HDMI & Price Question on a ThinkPad W530

Thinking about getting a ThinkPad W530 asap.

1) Only thing lacking is an HDMI Port . I occasionally use an HDMI port to hook up my current Compaq 8510p computer to a Panasonic Smart tv

Do DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapters work well?

Does it matter? Any degradation of signal with an adapter?

2)

How does the following pricing look? Am I missing any major deal? Looking to buy now.

Thanks for any input.


ThinkPad W530 - $1,560.60



Processor Intel Core i7-3720QM Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.60 GHz)

Operating System Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)

Operating System Language Windows 7 Professional 64 - English

Windows XP Mode Windows 7 XP Mode - English

Display Type 15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) LED Backlit AntiGlare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready

System Graphics NVIDIA Quadro K1000M Graphics with 2GB DDR3 Memory

Total Memory 8 GB DDR3 - 1600MHz (2 DIMM)

Keyboard Keyboard Backlit - US English

Pointing Device UltraNav with Fingerprint Reader

Camera 720p HD Camera with Microphone

Hard Drive 500GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm

Micro Hard Drive (mSATA) 16GB mSATA Solid State Cache Drive

Optical Device DVD Recordable

System Expansion Slots Express Card Slot & 4-in-1 Card Reader

Battery 9 Cell Li-Ion TWL 70++

Power Cord 170W Slim AC Adapter - US (2pin)

Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0 with Antenna

Integrated WiFi Wireless LAN Adapters Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN

Integrated Mobile Broadband Mobile Broadband upgradable



41C9339 4 YR Onsite Next Business Day + Accidental Damage Protection


$277.29

 

1) No loss of quality. The main issue is whether audio is passed through the adapter; some adapters do and some do not. If you do your research and find out whether the adapter you're buying will pass audio through, then there should be no other problems. An adapter should not cost you more than ~$10.

2) Personally I would skip the tiny mSATA cache and just install a full-size 64GB or 128GB mSATA for Windows and programs + the HDD for data storage. With such a setup, I wouldn't bother with a 7200RPM drive either--stick with a 500GB 5400RPM drive.

Upgrading RAM may also be much cheaper aftermarket as well.

Although I don't know your usage patterns and necessities, I would say that a 4 year on site accidental damage warranty is overkill. 4 years is probably excessively long, as if the computer develops issues 3-4 years in, it would probably be more worth your time and money to simply upgrade to what would then be a far more capable machine. Unless you're accident-prone, I think accidental damage protection is probably also an unnecessary cost as well.

 

Incidentally, I just got mine
DisplayPort 1.1 Male to HDMI 1.3 Female Adapter w/ Audio - Black - Worldwide Free Shipping - DX
and it works well on my W510, including sound, with a cheapo HDMI cable. It's not particularly solid mechanically, but it's not recommended to move the laptop around a lot with such a huge thing stuck into it anyway. So far, didn't notice any bad signal or unstable connection.

 

Thank you.

Closed the deal on a manager's approval for $1,473.90, which was a tad under 50% off the "list" price.

woo woo.