A good Lenovo config to replace my ailing HP?

It's time to retire my HP dv5000 and I've decided on a T400. So far I've got this configuration together, and what is I assume an decent price, although a little outside my budget. I'm a newbie in the world of Lenovo, so be kind

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo processor T9400 (2.53GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2)
Operating system: Genuine Windows Vista Business downgrade to Windows XP Professional
Display type 14.1 WXGA+ TFT, w/ LED Backlight, Camera
System graphics ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 with 256MB
Total memory8 2 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)
Hard drive4 160 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Optical device5 DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)
System expansion slots Express Card Slot & 7-1 Media Card Reader
Bluetooth Integrated Bluetooth PAN
Wireless card10 Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN)
Mobile Broadband Integrated Mobile Broadband upgradable

41C9170 3 year depot 9x5 Next Business Day
250410U ThinkPad Advanced Mini Dock with US/Canada/LA Line Cord

Estimated total: $1,548.60

I'd appreciate your feedback on the config, and any ideas where to economize/drop the price a bit. The non-negotiables are the processor speed, OS and LED display.

 

What do you plan on using the machine for? Why do you need Vista Business? This would help us answer you better. I would drop the harddrive to the least expensive option that Lenovo offers and buy after market and replace it yourself. It is real easy to do, easier than replacing the RAM even.

 

I'd drop the CPU to the P8400. Depending on what you are doing you may not notice a difference. The P8400 runs at a lower wattage, which leads to better battery life, a very tangible benefit.

If you're planning on running XP or 32 bit Vista, get the 1GB of memory, then add a 2GB stick. That's the cheapest route and the most XP or 32 bit Vista can use anyway.

If you're not gaming or the like, get the integrated card.

For what Lenovo charges for the 160GB 7200RPM you can almost buy a 320GB drive. I'd get the lowest and swap it yourself. You can throw it in a case or the ultrabay adapter for backups or sell it, though it probably won't have a lot of value.

You might want to consider a refurbished dock off ebay. The Marketplace Forum on ThinkPads.com is another good place to look for them. It's a pretty low tech part. Just make sure you get something with a 30 day DOA warranty in case it's broken out of the box for some reason. It's worth the risk in my opinion.

Does your price include any coupons. There's usually some floating around the internet, though you may have to wait a bit before they resurface.

 

I agree with ZaZ all the way. The P8600/P8400 are only a little bit slower than the T9400 and should provide you with improved battery life at a lower price point.

2GB is the minimum for Vista to run properly, but if you are only getting a 32 bit system it makes sense to just get a 1GB module installed and buy a 2GB module from a reseller ( $71 shipped from Crucial) to cheaply reach 3GB (the max you can address with a 32 bit OS).

If you want a big fast hard drive you should go with the smallest and add a fast big aftermarket drive. This 320 GB Seagate is big, fast, quiet, and only $110 shipped. I opted for the 160GB/5400 RPM because I ultimately want to go for an SSD, don't want to throw away anything good, and find 80GB inadequate for the 6-18 months I might have to wait for an SSD to become reasonably priced.

The integrated card is plenty good for Vista, video playback (including blu-ray), and driving a 30" external display. The discrete card is good if you plan on playing games and/or using applications like Maya that are GPU accelerated.

With the current promo they are running you may also want to add the AT&T module. It only costs $30 right now. Even without a plan you get free GPS. You can also get a prepaid SIM if you are ever traveling abroad and get internet that way. This may be a good option if you ever think you want to consider this (it is much cheaper to add it now than later, plus I don't think you don't need a contract if you have your own hardware).

Also the Wi-Fi 5100 is perfectly adequate. The 5300 has more antennas (3x3 vs. 1x2), but I have not seen a single benchmark that shows any real world benefit from the 5300. Both are ABGN with good speeds, range, and low power usage.

 

Drop the CPU, hard drive, graphics card, and OS.

Vista Home Basic is fine, unless you really want the pointless bling in the other versions. The CPU will be throttled when running on battery anyway, so it's not worth getting anything more than the cheapest one. You can upgrade the hard drive aftermarket as people have already said. Finally, the integrated graphics is more than enough as long as you don't game.

 

Thanks to all of you for the great advice. I do want more than the 160gb drive anyway, so replacing it would be a great bet. FYI I am getting XP as I'm not a fan of Vista, which is why I'm not to particular on what I'm downgrading from, as I'll probably use XP for the life of this laptop and upgrade to whatever MS comes after Vista and upgrade laptops then.

Regarding RAM and graphics, I am a designer and use Adobe's products extensively, which is why I was thinking discrete graphics would be important. Am I off base there?

Since this is my first Lenovo, I was planning to go with 3 year warranty (something I'd wished I had with my presently dying HP), but I'm assuming replacing drives, etc. would void my warranty, so does it make sense in that case to just go with the basic, and pay for service should it be required, and trust in the reliability/ruggedness reputation of Lenovo notebooks?

My other cost savings would have been the 2 day "employee pricing" sale last weekend, but I heard about it too late. Bummer.

 

Replacing your hard drive WILL NOT void your warranty. The drive will not be covered by Lenovo warranty (it will carry its own manufacturer warranty), but the important parts (LCD, Mobo, GPU, etc.) will remain covered. 3 year depot is probably the way to go, you will likely only use it if you have a problem with the LCD or something on the board because many other things are easy to replace on your own.

