I have been looking an alternative to replace my old, trusty IBM Thinkpad T43P. More then four years old technology and I still can not find an adequate replacement.
Old but good, T43P is hard to beat even today
The model I have, Thinkpad T43P, was the last series of thinkpads produced by IBM, before they sold their laptop business to Chinese Lenovo.
It was also their most powerful laptop featuring among other things:
- 2.13 MHz Pentium M (very fast)
- 7200 RPM disk (and this was more then four years ago)
- 15″ display with native 1600×1200 resolution (no it’s not too small and yes it’s great for web development)
- WiFi, DVD Burner, Fingerprint reader, Trackpoint - all the goodies
Why would I like to change it? Well first I am looking for something lighter. T43P is around 2.5 kg, and I started carrying it around all the time - the weight feels now. It’s battery is worse now after four years on it’s shoulders. It manages only around 2 hours of work now, down from 4 hours when new. I’d also like to have a modern LED screen of the indoor/outdoor variant because my screen is not made exactly for bright day. Since web development is such work that can be done anywhere a good screen is a must.
The closest specification laptops to my needs that I could find are MacBook Air, Lenovo X300 and Fujtisu T2010. They all have their quirks. MacBook Air is a one-way street. X300 has only 1.2Ghz processor. Fujtistu T2010 too small screen.
The ideal laptop for web development needs to have:
- LED screen with at least 1000 pixels vertical resolution
- Core 2 Duo processor
- Battery life of 4+ hours
- Weight of less then 2kg (preferably less then 1.5kg)
- Trackpoint or similar alternative to trackpad which is useless
Is there a laptop today that meets at least most of these requirements?
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August 15th, 2008 at 8:38
andi that’s a monster resolution for sure. I am only considered about monster weight as well
I think the successor of X300 (X301 ?) with new Intel Centrino 2 platform will be my next choice.
August 12th, 2008 at 13:46
hello vladimir,
i’m in the same trouble - beloved t43p gets old and a new laptop has to be chosen.
t61p will be my decision. you mentioned that it doesn’t offer a high resolution, but that’s untrue. just google for “t61p wuxga” and you’ll find enough offers for a 15.4″ notebook with a awesome resolution of 1920×1200 - what else you want for webdevelopement
there’s also a quite good review on notebookcheck.com.
best regards from berlin,
andi b
August 5th, 2008 at 13:32
I am not planning to carry around a docking station and a flatscreen and call that being mobile. My intention is more having one permanent work place where the docking station and the flat screen are located, and hoping that the small screen is sufficient to do at least parts of my work while on the go. Also at some of the places where I work I think it would be possible to borrow a flatscreen and connect that temporarily.
July 30th, 2008 at 20:56
New Thinkpad X200 looks interesting but it is maybe worth to wait Centrino 2 update for x300. And the Sony’s new Z series isn’t bad at all.
July 29th, 2008 at 13:04
I think we seek different things there, as I want to be mobile and get things done. Carrying a docking station and a flatscreen pretty much kills it.
I was even thinking of dropping my 6 cell battery on my T43p and buying a new 3 cell one. That should give me around the same staying power.
Then replace the hard disk with a SSD.
All together should save around 300 grams all together no? So I would be on the edge of 2kg - and still have 1600×1200 screen.
July 28th, 2008 at 20:28
I’m already very close to getting an X61s. Yes the screen is quite small and the resolution is low, and I also need it for web development. I am therefore considering getting a docking station and a big flatscreen that is connected to it so that I can do serious work with it when docked but still get the nice form factor. And the 4:3 screen. I actually switched the resolution on my current T40p down to 1024×768 for a couple of days to see how it feels, and it works out quite well. I started configuring more apps to run in full screen without any space wasted for task managers, clocks etc., which is good anyway because it helps to focus on one app at a time.
Once you are hooked on thinkpad keyboard and the trackpoint it’s hard to get away from it again.
July 28th, 2008 at 19:49
Have you guys heard about the new centrino II platform? It offers extended battery life among other merits. I have already heard about a new sony vaio 13.3″ screen and 1600×900 resolution. Just opening the possibilities.
yes x61 is interesting but not that much for web development. Too small screen and resolution, no?
