About to purch T400...tips?

I am about to purchase a T400. The planned configuration is below:

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8400
Windows Vista Business RDVD XP Pro
14.1 WXGA+ TFT, w/ LED Backlight, Camera
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
3 GB RAM and 320GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo
Express Card Slot & 7-1 Media Card Reader
Bluetooth Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN)
6-cell battery
1-year on site (I like onsite)

Gaming will be minimal and not too graphics intensive. Mostly research and writing a dissertation (Accounting). I will be running a couple of high end
statistics packages.

I am avoiding the extended warranty but am wondering what others think (especially experience lenovo owners).

Also, I have read where some get the minimum HDD (80 GB) and get a third party drive (I.E.: WD Scorpio drive has good reviews). Pros and cons? Are the stock drives that poor or is it just they are overpriced compared to self upgrading.

I shouldn't ever be a whole day away from AC power, so the 9 cell would probably be overkill... if I can get 4-6 hours from a battery, I am good.

Thanks all

 

Your post is difficult to read and you need to be more specific. Will you be gaming at all? What is your main use of the laptop going to be, just typing documents?

 

Thanks. I cleaned it up. There were specs attached before, but I must've made a mistake. Now, I think it is clearer.

 

There was a post the other day that linked to a coupon (that cannot be used in conjunction with the educational discount) that is more of a discount than the educational discount is. I'm trying to find it.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=231598

I guess they finally updated the coupon page. It wasn't there before I ordered, and I didn't find the coupon until a few hours AFTER I ordered.

I also couldn't find a way to change it without cancelling my order,a nd I didn't want to delay my order any since I have heard so many slow shipping stories.

I did price it out though, and I would have saved $65 more than I did with the educational discount.

 

you can do a pricematch till 21 days after your order

 

Thanks tony487,
Thats certainly more helpful. Since you are not doing much graphical stuff, the integrated GPU choice is a good one since it will save you battery power(stat programs don't use 3D graphics right?). Do you really need Vista business? Can you go for Home Premium or Home basic? You can save a little bit of money there. Basically business gives you added networking capability, such as ability to join domains etc. I like you choice of screen, high res and LED backlite, thats going to be sweet. I don't know how much CPU power statistical programs use, but in general I like to get the most powerful CPU I can afford, especially if I plan on keeping the machine for a while.

DDR3 ram is a funny thing right now. Newegg actually seems more expensive than Lenovo right now, so Lenovo seems to be giving a pretty good deal on it. I am sure this will change in the coming months. So if you can stick with about 2GB of RAM for now(just to have Vista run well) and wait a bit, I am sure you can get more RAM for cheaper from Newegg later on. If you can't wait then I still think Lenovo has pretty good prices on the DDR3 chips.

I would defenetly drop the harddrive down to the minimum that you can get from Lenovo. You can get some nice aftermarket drives for great prices if you shop around. For example I saw a 320GB 7200rpm Hitachi travelstar Harddrive for $70 after rebate recently! There are no disadvantages to this. Lenovo uses a variety of harddrive manufactures and gives you one at random. By choosing your own, you choose the price and the make. Certain makes are better in some categories than others, but once again you choose. And installing it is a piece of cake.

As far as the warranty. I would do the accidental if I carried my machine around a lot to classes and such, or I lived in a dorm, or there might be rough use involved in some way. You never know what might happen(ex: liquid spills, damage from horsing around etc). You can control yourself, but you can't control others. If you are using it mainly on the desk, then I would pass on the accidental warranty. Remember, that if you can't decide, you can buy the machine with the base 1 year depot warranty and then upgrade the warranty later. You have 30 days from time of purchase to get the accidental warranty and 1 year to get the normal warranty.

If you have any other questions just ask. Hope that helps.

 

pray you get the LG screen

 

I generally agree with Fire Snakes recommendations. I think a slightly faster processor may be a good choice. In my opinion the best balance of price, performance, and battery life is the P8600. It is one step up and about 10% faster than the P8400 but gets the same battery life. The T series chips are faster still, and have larger cache sizes, but they have a higher TDP and will drain your battery more quickly. The new P series processor (P8700?) is the best combo of battery/performance right now, but it is currently overpriced.

A third party hard drive will probably be cheaper, and you can get a 320GB 7200RPM drive (Lenovo only offers 320GB 5400 RPM drives). I personally got a 160GB 5400 RPM drive because I eventually want an SSD, but it might take a while for prices to drop, and the 80GB base drive doesn't provide enough storage (Vista chews through about 30GB by itself).

You might want to consider the 9 cell battery if you plan to take it to class a lot. The 6 cell is quoted at 5+ hours, but you may not actually get that. The 9 cell makes the laptop a little bigger (sticks out about 1" at the back), but it should actually reduce your travel weight because you won't need to carry the AC adapter around with you on a daily basis. It should also be noted that rechargeable batteries degrade over time. Even if you can get 6 hours from a 6 cell battery on day 1, you would be lucky to get 4 hours from it after 2 years. I used my T40 for 5 years and had to buy a few replacement batteries because my original 6 cell got so weak. Therefore, I would suggest the 9 cell, because you will probably be able to get the 4-6 hours you want for the entire service life of your T400.

Vista Business does have a few nice features but you may not need them. Joining domains, bitlocker drive encryption, and remote desktop are the primary ones. Business also drops all the media center features that home premium includes. You should pick the one that best suits your needs based on feature set. I settled on business largely because I wanted 64 bit support (I plan to go to 4GB of RAM soon, or 6GB if 4GB DDR3 DIMMs become available). If you want XP Pro (as you selected), I think Vista Business may also be your only option (although these new machines can actually run Vista very well with their fast chips and plentiful RAM).

 

@ JohnLumpkin and Fire Snake...

Thanks! Maybe I will bump the proc up... that was the slow down in my current laptop when crunching SAS data.

Vista Business... Well, the SAS version (9.1.3) I have will not support any 64 bit Vista; they (SAS) have a 9.2 that will support 64. The 9.1.3 will support 32 bit Vista.

BUT...they officially do not, and have no plans to (per email from SAS tech dept) Vista Home or Home Premium in any way shape or form. My IT help here at school says there is a work around... but I don't want to work around a life or death piece of software.

Maybe a faster proc... and, I don't really go to class so much anymore... in the dissertation/teaching phase. So, most travel will be from home to school office and back. Like a mid length battery capacity so I can sit unplugged around home (or school).

So... maybe boost the proc, drop the drive level and get a good one from new egg?

HDD... Seagate Maximus (name?) and WD Scorpio seem popular... although that 70 price take was sweet sounding

The XP Pro RDVD is a safety net, but it sounds that my SAS will run fine on 32 bit Vista Business (or Enterprise or Ultimate). Thanks again

 

Just get the 9-cell and that should be a done deal.