Configuring a T400 Thinkpad

Ok, in the process of buying a laptop by July 1st because then I will qualify for the free Windows 7 upgrade.

Need some opinions on my configurations.

P8700 (2.53GHz 1066MHz 3MBL2) or T9400 (2.53GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2)
Is there a huge difference for $60 more?

Genuine Windows Vista Business 64

Would rather a 64-bit unless anyone can point to any downsides, also it would qualify me for the Windows 7 Business 64-bit upgrade.

14.1 WXGA TFT, w/ LED Backlight

Don't need a camera or anything so best option.

ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 with 256MB

Only graphics card available for discrete graphics T400

2 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)

Going to install this additional 2 GB of RAM, is this a quality brand?

160 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm

Going to purchase a 1 TB or 500 GB external hard drive for all additional stuff needed so would not need a huge hard drive. Possibly upgrade to 250 GB, 5400 rpm.

Is the 7200 worth $50 more, will I see a big difference if I am not playing games or photo/video editing?

CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo 24X/24X/24X/8X Max, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)

Don't need anything better.

Express Card Slot & 7-1 Media Card Reader

Might as well for $9 more.

ThinkPad WiFi (BGN)

Does the wireless card make that much of a difference? If it will be used on a college campus will this one suffice? What would the Intel WiFi Link 5100 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology do better?

6 cell Li-Ion Battery

Extra battery life.

$933 with the T9400, $873 with the P8700.

Opinions? Anything that you would upgrade again if you had the chance?

Will be using this as a college computer for now.

 

i chose P8700 in my thinkpad for better battery life (25W chip vs 35W). If you have to have 6mb of cache, i'd go with a P9500.

I did get the media card reader its useful for quick transfer of pictures from digital camera to computer with no cables involved.

As for WiFi i chose the Intel 5300 because i heard some bad things about 5100, and it was only $14 extra from base config at the time.

 

As zenit mentioned the P8700 should be more than capable and the T9400 is not worth the extra $60 for the increased cache. As far as the wifi goes, I have the 5100 and have had zero issues and I have been able to easily connect to multiple places and not have any dropped connections. I have also used a T400 with the Thinkpad b/g wireless and again it wasnt bad either. Supposedly it has slightly higher power consumption than the Intel cards but other than that it wasnt bad either. The 5300 on the other hand has better range, so if you expect to connect to weaker signals most of the time then it make sense to get that otherwise the 5100 or the thinkpad wireless should do fine.

 

Thank you for your inputs.

I do believe I will be upgrading the WiFi card, whether the 5100 or 5300 I have yet to determine.

The better battery life is probably more important right now. To be honest I do not really understand what the extra cache would do for me as it is. The P8700 seems ample enough for basic tasks.

Also another question.

Since Vista -64 Bit required 4 GB of RAM to run should I install the RAM before I ever turned on the machine since it will only come with 2 GB?

 

64-bit Vista does not require 4GB; a 64-bit operating system is required for 4GB of RAM or more.

 

I think Crucial is a good choice for RAM, but i want to hear from you guys. A i don't know why the price for a Cucial kit 2x2GB is more expensive that two separate tick.

 

So Genuine Windows Vista Business 64 is not considered a 64-bit operating system?

 

It is. There has never been a minimum of 4GB limit to run a 64bit OS. A 64bit OS can be run using less than that amount of RAM.

 

I've been using that Crucial DDR3 stick in my x200T for months (mixed with a Samsung 2GB that shipped with my ThinkPad). Never had any problems.

I've used Crucial RAM for years in a variety of machines and always thought they made a good product.

Not sure about the reason for the price difference, but you can often get some very odd price spreads when dealing with quantities (more is NOT always cheaper).

 

I use 2x2gig stick of Mushkin DDR3 in my T400. No problems whatsoever and was cheaper than crucial. For me Crucial had a horrible reliability track record when it comes to desktop memory. Just for that reason I tend to avoid them.

 

Thank you for all your opinions guys/gals

 

Totally misunderstood miner's point originally. I understand now, I thought it was the other way around.