Laptop Upgrade - Advice Please

[Tamtarn]

We need to upgrade to a Laptop with more "grunt"

We use it for imaging solely.

We will be buying a used Laptop and we have found four which seem to suit our needs and in our price range.

Any comments or advice on any of these would be very much appreciated

Compaq EVO N800W
2.2 GHZ Processor ---1GIG RAM --- 60GIG HD --- 15"

Dell Latitude D800
1.7 GHZ Processor --- 1GIG RAM --- 40GIG HD --- 15"

IBM T41P
1.7 GHZ Processor --- 1GIG RAM --- 40GIG HD --- 14"

IBM T42
2.0 GHZ Processor --- 1GIG RAM --- 40GIG HD --- 14"

Any other suggestions Welcome

[norm]

I'm currently using a spare T43, but my normal notebook is a T42. The system board fried, (tea does that!) but that said, it never missed a beat before that. I've had the board replaced but haven't bothered moving data off the T43 back to the T42. That thinkpad is abt 4-5yrs old.

I'm biased and I work for IBM. Having said that, I hammer my notebooks day in day. I grab them by the edge of the screen, they get shoved in and out of my bag. They get left on, in hibernation, on standby, the works and rarely, very rarely miss a beat. The keyboard still works fine, albeit some characters are fading.

I install s/w, remove it, re-install, plug periheral devices (usb, usb adapters, external h/drives, printers) and don't get issues.

I'm due for a refresh hopefully next yr, but all in all, very robust machines.

Out of curiousity, what are you thinking of paying?

[Hagar]

Hi Probably any of these will serve the purpose.. My own thought is an IBM, they are the preverbial brick dunny. That is why so many offices use them.
If it is to be used for imaging look at things such as HD space, the operating system, USB ports and screen quality and speed.

Hope this helps

Doug

[Tamtarn]

Thanks for your input Norm.

We're looking at paying up to $700

[[1ponders]]

I know this is probably wishful thinking but do any of them have the old 9 pin RS232 serial port on them? They are still very handy to have as it seems that some astronomy gear has yet to move into the 21st century with it comes to connections.

[snowyskiesau]

iBM definitely!
I've been using a T42 for the last few months, came with the job. It's an excellent machine. Powerful but light weight
I've just been upgraded to a T61, 2GHz dual core CPU, 2 GB memory, 120GB disk, 15" screen. Very nice indeed.

I haven't tried using either for astronomy, I do have my own R50P with Windows installed which I've used to connect to an Argo Navis and a motor drive with some success.
I've used a USB -> serial converter but I'd recommend a real serial port via a PCMCIA card.

[norm]

Not the T42 or T43. You can get a serial to USB adapter for it though.

$700 thats not too bad. IBM internal for certified used models as above are going between $840-$930. 90 day warranty, new li-on battery. The $840 has more scratches, wear and tear, but does not interfere with its operations.

[Zuts]

Hi

I am writing this on a 3 year old t40. I also use it in the field for focusing etc. I would go the t42, if it's like the t40 it has a titanium lid, the screen is bolted to the chassis on a steel bar. I have two laptops, the other is a tecra a7 but i think this is better. If it had more grunt it would be great but as far as IBM t series go they are very reliable and strong so i would get one.

Paul

[Tamtarn]

Norm, on info we have been able to obtain correct me if I am wrong is the T42 a 2002 model and the T41P a 2004 model ?

[snowyskiesau]

For information on Thinkpads, Try http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki

This will give you hardware specs and (I think) date of release.
It's also a great site if you want to run Linux on a Thinkpad

[Tamtarn]

Thanks Geoff, good to know you were happy with the T42.
Your new T61 sounds like a great machine.



Paul thanks for your input on the t series, the t42 is sounding quite good.

David

[snowyskiesau]

Perhaps I should have added the disclaimer that I too work for IBM. :)

[Tamtarn]

Thats a handy link Geoff, thanks for that. - Have noted the disclaimer. :)

[[1ponders]]

Oh and my T20 is still going strong as well. :lol:

[Tamtarn]

Paul, what is the size of the processor in your T20 and how much ram is it running.

[citivolus]

Just wanted to add my support for the Thinkpad option. I've extensively used both a T40 and several Dell D600/D620 systems, and the T40 won hands down for stability and quality control. I fried a system board in it one time playing too much World of Warcraft, but that is another story. The heat pipe wasn't designed for constant high GPU utilisation, and eventually it toasted the video chipset.

I'm only using a Dell now because I had the option of switching to a dual core system, which the T40 wasn't.

Eric

[Tamtarn]

Good to get a comparison between the T40 and Dell 600/D620 as we checked out the 600/D620 specs, along with the D800 which we included on our list above.

Would be interested in finding a T42 with a 15" screen as apparently they were sold as either 14" or 15" units.

Thanks

Eric

[gbeal]

OK, curved ball. Does it need to be portable? What I am saying here is, can a desktop be used? If so (and this is what I do) think a better quality desktop, on a trolley that allows you to move it outside.
Gary

[[1ponders]]

My T20 :lol: it is circa windoze 98 SE running with 256mg ram. I can't remember the chip but I'll boot it up later and let you know. It has everything I need except for USB2 of course. :P Ethernet connection, PCMCIA slot, swapable CD player and floppy drive and a whopping 12gig of hard disk space :lol:

It's main use is as my autoguiding laptop when I have too many things running off my Acer Aspire. It is surprising what can still be done with it. If you picked up an older model sbig with serial or parrallel cable it would run it np at all.


