Getting a ThinkPad R51e

Hi all,

I'm going to get my first laptop for study purpose (main purpose, that is =) ); mostly for reading online notes, surfing, chat, musics, movies and etc. No gaming, I'm just bored of it =P. Anyway, after some hours and hours of research and browsing through forums and review, I've finally made my mind to get a ThinkPad R51e due to many reasons which all ThinkPad users knew. =) This is the model and spec that I'm getting:

R51e 1843A12
RM3,199 or US$ 840
Intel® Pentium M 740(1.73GHz, 2MB cache, 533MHz, ATI RC410MD)
PC DOS
1 Year Limited Warranty (International)
256MB PC2-4200 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM
ATI Radeon Xpress 200M
14.1" XGA TFT
40GB with Shock Absorber
DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo
Integrated Broadcom 10/100 Ethernet/ThinkPad 802.11b/g


On top of this, I'm going to add in another 512MB of RAM and most probably upgrading the hard disk to 60GB. About the RAM, I'm thinking about getting a non-IBM memory, ie. a generic brand but with the same specs that cost far more cheaper than the IBM ones. Is that ok? In addition to that, I'm also upgrading the warranty to 3 years; as they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure ;-).

What do you all think about this particular model? Is there any problems associated with this one? Have I made a wise choice?

I chose not to get XP because from the money saved I could use it to upgrade the laptop. Besides, I can install it myself.

Thanks in advance.

 

Looks like a fine machine for what you do. Perhaps getting 1GB of RAM is even better than 512MB - it will definitely open up new possibilities for the great Pentium M CPU.

Definitely DON'T buy the memory from IBM, just match the specs as you plan to do. There's no such thing as "IBM RAM". They use the same Samsung/Kingston/Crucial chips everyone uses, just overcharge if you buy it from them. All laptop manufacturers do that.

I also agree on the extended warranty. Some may think it's a waste, but it's always nice to know that you're covered for 3 years.

Finally, when you install XP, make sure to get all the IBM drivers and goodies for your hardware.

 

try to add all the price once u add everything up and make a comparison with R52. and i am recommending intel integrated graphic card.

 

I'd get a 5400RPM hard drive when you do upgrade for much better system performance.

 

No way. X300. Even if you're not a gamer now, a little headroom has never done harm to anyone.

 

I've made a rough estimation of the price (with extended 3 years warranty and added RAM to a total of 768MB = US$1100) and still find R51e a cheaper choice. Anyhow, what are the advantage of R52 have over R51e?

Wouldn't a higher RPM hard disk adds noise, heat and consumes more battery? I wouldn't want that.

X300? What are the advantages of it over X200? Besides the usual stuff I'm going to run on my laptop, I'm also going to use AutoCAD (in the future, 2-3 years from now) for my mechanical engineering course. Do you think X200 is sufficient for it?

 

2-3 years from now you will be able to buy a different laptop. Don't think about it.

Heat and battery consumption by higher RPM hard drives aren't very noticeable most of the time. Neither is noise (which in fact depends more on the manufacturer - some tend to make more noisy drives). 5400RPM is a good thing with no downsides. 4200RPM is a real performance killer, 7200RPM is great but usually too expensive related to the performance you gain.

Radeon X300, unlike Radeon Xpress 200M, is a full-fledged dedicated video card. Not the strongest of them all, but still.

 

oh usually the diff is on the ultrabay and im wondering why it uses ati integrated instead of intel.

 

yeah its true, i am not using my laptop for heavy gaming.