If you work a lot with Adobe products then the GPU does make sense. I am pretty sure that CS4 supports hardware acceleration but I have yet to test this. You should verify that it works with a consumer card though, otherwise you may need to switch to a W500 with a FireGL. Adobe also eats lots of RAM so you want to max it out. If you are using XP though your max is 3 GB (really about 3.5) so your best bet is to buy it with 1GB and add a 2GB module yourself (this will not void the warranty).

Processor speed is also somewhat important for applying Photoshop filters to large images, but the P8400/P8600 should be adequate. You should also enjoy improved battery life with this option. Further, the move to GPU acceleration for CS4 should render processor speed less important for Adobe.

 

jon, thanks for the info on the warranty.

I've looked at the CS4 compatibility chart at the Adobe site and see the Radeon 3470 is not supported, so I'm going to check the W500, and hopefully I can configure something within my budget.

Also may have to go with the despised Vista to get some of the CS4 features I'd want to take advantage of.

 

That you may. Vista actually isn't bad on a new laptop. It runs very well (hard drive thrashing at boot excepted) if you don't have legacy hardware, and as long as you turn off UAC it is pretty smooth sailing.

 

Thanks for the reassurance on Vista. I also am a bit bummed that I'd be losing the LED backlit display with the W500, but the price dropped, which is good news. Now if I can just get one of my coupon codes to work.

W500 Config:
Intel Core 2 Duo processor T9400 (2.53GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2)1
Windows XP Professional or Vista Business
15.4" WSXGA+ TFT, w/ CCFL Backlight
ATI Mobility FireGL V5700 with 512MB VRAM
2 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM) (least I can order)
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
160 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm (smallest I can order)
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)5
No Bluetooth
Intel WiFi Link 5100 (AGN)10
6 cell Li-Ion Battery60
3 Year Depot Warranty

Price: $1,428.25

Does that look like a good deal?

 

Looks fine to me. Although, I would consider adding Bluetooth and the 64 bit version of Vista (you can run XP now, and use the Vista 64 bit restore later if you ever decide to go to 4, 6, or 8GB of RAM) just to be futureproof.

 

Great, will add Bluetooth and Vista Ultimate. Have the cpp code now, too, which will help greatly with price.

Many thanks, Jon.

 

I really don't know if you need to add ultimate. 64 bit is available with the Business version as well. I would only pay the extra $50? if you want the media features that are in Home Premium/Ultimate but not Business. Also, the Ultimate version has a bit more bloat and may run a tad slower and/or use more RAM than Business. Here is a Microsoft checklist comparing editions of Vista.

 

I agree, Ultimate is really a waste of money.

 

how important is portability? because the 15.4" w500 will be a good bit larger and heavier than the 14.1" t400 you listed originally.

 

Size isn't too important, and I have a 15.4" HP right now. I have a rolling laptop bag, which I've used since I injured my back last year. What's most important is that the machine is capable of handling Adobe CS4 handily, as I will be working in that suite much of the time.

Regarding 64bit Business, now I'm a bit confused. Lenovo has Vista Business 64 loaded, with the XP recovery disk. The downgrades available are Genuine Windows Vista Business downgrade to Windows XP Professional, which I'm assuming is 32-bit Vista, and Vista Ultimate downgrade to XP, 64 bit.

However, since I'll be upgrading the hard drive right away to a 320gb (thinking Seagate Momentus 7200.3...good choice?), I'll be doing a clean install of whatever OS I choose, so what OS comes installed isn't that important (either a Vista 64 bit or XP), since the hard drive it was installed on is out of the picture as soon as it comes out of the box.

Feel free to correct me on anything. I'm no technical genius, nor do I play one on TV. Thanks for your advice!

 

I suggest that you get it with 64 bit Vista loaded and an XP recovery disk. Upon receiving the laptop boot into Vista. You will need to make your own Vista recovery disks from there. You need 3 discs (1 CD, 2 DVD) to complete this process. You will then have 1 disc for XP (issued by Lenovo) and 3 discs for Vista (made by you).

Then put the new blank drive into your Thinkpad. At this point you can attempt a clean install of any OS you like (XP, Vista, Linux, whatever). However, I would recommend that you use either the XP or Vista recovery disc that is designed for your Thinkpad. This will save you a lot of time hunting down drivers, Thinkvantage utilities, and trying to replicate the power management tricks that Lenovo used to max out the battery life on these laptops. You can then either hold onto the 160GB drive as an emergency reserve, or buy a USB enclosure, or sell it.

 

Thanks so much for the advice, jon, I'm off to make the order now.

 

One last thought on your replacement hard drive. You mentioned the Seagate 7200.3 320GB 7200 RPM. This is probably the best drive on the market right now (fast, quiet, efficient). However, I just ordered this 320GB 5400 RPM Hitachi. It should be just as quiet and energy efficient (if not more so), and only a shade slower than the Seagate, plus if you order by tomorrow (31 Oct 2008) it is only $77 before a $20 rebate with free shipping. This makes it a great value proposition.

You may also want to consider the Serial ATA Hard Drive Bay Adapter II. This will allow you to put the 160GB drive in the Ultrabay if you ever decide you would rather have extra fixed storage instead of an optical drive (I believe RAID 0/1 is even possible if you use identical drives). Alternatively a cheap USB SATA enclosure like this one, would turn the 160GB drive into an easy to use external drive for removable storage and/or backup purposes.

 

Thanks, I'll check the Hitachi as well. Found the Seagate at ValleySeek with my additional RAM for a good price. I'll probably get an enclosure for the drive and use it as an external.