Edit: Pentium III @ 650MHz I believe the chip is.

[Tamtarn]

Paul, have you used the DSI as an auto guiding camera with the T20.

David

[[1ponders]]

I don't recall having used the DSI to autoguide with using the T20, normally I just use the ToUcam. However the T20 does recognize the DSI (I have the original version of the DSI) through both the Autostar Suite, Envisage plus I can also bring it up on K3CCDTools V3 so I don't see any reason why it wouldn't. If I get a chance tonight I'll see if I can try it out for you. One thing though, if it is anything like the LPI you will need DirectX 9 to run it.

[Kal]

If you are looking to go up to $700 then you are entering the entry price for a brand new notebook as well. You might want to consider:

$798 (before cashback) with a $149 cashback + free bag offer (effectively $649)

Acer Extensa 5210-300508 (http://www.ht.com.au/part/V1053-Acer-Extensa-5210-300508-Celeron-M-520-16-GHz-RAM-512-MB-HDD-80-GB-DVDRW-R-DL-DVD-RAM-GMA-950-Gigabit-Ethernet-WLAN-80211bg-Vista-Home-Basic-154-Widescreen-TFT-1280-x-800-WXGA/detail.hts) - Celeron M 520 / 1.6 GHz - RAM 512 MB - HDD 80 GB - DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM - GMA 950 - Gigabit Ethernet - WLAN : 802.11b/g - Vista Home Basic - 15.4" Widescreen TFT 1280 x 800 ( WXGA )

Edit: Also just saw an Ad on TV for a hp notebook that was $597 after cashback at Harvey Norman. Not sure of the specs but it might be worth looking into.

[norm]

Hi Barb/Dave,

Apologies for the late response. To be honest, not sure on the years, but checking thinkwiki, it states 2004 and 2003 respectively. I recall getting my T42 around late 2003.

[Tamtarn]

Thanks for the advice on helping us choose a laptop everyone.

We were very lucky yesterday to pick up an IBM T42 in excellent condition for $649 at the same company we purchased our recent new desktop.

It certainly is a good little notebook.....very light and very fast.
2GHZ Processor 1GIG Ram 40GIG HD

Thanks Geoff : Norm : Doug : Paul : Paul (Zuts) : and Eric for your help in steering us in the right direction :thumbsup:

The info you sent Geoff was a great help.

It amazes us to think that this laptop new 3 years ago was worth over $2000.
A bit like buying a new car I guess :whistle:

David

[Tamtarn]

Thought about a desktop on a trolley Gary, and this would work good on our homesite but we decided on the laptop for portability for when travelling.

Thanks for the suggestion

David

[Tamtarn]

Andrew, thanks for info on the Acer Extensa it seemed like a nice unit.

We really wanted to stick with XP as our two desktops are running XP and there seems to be some uncertainty on running certain programs with Vista at this time.

When we queried several dealers they said they could not remove Vista and set up the Acer with XP. ( maybe they didn't want to ).

So in the end we went for the IBM T42 as it suited our needs for auto guiding with the DSI Pro.

Thanks again for your input.

David

[[1ponders]]

I queried a number of places about replacing Vista with XP and the reply I received was that they could only sell the machines as is, if Vista was bundled that was how they had to sell them. If I replaced it with my own copy I would void warranty (don't know how that would be as I am not changing anything in the way of hardware only adding software). The only success I had was with Asus. I could install my own copy of XP with np. :shrug:

[Tamtarn]

When purchasing our laptop, we also tried to see if we could trade in our old Toshiba but nobody really offered us much for it, so we decided we would keep it as a spare.

On heading back to our car after purchasing the IBM a guy approached us in the carpark and said he had overheard in the shop we that we had a laptop to trade or sell and he wanted one for his son.

So we finished up getting a reasonable price for our old machine as well which helped to make our day

[Tamtarn]

Maybe it's a store thing Paul

The dealer where we have bought our last two units ( the laptop and recent desktop ) simply said tell what you want and I'll set it up that way.

Then again he is an IT technician and these things don't seem to be such a problem to him.

I think for any other purchases we will just go back there for their service is good as well. :thumbsup:

Having just said that, it looks like our printer is dying !!!! :(

[Kal]

I used to work on the phones doing IT support and the warranty only effectively covered hardware anyway. With regards to software, as soon as you powered it up and the OS was running, you pretty much void software support as soon as you use it. From then on if you wanted software support you had to pay for it. The only time the warranty would cover the software was if you powered it up for the first time and it didn't load properly. In other words, double click an icon, or install a completely new operating system is just about the same thing from a support point of view! This was nearly a decade ago when I worked for DEC (still work for the same company now, just after two takeovers and doing different work) , I doubt much would have changed.

[[1ponders]]

I was thinking along the similar lines as well Andrew. Well the shop didn't make a sale that day and I kept my money in my pocket as they didn't have an Asus that appealed to me. :)