HP, Lenovo Thinkpad, Dell, or ?
Hi,
I'm looking for suggestions to replace my 5 year old Sony PCG-GRX670.
On my wish list:
- A well built, quality notebook that will last 4-5 years
- Ability to run dual displays (notebook's plus external LCD)
- Something by 1200 display
- Docking station
- 80+Gig HD
- 1G RAM
- Good linux compatibility
- Fast
I don't travel a lot, but I bring the laptop to the office and back. My Sony weights 8.5 pounds and that is definitely the upper limit of what I want in a new notebook. Lighter would be better.
I'm considering:
- Lenovo T60p
- HP nw8440
- HP nw9440 (no pricing until May 22nd)
- Dell Precision M65 (maybe)
Some things I'm thinking about ...
Lenovo: I know the Thinkpads (I have an X20 and I know others with T42s) and they are of excellent quality (plus they have about the best keyboard of any laptop I've ever used). The T60p is also on sale at the moment. The downside of the T60p is that it uses an ATI video card, which has poor linux support (NVidia support under linux is much better than that of ATI).
Dell: an unknown to me. How are the Dell business machines? The plus side with these is that they use NVidia and seem to meet my other requirements. They also offer 1920x1600 displays. Any good? Or are these glossy consumer displays?
HP: The nw8440 looks nice from the specs, offers a good high res. display, and is quite light weight (and thin) for its size. The downsides are that I can find no review of it, it seems over priced, and it also uses the ATI v5200. The nw9440 has the NVidia card but no pricing is avail. until May 22nd.
Anything else I should consider? All thoughts greatfully received.
Answer:
Re: HP, Lenovo Thinkpad, Dell, or ?
the dell business line is pretty solid. probably not as well built as thinkpads though. the nw8440 is pretty new. the t60p actually had a price tag of $2799 before, so in comparison, the nw8440 was pretty decently priced. i have also heard that linux doesn't necessarily support the nvidia quadro. you might want to look into that, just in case. the dell m65 is pretty much it if you want the a lighter notebook with the high end nvidia workstation cards.
Answer:
Re: HP, Lenovo Thinkpad, Dell, or ?
The Latitudes are not glossy. I would vote for ThinkPad. I thing someone was saying they just released new x1x00 drivers for Linux.
Answer:
Re: HP, Lenovo Thinkpad, Dell, or ?
Thanks ejl & zazonz for your replies. I'm leaning toward the Thinkpads due to very favorable past experience. It is just the linux issue that is stalling me. I guess i have until next weekend to decide (sale ends the 15th IIRC).