Help Fast! Buying T60/p possibly tonight

I've been looking at a T60 for awhile, and I've decided to pull the trigger. Problem is I'm not sure what would be best for me. Stuck on T60 vs. T60p, offer that ends tonight or wait till they put up the c2d on educational discount webpage.

First off, do they offer educational discount for configured machines (my school has a discount program with them, but only prefab machines, all dated, show up on the ibm webpage)? If so how much off is it and would it be applicable to a T60 with c2d, and if not does anyone know how long it would be till they offer an education discount on the refreshed T60.

Secondly, I'm stuck between the T60 and T60p. After configuring them the only difference I see between the two is the x1400 vs. 256MB FireGL V5250 and 2ghz T7200 vs 2.16ghz 7400. And the $400 price difference. I assume I won't notice much if any defference in .16ghz, so what I need to know is if the V5250 is worth it and if there are any other differences between these models (weight or other factors, but the stats from lenovo appear to be the same now). I will be mainly multitasking using common college software, however I like to play fps now and then so I would like this computer to be able to handle games as well as possible for the next couple years (I play source now for example). What difference will these graphic cards have, and I do expect to upgrade to vista so which would be better considering that as well.

Let me know what you think, Brandon.

p.s. I hear great things about the flexview screens and would wait a month to get one if they came out in 14.1 screens. Anyone know if that might happen soon?

 

Regarding FlexView on 14.1", as far as I know that isn't in the making, however, 14.1" widescreen T60 is supposed to be out around New Years. I'd presume that machine will have a flexview option (if in fact the T60 sticks with both a 14.1" and 15" [widescreen] option).

If you plan on playing games, of relative demand on graphics, the V5250 would be a better choice. Keep in mind you will be able to play lower-end games no problem on T60, and high-end on medium/medium-high setting. You will not notice much between the two processors though. The tradeoff is not worth $400 in my opinion.

If you don't mind me asking, with the educational discount, how much is the T60 comming out too? What are the other specs?

And no, there are no physical/weight differences between the two.

 

Thanks for the info. I suppose I'm leaning towards the T60 to save some cash.
I probably didn't post clearly in the first post what I meant about the educational discount. I can't configure a T60 with core 2 duo on the discount website at IBM, so I was wondering if anyone knew when they would allow that on the website or if you called in an order would they give you an educational discount and if so how much the discount would be.

spec wise I'm leaning towards:
2ghz, 2gig ram, X1400, 100gb 5400HD (plan on buying 100gb 7200HD aftermarket and using the 5400 as an external)

 

How much is that config (with student discount) costing you?

And to recieve student discount, do you just provide proof you are in school and they will give you the discount?

All T60's haven't quite transfered over to C2D. Lenovo Canada, you can't find a C2D T60 under $1600, and even with that, the other specs are quite bare.

You can try calling them and requesting Core 2 Duo w/ student discount, they may be able to configure one for you. I have yet to deal with their sales staff but I have heard good things about Lenovo over-the-phone services.

 

How did you make out blynch1? Did you pull the trigger last night?

Although any of the Lenovo graphics options are "Vista ready", the Intel GMA 950, X1300/X1400 will all dynamically share system RAM (good excuse to get 2 GB of system RAM if you can).

I could not find any info on the 256MB FireGL V5250 on ATI's site. Some believe it is equivalent to a an underclocked X1600 (take a look at this thread, which also discusses its gaming aspects)... do not know if the 256MB FireGL V5250 is also "hypermemory" like the X1300/X1400, which is another way of saying it will dynamically share system RAM.

 

You do not want a FireGL video card if you're planning on gaming. FireGL cards are meant for graphics rendering. You're probably better off getting a X1400 that can do mild gaming.

 

I didn't pull the trigger last night, but I made a price quote that I should be able to use to still get the special deals ($2152 after tax, T60p T7400, 2gb ram, 100gb hd)

I held out because I wanted to call lenovo and ask about student discounts. So I will probably do that today.

 

Let us know what they tell you about Student Discounts.

 

I ordered today by phone and they gave me a student discount, however none of the specials on their website can be used when using the student discount. Since I didn't want a 9cell and didn't really need a 100gb 5400hd (going to swap in a 7200 I already have) it turned out about a hundred dollars cheaper than the computer I configured online yesterday. So the discount was approximately 10% or so, but I had to pay $62 to upgrade to the dvd burner. Since those sales expired as of 11/1 it is definately worth it to call and get a student discount.

 

I hope it is 10% here too in Canada. Did you just tell them the part number and negotiate the other upgrades?

 

Buy through VISAPERKS.CA to get up to 25% discount

 

Are the discounts through VISAperks more than an employee purchase program? The machines on visaperks are still relatively expensive.

 

It depends. If you really have the option of buying through EPP, price what you want through Visaperks, then do two things: 1 - go to ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitute/psref/ and download tabook.pdf (assuming you want a Thinkpad series laptop). Find the preconfiguration that best matches what you want and get the model number of that. Then call up Lenovo and tell them you are buying through EPP. Ask him to look up the price of that model number of the preconfigured one (sometimes there are crazy EPP deals to be had that aren't listed on the EPP website) and then ask him to price out a custom build (which you can't even do through the EPP website). It's possible that the EPP will be cheaper, though 25% is pretty darn good.

 

Always call. FWIW, the student discount percentages can vary based on what your school signed on to. But always call. I'm pretty sure they can do custom builds for student discount too. Also, technically people aren't supposed to give actual numbers from EPP or ED on the net (discount percentages is fine, but apparently there is something about giving an actual dollar amount and configuration).

 

Well, I called. The price the sales rep can offer is going to be no where near the ones through VisaPerks, he said that straight off the bat himself. Then he said he can assist through the process once I have ordered through VisaPerks. Sounds like comission to me , poor guy. But anywase, I need to ask if I can get a student discount with the prices listed on visaperks. I wonder how much they could give, if any. It may just be a student discount on the Lenovo prices.

 

ATI x1400 is less resources demandiing, less battery and less heathing. I would recommend go for your T60. Flexview is not available on 14.1" and besides horizontal view angles I can't see so much difference in image quality versus normal T60 high res displays.

 

Deals are pretty much never combineable. It's either EPP or Student or Visaperks, or Sales specials (like free hard drive upgrade sort of thing).

 

How good are EPP deals? How much of a percentage discount?

 

Is making phone calls really effective? "Find me the cheapest SXGA+ T60?" That saves looking around on my own.

 

The sales rep I talked to was quoting me higher prices than ones I could find on the web. Find a model you like, jot down the model number, then call, see what kind of price they can give you. Cheapest SXGA+ T60 is kind of vague. Any other requirements?