July 28th, 2008 at 14:45
Hi All, what a fascinating thread! The ThinkPad X300 is now starting to drop in price, but that still doesn’t bring it into ‘equivalent’ range of a new ThinkPad T61 even if there was a model with the screen resolution that you are looking for.
The great thing is Vladimir, with all the new stuff that Lenovo is bring out there are some price drops on the X61 and as Theron says above, it could be what you are looking for.
Some pretty awesome deals coming through now on the X61 and X61 Tablet.
http://www.thinkpadtoday.com/l.....upon-2.htm
We also had some great deals from Lenovo on ‘brand new’ T60’s. I’ll check to see if they are still avaiable and let you know Valdimir.
Keep us all posted!
Cheers, Ian Orford - Editor, ThinkPadToday.com
July 28th, 2008 at 7:18
Get the Thinkpad X60. It’s still just as good as when IBM made it. I’ve got two of them and they are lightweight, study, and reliable. I’ve got the 8 cell battery and it gives me about 4 hours with wi-fi going. I used to get about 6 1/2 hours when it was new 2 years ago. I love my x60 (I think it’s x61 now).
If you have $3k to spend, I’d go for the x300. But after you buy don’t check the prices for a few years because the price is going to drop like a rock. The SS hard drive is going to come down so much in the next year that it might be worth waiting.
July 14th, 2008 at 20:46
Ian, pleasure having you here especially as an editor of such an excellent Thinkpad resource site.
I didn’t say I am turning to Mac, just that it isn’t an adequate replacement for my T43p, even among today’s Thinkpads. The closest is X300 but I need to pay almost $3000 to get much slower CPU and smaller screen resolution. T61 is basically the same deal as my T43p, it’s still quite heavy and new T61 also has worser screen resolution.
1600×1200 of T43p is tough to beat among 14.1″ laptops and it’s just an excellent working resolution.
If IBM was still making laptops I am sure they would make again old school 4:3 types of display, unlike these rubbish widescreens that are so cheap to cut and manufacture.
I might go for Apple only if they surpass Lenovo’s offering. Maybe I am changing my life style there too
?
You know the saying: For business people there is Thinkpad, for people with style there is MacBook and for everyone else - everything else.
July 14th, 2008 at 15:03
Hi Vladimir, all this talk of Macbooks is making me very sad! Why change from the very best laptop in the world? You need to stick with ThinkPad.
The only stipulation that is going to be difficult to meet is the LED screen. I don’t see much on the horizon that isn’t vastly expensive.
You could consider a ThinkPad T60p, Lenovo where clearing them out a couple of months ago, at bargain basement prices, have a look at http://www.thinkpadtseries.com and see whats current.
We also post all the latest Lenovo offers on the ThinkPadToday blog, a few weeks ago we had a $1000 off at
T61p http://www.thinkpadtoday.com/t.....n-code.htm
And also don’t forget that the ThinkPad range is going to have some superb new models over the next couple of months including the new ThinkPad X200, ThinkPad T500 and the new ThinkPad W700 17″ workstation.
Again you can keep up with the release dates at http://www.thinkpadtoday.com
Hope this helps Vladimir, let me know if we can offer any further advice.
Cheers, Ian Orford - Editor, ThinkPadToday.com
July 14th, 2008 at 15:01
I’m in the same situation as you and decided to stay a little longer with my good old T40p to wait if lenovo develops improvements over the x300. I’ve seen rumours that an x400 and x200 are in the works. If they make one with either a 4:3 screen, a bigger SSD or a faster processor then I’ll consider buying one.
If you want to keep yours a bit longer I recommend getting a new replacement battery. I do that every two years or so, because it’s natural that batteries wear out and I’d rather spend some money on a new battery than worrying all the time how to treat it correctly so that it doesn’t wear out too fast.
July 14th, 2008 at 0:46
Think about a regular MacBook Vladimir. I have one. It is a bit bigger then the Air. But has more hard drive space. Plus it just works well!
July 13th, 2008 at 19:47
Since you are already considering a Mac… If you can deal with the extra weight over the Macbook Air (less than 1kg/2lbs), I would go with the Macbook. It would offer more expandability than the MBA. However, at 2.27kg that would be above your 2kg goal.
Then again, the MBA only has an 800px vertical resolution. It may be hard to find a light-weight laptop that has a 1000px vertical resolution.
Good luck finding one!