Help with buying IBM T42!!

HI! I'm looking for some help regarding the T42, as the IBM sales department has proven to be completely useless. I will be using the computer for music, large spreadsheets, internet and the other basics of microsoft office (no gaming). I'm looking for a reliable, FAST laptop and have concluded this is the model for me, however, here are the things i need some help with:

Processor: 1.5GHz vs 1.6 vs. 1.7
(how much does this matter? I want a fast machine that won't be outdated next year)

Resolution: 1024x768 vs 1400x1050
(is the higher that much better, if so i wan't it, but how much does your battery life suffer?)

Graphics: 32MB ATI Mobility Radeon vs 64MB
(I believe the 64MB comes with the higher resolution (1400x1050) but wanted to see if someone could shed some light on the necessity of this?)

Thanks in advance if anyone wants to help me out!

 

Hi todd,
The difference between 1.5Ghz to 1.7 is not much, only 10% or so. Even if you get a 1.5Ghz it won't be outdated for many years for the office type apps your running. Go for the 1400x1050, it does not use much more if any more power and will display more, this is good for spreadsheets and such. 32 vs 64MB video, for what your doing it won't matter at all.

Hope this help
Jack

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" (Ben Franklin)
http://pbase.com/joneill

 

Thanks Jack, very helpful!

However,it looks like the higher resolution might not be available unless you get the 1.7GHz, I am still researching. One more thing, how necessary is it to upgrade to the 512MB from 256?

 

I think having 512MB of memory is a good idea and will give a noticable speed increase over 256MB. What I would do is order a notebook with 256MB if possible and then buy another 256MB from www.crucal.com or www.newegg.com as it's much cheaper to upgrade it yourself and it's very easy, only take about 2 minutes.

Jack

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" (Ben Franklin)
http://pbase.com/joneill

 

Check your resolution needs before you buy. While higher rez screens can be a good thing, the extra screen real estate comes at the expense of smaller fonts.

In my case, I use my T42 for Web surfing, MS Word, Excel and email. After checking the higher res screens, I decided against it, and stayed with XGA (1024x768).

Another benefit, is that you can get alot of bang for the buck. My 2378DUU has 1.5 MHz Pentium-M, 40GB HDD, Intel 22200BG wireless. It came with 256MB RAM, and I upgraded to 512MB total. This PC runs $1599 + about $70 for the RAM. Pretty reasonable for IBM. In fact, less expensive than several machines I considered from Sony and Toshiba!

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IBM T42
2378-DUU