Laptop recommendation for Grad school

[RedCOMET]

Hey gang,

I am going back to grad school this fall and I want to replace my Lenovo Thinkpad T60 Laptop. My current laptop has been working well, but the battery life has gone to shit over the last 2+ years. Also, the screen will magically shut off at times and the only way to turn it back on is to do a hard restart on the device. My T60 was a floor demo model.
I plan on using it as a backup computer once I purchase a new laptop.

I have looked at my university’s website of recommended models, but I’ve been out of the loop on current computer processors and technology. They have small selection of “recommended systems.” I do plan on using this laptop for more than just the duration of my grad program.

Can you guys recommend some models / families? Or perhaps point me in the direction of what I should looking for, ie processors, solid state hard drives, etc.


Requirements:
Lenovo, HP, or Dell ( in that order)
Windows 7 Pro ( or greater) or Windows XP Pro (OSes university supports)
Size = about 15.4” widescreen (my current laptop)
Support external monitors.
Decent Docking stations available.
Under $1,500


Uses:
basic office productivity stuff,
some programming
Basic DB work.
Video watching ( DVD rips, hulu streams)

I do not intend to do any gaming on this laptop save for something like Braid or SimCity 2k.

Hey.. I’m working the night shift. So I may be slow to respond during the day time.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

T400 or T410

Ive had my T43 for 6 years now, been dropped, thrown in a backpack, abused to hell and back. Battery still lasts for 4 hours and works perfectly fine. I will never buy anything but a lenovo laptop ever again.

 

[RedCOMET]

Yeah, I love my T60, but do by another battery for it just doesn't make sense right now. It was a floor demo model when i bought, but since I've had it, its been thrown in my book bag and has earned many flyer miles on both air craft and helicopters.

I will say that Lenovo / ibm did a good job of shipping me a new battery. When i bought the laptop, the battery was dead. I called up support, told them the battery was dead. Asked for the battery serial number... and then said we will overnight a battery to you. No questions asked. it was awesome.

I was looking at the 400/410 series...Does HP have model / line of laptops that are simliar in nature. i really like the quality of business class laptops.

 

[corkyg]

I too love my T60. It has been in 19 countries, and 9 states - land sea, and air. It has fallen three feet to a concrete floor. It has never hiccupped or faltered. I have two batteries for it, and don't use them unless I have to. I have looked at upgrading to a new one, but, . . . it seems that Lenovo quality has slipped lately. They no longer sport the IBM embossed logo on the lid. As long as this one keeps working, I'll hang on to it. And, yeah, . . . I would buy a new battery for it (9 cell).

HP does make a decent business model, and so does Dell in the Latitude series.

 

[RedCOMET]

@corkyg

I was looking at the nine cell battery other night on their website.. I was also looking at docking stations and I did not find any that would work with the T60. I have two unused LCDs monitors at home that I would like to utilize since I have decommissioned my desktop computer.

 

[Brainonska511]

@corkyg

I was looking at the nine cell battery other night on their website.. I was also looking at docking stations and I did not find any that would work with the T60. I have two unused LCDs monitors at home that I would like to utilize since I have decommissioned my desktop computer.

I don't think any of the new docks would work with the T60; something about the docking interface changing between the T6x line and the T4xx line. Those USB ones are pretty wishy-washy and I doubt they would work well for driving 2 monitors (they are pretty much 2-D only over USB).

If you want a dock for the T60, you might be able to pick up one from the Lenovo outlet or Ebay.

 

[RedCOMET]

If you want a dock for the T60, you might be able to pick up one from the Lenovo outlet or Ebay.

Amazon had a few models that might* be compatible with my old T60. The docks I have found on Amazon also might be able to drive external LCD monitor.

Right now, it would be cheaper for me to get a new battery for my T60 and deal with the added extra weigh. And in the process try one of those amazon docks.

I was just exploring my options since sooner or later I will want/need to upgrade.

 

[Emulex]

hp 8440p or hp 8440w

your school gets mad discounts from their main vendor due to volume.

say they buy 100 servers, 10K laptops and 1K laptops for staff over 18 months - that gets rolled into a deal to cut prices way down.

The elitebook is solid - i've never seen a bad pixel on any of them or any out of box issues evar. The Probook is the less rugged version but cheaper.

You can always use an expresscard to pci-E adapter to run a 5870 if you need to play games on external monitor.

Yes on solid state - i'd suggest aftermarket since they charge $400-500 for a decent SSD (oem tax). just keep the original drive around for warranty work.

oh yeah hp business notebooks usually carry 3/3/3 out of the box. You can uplift 3 years of AD,DMR, Computrace for about $100 - 150 more. DMR means your data is so l33t if they suspect the drive fails you promise to destroy that drive and they'll give you a new one. Great for SSD

AD = slurpee/etc

Computrace professional = keeps an eye on everything. burnt into bios to restore when drivers load. works great. i can watch where a pc is; what changes (loaded software etc) for a fleet.

