IBM Thinkpad R50 Question(s)

Hey, I'm new here, but I have done a lot of research on different laptops. Does anyone have an IBM R50 with an ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 with 32MB of Ram? I am wondering how well this will play games. I am looking for a good system with OK 3d performance and great stability. So far, here are the one's I've looked at and some of the problems with them:

*IBM ThinkPad T41-Pos: Thin, light, well built. Neg: No Bluetooth, Firewire, or great graphics
*IBM ThinkPad R50-Pos: Good size, Bluetooth, Firewire. Neg: Build and graphics
*Gateway 450xl-Pos: Good Size, 64MB Mobility 9000. Neg: No Bluetooth
*ABS ZForce F2-Pos: Thin, great graphics. Neg: No Bluetooth, bad construction?
*Gateway M505XL-Pos: Good Graphics and Audio. Neg: No Bluetooth and is Widescreen.
*HP Pavilion zt3000-Pos: Good Graphics, Audio, Build, Bluetooth. Neg: Widescreen.
*Compaq Presario X1000-Pos: Thin, Graphics, Audio, Bluetooth. Neg: Widescreen, 4200RPM HD.
*Dell Latitude D600-Pos: Thin, light, bluetooth. Neg: No Firewire, Hot wrist rest.

Anyway, that's about all I've been looking at. Is it a general concensus that Widescreen is bad for playing old games? I've been looking for a while and I'm not really sure when I will buy. Does anyone have any of these and can give me some help in deciding? Sorry to be off topic. The question is really about the R50/T41 (they have the same video), but it spawned off more. Thanks.

 

You're right in insisting on a dedicated graphics subsystem. The ATI Radeon 9000 is still a very good video card.

From your list, it seems that you require Firewire and Bluetooth. Are those really necessary for you? especially Bluetooth? Your insistence on them seems to limit your notebook choices. [don't take this the wrong way, I'm just curious - I'm not questioning your needs or wants]

You might want to ask the question about gaming with widescreen displays in a new thread so everyone can have a chance to read it instead of just those interested in this particular IBM model. You should do the same thing with the question about whether the Radeon 9000 is adequate for today's (?) games.

 

I've also been trying to buy a notebook to no avail. I'd really appreciate any input from you that you can offer.

The little pointer/eraser thing on the keyboard is a must as I hate touchpads.

Looking to do website/photo/video work (plus some basic business apps)
-so obviously, Firewire, etc...

Trying to keep weight under or around 7 pounds.

DVD RW/CD R or RW

Wireless
Under $2000.00

Thanks in advance.

 

m3, you are very right. I think I am limiting myself too much. As of right now though, I like the IBM R50s multimedia aspect, but not so much the price and lack of great graphics. I probably don't need firewire and bluetooth. It would be a nice addition though. I don't plan on playing too many huge games, but I would like to be able to play some still, most likely WarCraft 3 and maybe some FPSs. From what I have heard, some laptops have trouble playing any games at all. Anyway, thanks. If anyone has a first person encounter with the IBM R50 or T41 with Mobility 9000 graphics, I would appreciate some information and benchmarks if possible. Thanks.

 

kf,

Yes, concentrate on getting a reasonably-priced, quality notebook that runs games fairly well. If you can Firewire and Bluetooth in such a notebook, then it'll be perfect. If not, I'm sure you'll still be happy with the right notebook, even if does not include Firewire and Bluetooth.

IBMs are indeed relatively expensive. But I have to say that the ATI 9000 would be much more than adequate for you, since you're only looking for "OK 3d performance." The ATI would give you good gaming performance.

 

Yeah, that's basically what I figured. I am still leaning toward the IBM, mainly because they don't use widescreens yet. I'm not a fan of them after reading at a widescreen forum about all the stretching and stuff that goes on.

-Kyle

 

Though I just bought a hi-powered refurbished Dell 8600 (see my post on the hardware forum) the only other machine I would have purchased after all my research - and it came down stricktly to $$ would have been a Thinkpad R40 or R50 (I still havent figured out the difference between the base models of those two). They're relatively light, fast and super-durable. Based on my research, I would not go with a T or G model. Good luck.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by kf_man
I don't plan on playing too many huge games, but I would like to be able to play some still, most likely WarCraft 3 and maybe some FPSs.<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

The Radeon 9000 will be fine for Warcraft 3 and most FPS games. But obviously you aren't going to get good performance with some newer titles, and most in 2004 (especially Doom 3, Half Life 2 etc) will be absolutely awful. Terrible

If you are going to want to play everything released this year you would have to look for something with a Mobility 9700, which is 'launched' but I don't think is available in anything yet.

I have tried a few games on my R50 with Radeon 7500, namely GTA3 and Live for Speed, and I'm getting about the same performance as the machine I replaced, which was an Athlon 1700 with nForce GF2 graphics. So you would consider the Radeon 9000 to be... I dunno, a GF4MX perhaps? You could find benchmarks on about a thousand websites...

 

Ok, thank you. Right now, I've been between the T41 and the R50. I'm having a hard time deciding between the two. Buckaroo, what differences did you find with the models? Why would you not get the T series?

Thank.

-Kyle

 

Hey KF,
Re the T series - too many bad customer reviews re construction, motherboard, HDD problems. Didn't hear any re the R series. Only complaints on the R series are things like - its ugly but its good... not a bad endorsement if you ask me. One of the easier places to find where some of my research came from is www.cnet.com and www.zdnet.com - they both have extensive customer reviews that sometimes conflict with the 'official' reviews.

Also, my research says that there are 3 things (in this order) that result in the highest performance - esp for graphics/games - dedicated graphics card w/ as much memory as you can afford, faster HDD - go with 5400 vs 4200 and if you can afford it, go for the 7200; and lastly - the processor speed - once you're over 1Ghz w/ a P4, there's not going to be much difference based on changing chips. Good luck and I'd check out refurbished if I was you. (I'll still eb jealous if you get the Thinkpad.)

 

Buckaroo - I like the T41, but I have read some stuff about construction. I think I'm leaning more toward the R50 with the following specs:

*1.7GHz Pentium M
*256MB RAM (adding a 512 chip after I get it)
*40GB 5400 RPM hard drive
*IBM a/b/g wireless and bluetooth
*High-Cap Battery

I have read that I might be able to get some discounts through IBM. I haven't really looked into it, but that would be really nice. I also like the R50p due to the 128MB FireGL T2. I also want to get a Mini-Dock because it's cool [ ], not really, but mainly because I like the ports and locking features. Any comments on that? Is the FireGL worth it? I'll probably stick with the 9000 32MB though because I will still have a desktop. The problem is that I keep thinking about how cool it would be to game anywhere. It's sad that the T41 has become so problematic. The T series used to be the best of the best. Oh well. Thanks.

-Kyle

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by kf_man
Is the FireGL worth it?

It's sad that the T41 has become so problematic. The T series used to be the best of the best.
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Don't think its worth getting the FireGL for games.

Strange, I haven't come across much negative comment about the T4X, other than fan noise issue I'm having. The only difference between the T and R by the way is the case. The R has the cheaper all-plastic casing, about 3.5cm thick, and the T has the 2.5cm / 1-inch, thinner casing. The motherboard is the same, and the design of the cases is the same other than their size and the materials used. They use the same batteries and have the same layout of ports etc.

I got the R50 + mem. + port replicator for less than the equivalent T, which made more sense to me.