HP DV9000T to a Thinkpad T61?

OK, I was seduced by the "bang for the buck" appeal of the HP DV9000T (Costco 90 day return) But I find it too big, creaky, cheap feeling. I am considering the Thinkpads now. I can live without a built-in webcam and media card reader. I only need graphics capabilities for Photoshop, ACAD, Dreamweaver, and maybe an older game at medium graphics like Unreal Tournanment 2004. Are the Thinkpads built that much better? Is the T60 or 61 the way to go, or should I consider the Z or R series? I have around $1600 to play with. I just priced the following for $1600 on Lenovo's site:

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 (2.0GHz 800MHz 4MBL2) 1
Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 1
Operating System Language: Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium - US English 1
Display type: 14.1 WXGA+ TFT, w/o Camera 1
System graphics: nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M 1
Total memory: 2 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM) 1
Keyboard: Keyboard US English 1
Pointing device: UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) 1
Hard drive: 160GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm 1
Optical device: DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim 1
System expansion slots: PC Card Slot & Express Card Slot 1
Wireless card: ThinkPad 11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter 1
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth PAN 1
Battery: 7 cell Li-Ion Battery 1
Power cord: Country Pack North America 1
Modem cable (RJ-11): PSTN cable 1
Language Pack: Language Pack US English

 

Given your needs for photoshop etc..., you might consider buying a T60 15" with SXGA+ flexview screen and ATI Mobility Fire GL V5250 256MB. Just bought one myself and the screen is beautiful, perfect for photoshop. This assumes of course that the 15" platform isn't too big (I don't find it significantly bigger than the 14" but others would disagree ) and you don't want to make the leap to Santa Rosa. I just checked and the Flexview screens are back on the Lenovo website for the T60, but you will probably have to call lenovo to have it configured with the FireGl 256 graphics card as the option isn't listed online in the same configuration as the flexview.

Addition: the flexviews are being phased out so act fast if you decide you want one.

 

Hmm, that is something to consider. Do you have the widescreen model? How is battery life with your current config? What cell battery do you have?

 

The flexviews are only available as 15" inch, 4:3 aspect IPS panels ( compared to the 15.4" widescreen TN screens.) Great wide viewing angles and beautiful color reproduction, but more expensive to produce and not widescreen (hence the phase out) If you search "flexview" on this forum you'll find lots of info (and diehard fans) Not the best for very fast gaming because of slower response time compared to TN, but perfect for photo editing etc. and fine for the occasional DVD.

As for battery time, I haven't used mine alot as of yet, but it is reputably very good. For the T60, you can purchase both a 6 cell (which sits flush with the machine) or the 9 cell which sticks out about an inch out the back. I purchased both for traveling. Based on the early reviews, the battery time for the T60 (even with the 256 dedicated graphics) is significantly better than the new T61 and the T61s battery options are smaller (4, 6, and 7 cell). All around, for my needs, I'm glad I purchased when I did.

 

OK, for $40 more than I paid for my HP DV9000T, I could get this cutting edge T61. I would lose the 17 inch glossy display and integrated webcam/mic and HDMI port and GO 7600, but no big deal. Are the displays on the Thinkpads matte screens (they dont give much detailed info on their customization page) Any opinions?

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 (2.0GHz 800MHz 4MBL2) 1
Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 1
Operating System Language: Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium - US English 1
Display type: 14.1 WXGA+ TFT, w/o Camera 1
System graphics: nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M 1
Total memory: 2 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM) 1
Keyboard: Keyboard US English 1
Pointing device: UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) with Fingerprint Reader 1
Hard drive: 160GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm 1
Optical device: DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim 1
System expansion slots: PC Card Slot & Express Card Slot 1
Wireless card: ThinkPad 11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter 1
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth PAN 1
Battery: 7 cell Li-Ion Battery 1
Power cord: Country Pack North America 1
Modem cable (RJ-11): PSTN cable 1
Language Pack: Language Pack US English

 

The ThinkPad default screens are matte; I don't believe glossy is even an option. Apparently it isn't suited for a business-class machine.

The 15.4 inch widescreen ThinkPad T61p is supposed to come out in early June, so if you want a compromise between the 14.1 and the 17" screen sizes, then that would be a good model to look it.

 

ThinkPads don't do glossy.