3/3/3 is next business day on-site repair. I've had them do screens on fleet of laptops for poor quality (fixed by a bios patch about a year later lol).

Otherwise - get a mac and be hip.

Docking station is wise man.

If you ignore everything i say - GET A WARRANTY for the duration of use.


That cheap AMD special with a 1/0/0 warranty uplifted to a AD/DMR/Computrace with 3/3/3 nbd will end up costing you more on warranty than on the laptop WORD.

 

[Decembermouse]

I'd look for something with:

-DDR3. Lower power, and potentially higher performance, but not a huge performance increase for laptops compared to DDR2. The power savings and cooler operating temps of DDR3 are nice though.
-250GB or bigger hdd, not really sure how big you'd like... up to you
-Intel i3 or AMD Athlon II / Turion II Pxxx or Nxxx series

Really a fan of the new AMD mobile platform. They have single-cores, duals, tris, and quads. The P-series ones are only 25W, or 31% below the usual 35W TDP. The i3's are all still 35W unless you get the 1.2GHz one, which won't give stellar enough performance to last you through grad school. I'd probably, if you want the laptop to be fast enough to last you through school, go with a P520 (dual-core 2.3GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 25W) or a P820 (tri-core, 1.5MB L2 cache, 25W). HP carries these in their CQ62z series and dv6z series laptops. Have worked with these and they run cool and quiet. I can't speak to how cool the 35W models are though.

They also undervolt quite well. I use K10Stat, and RMClock for Intel chips. The last-gen Mxxx series, also K10.5 based like the Phenom II, would go 0.10, 0.15V under stock voltage at every P-state. The new ones also do this but I would imagine the P-series can do even more. I haven't set them at more than 0.15V under stock yet but I suspect they'd do well, as they are binned to be low-power chips. You'll get over 5 hours of battery life with a slight undervolt on these chips.

Not to mention the Radeon 4250 graphics. You mentioned you're not into gaming. The 4250 is an integrated graphics chip (igp, p=processor) and will do much better than Intel integrated graphics in terms of HD encoding/decoding, and requires less CPU cycles to help it process video/images.

To be fair, the i3's probably undervolt well too. I just don't see much point in spending that much more money I guess, when you can have a triple-core for this price :\

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...ocessor&v1=AMD

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...g/CQ62Z_series

I am also going to grad school in the fall. I'm gonna get a CQ62z with 2GB of RAM and see how it runs. With the P520 processor. The CPU's fast enough, but if the RAM's not enough, I'll spend $100 for 2x2GB of good RAM from Newegg, rather than spend $100 for HP to stick in 2x2GB of generic RAM.

CPU info:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/12/amd-promises-better-battery-life-and-thermals-with-new-neo-cpus/

 

[Brainonska511]

The i3's are all still 35W unless you get the 1.2GHz one, which won't give stellar enough performance to last you through grad school.

TBH, the i3s also include parts that used to be found on the northbridge - integrated graphics and the memory controller. The TDP of the platform is lower than the previous generation.

 

[RedCOMET]

Thanks for all the info. I'll have to look more closely at in the next few days. Right now my Internet connection at the jobsite i'm at is going in and out because of some crazy t-storms we are experiencing.

 

[Decembermouse]

TBH, the i3s also include parts that used to be found on the northbridge - integrated graphics and the memory controller. The TDP of the platform is lower than the previous generation.

Oh yeah, true! So 35W is not at all a bad TDP for the NB+CPU or whatever you want to call it... Intel's Fusion I guess lol. Pretty neat. So yeah, a choice between that and separate chips with more graphics oomph if required... the decision is really up to the consumer at that point. I know what I'd choose, but if it were for a different application I may go for the i3. I do want some HD capability and low-end yet capable graphics muscle, should the situation require it. Hooking up to an HDTV, etc. Dunno if RedCOMET would find that useful or not... if not, and if an i3 is available for a reasonable price (having trouble with this, I'd be more likely to get one if I could justify price compared to the current AMD platform) then I may get one of those...

 

[fire400]

=left side CTRL key, 2nd to the left, but can be reversed in BIOS
-Lenovo t400: has both the pc card and express card slots
-Lenovo t410: only has express slot

=left side CTRL key on far left:
-HP EliteBook 8440p w/nvidia 3100 (express card only)
-Dell Latitude E6410 w/nvidia 3100 (option of express card or PC card)

All of the above laptops support Windows XP, but the new HP EliteBook I hear may not allow you to use your own version of Windows XP.

Personally, with the left CTRL keys, you have to ask yourself if you're going to utilize the FN keys to access features more, or the CTRL keys more? Usually, CTRL keys are more associated with Windows programs and features, whereas the FN key cracks you into laptop hardware featuers. I personally, like the CTRL keys to be on the far-far left.

With the i3 or i5, your basic applications will rip through like lightning. Of course the i5 is usually the default CPU for these systems anyway.

Try the HP or the DELL unless you're a die hard fan of Lenovo. And Lenovo is a good choice too. The Univ. of Minn. makes their law students choose the Lenovo.