't rely on battery power that much.
Since my Toshiba Satellite has a little under 2h, I'm very sure both laptops will top that with ease, even the T500 on dedicated gfx.

So any suggestions, comparisons, on quality, size, etc. If anyone has seen both of these laptops in person?

Any help would be much appreciated,
Thanks!

 

Does price matter to you? Because you can configure the same M4400 and get it cheaper than the T500.

 

I'm a ThinkPad fan. But honestly, though, this new T-series T400/T500, is almost like a T61 with Centrino2, nothing more actually (like from T43 to T60 to T61). No doubt they are cheaper for something that is suppose to be a new release with newer technology.

The new Latitudes and Precisions is totally something else. period.

 

ok, thanks for the feedback.
Hopefully sometimes during sept. or oct. I can have a look at both of 'em. But purely judging from the pics, the T500 seems thicker and bulkier.

 

Well, I have considered the T500 price the benchmark. When I configured the M4400 with mostly same things, except gpu obviously and few pits and pieces here and there, it came roughly the same price, wich is around 2000$.
Since I live in europe, I'm just gonna wait and see what the prices are going to be when these models start to arrive.
The bonus being that I could buy the M4400 from Dell and configure it myself, while I would have to buy a pre-configured T500 set-up from a retailer

 

According to the reviews, the new Tx00 keyboards aren't as good as the old ones

 

Are you sure you're purchasing from the business website? Because theres a ~$360 discount now.

 

I don't know about that. I just looked at it to get an idea of the price. I live i europe so the US prices might give me an idea what the prices will be here.
I just have to wait when the Precision's are gonna be available on my countries Dell webpage, so far only Latitude E's are updated

 

Oh, also.
Does anyone know how much faster and economical is the DDR3 memory on the T500, versus the DDR2 on the M4400?

 

With the Montevina, the maximum is 1066 MHz, although it may be limited by the supported speeds. Currently it is not very economical with the DDR3, as there is not enough speed justification for the price spent.