Compare T42, T43, and T60.

I need a very reliable, high-quality and durable notebook since it'll be the one I'll need to work with a lot maybe in the next 3-4 years. It will be used mostly on word processing, internet surfing, and some graphic & web designing. I maybe sometimes play some 3D games (not a heavy one). I'm a college student so I may need to carry my notebook back and forth, so it needs to be somewhat light (still I want the 15'' screen).

Eventually, I determined to get the Lenovo Thinkpad. Now I've got 3 choices in my mind: T42, T43, and the new T60.

Could someone compares the advantages and disadvantages in these 3 models for me, please? Thanks ahead.

 

well, since you brought up 3d games..

the T60 with it's x16000 card will r0x0rz y0ur b0x0rz :buyIBM:
T42 with the ATi 9600 is often preferred over the T43 with the slightly more energy consuming Sonoma chipset and the x300 card.

 

How useful is the Radeon 9600 vs. the Intel 900 when it comes to playing back video (including high HD and highly compressed video like 1080i xvids, etc.)? Does it matter at all or does the 9600 only yield an advantage with 3D apps and games?

 

rtype: I'd take the 9600 because it has onboard, dedicated RAM for video. The GMA 900 is junk becuse it just sucks up system RAM. Having onboard RAM is bound to make the system as a whole faster when working with large, HD video files.

That said, if Vista is something you want to upgrade to in a year, you might considder the x300 a better option than both the 9600 and the GMA 900.

 

Another 3 to 4 years, i think you should go with the latest a Duo. If you have an estimate of 2 years + a little bonus, then go for any of the three. Its not IBM robustness in question here, but the rapid outdating of technology.

 

I had the Vista Beta 1 running on my T42. It ran fine. The 9600 supports DirectX 9 which for Vista, with all the eye candy, is a good idea.

 

All three models will be sufficient for what you are planning to do with the computer.

The difference between the T42 and T43 is almost negligible. The main difference is the chipset and the graphics card, while you get possibly at most 10 percent performance increase at the cost of battery life with the Sonoma based T43. Also, the T43 is suppose be noisier, but i personally have no issues with the noise.

With the dual core T60, you'll definately get increased performance...especially if you do alot of multi-tasking. However you might want to wait until Intel releases Merom which will be 64bit. While currently there are not many programs that are 64bit, your 3-4 year use of the machine will probably see a greater availability of software in the future. You might want to consider waiting for this.

However if you need the computer right now, I would go with the T43. Who knows how long Lenovo will take to ship the T60's and currently the only one they have is on the low end of the spectrum when it comes to options.

 

:::

I will pick Z60T WideScreen or T4x with 14" screen for
smaller system to carry arround. 14" SXGA is sweet but
$$$$..!

GMA 900 with DM is quite good for battery life. You will not have any
problem to play 1080i video.

:::

 

The duo core processor seems great, but I have a doubt in their probable side-effects: heat & noise. (also it may cost me a lot more than the T42 & T43)

 

T42 and T43 are the same laptop. Only things changed are different chipsets, CPU, RAM and video cards. May seem like a lot, but all in all, they perform within margin of error of one another. The design, the chassis, the screen, the keyboard - everything is exactly the same. If I were to decide now between T42 and T43, I'd go for the one where I could get a better deal for the specs I want.

Now, T60 is a different story. Intel's Core Duo is a major revision, likely to be performing noticeably better than current single cores in some applications. They are also offering newer (and more powerful) video cards, faster RAM - it's a rather serious upgrade.

But the most important thing is that the design of the T60 is different - the keyboard is different, the location of the ports (and the ports themselves too) - you get an extra USB but give up on S-Video and LPT. With only images to see, without even preliminary reviews - this laptop feels a bit different from the T42/T43 ones. For best or for worst? Only time will tell.

In that sense now it may be the worst time to try to settle down on something. Going for T42/T43 is going down a tried and proved road, but if you buy it now, you might end up feeling that you were too hasty, when in a few months dual core notebooks are going to flood the market.

On the other thing, buying a T60 is a certain risk - you really don't know much on how it's gonna perform in real-life, both in terms of the new design and the new technologies.

Plus, pricing and availability are really unknown at this point.

My advice is - wait a bit if you can. If you absolutely must have a laptop now - get a T42/T43. You will be happy with it. And then, in a year or two, when perhaps the new technologies and designs get a bit polished, if you feel like you need to upgrade, you can sell it (Thinkpads retain their value REALLY well) and get a T60-series (which may be T61 or T62 by then).

 

Lennovo is really slow to get product in the channel, so if you're buying decision has to be made before March or April, I'd drop the T60 from your list. Although they have the T60 on their website, it's a very low end model and I wouldn't recommend it.

 

I have decided (after asking here) to go for a T60 too. An employee of the sales dept of our local Lenovo office here in the Netherlands told me the T60 will be available from 14th of february. But how serious I have to take that, I don't know (I have no experiences with IBM/Lenovo)...