THinkpad T series or W series ?

[97tbird]

I am trying to decide on my next laptop, and I DEFINITELY want a ThinkPad.

Have narrowed it down to T series (15.6") or W series (15.6")
Earlier I wasn't even thinking of the W series, as I thought it would be a lot more than all other thinkPads but now I see that when i configure the T 520 the way I want it, it's pretty close to/same as the basic W520 price which is loaded...

It seems that the i7 Cpu and the Nividia graphics are the only differences in the W520...and 2 usb 3 jacks instead of 1.
I may not NEED those things, but if the price difference is almost zero, and if the W is the top ThinkPad, then why not?

anything you guys can add? There's not a lot of reviews on the W series...probably 'cause it's pretty similar to the T?

Thanks IA.

http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/thinkpad/w-series/

 

[OVERKILL]

What do you want to use it for?

 

[dparm]

More CPU and GPU power will mean shorter battery life. Something to think about.

 

[97tbird]

Normal home use, BUT i do some photo editing, watch videos/movies quite a bit, too. I also burn CDs and DVds pretty often.

(i know - my uses are nowhere near the needs that normally warrants a W series, but i also think that T and W are better made thinkpads, and I do want long life, and i can be a bit rough on my laptops, physically..and who knows, I might develop interests later that warrant more power?)

Battery life is not a problem; this is pretty much a home laptop, only VERY occasionally will it be used for travel/outside.

For travel, I have a pretty good Acer Netbook, and iphone 4s.

 

[Rand]

google VISA LENOVO DEAL

use the 20% off coupon and 6gb free upgrade

to make the T-series a better deal.

pay with visa card. Win.


The w-series is workstation replacement. Its intended to replace a desktop and is awsome but imo the T-series is the way to go.

For bonus points Choose the 839$ middle t520 its the best deal

It is only 200$ more than the cheap option but you get the 105$ processor upgrade 50$ screen upgrade, 50$ w7pro upgrade and the switching nvidia "optimus" graphics with 4200m

if you want details feel free to pm me.

I just spend 2 days researching and configuring everything.

Also note there is a difference between I7-QM and I7-M

one is dual core one is quad core.

IMO the sweetpoint is the I5-2450 or I5-25xx

also consider ponying up for the FHD screen an expensive option but its AMAZING

 

[97tbird]

Rand - thanks - I was typing my needs, etc, above, while you were posting...
IDK why but I feel like a W series LOL...

I will def. PM you when I am ready to buy...
How long is the 20% visa deal good for?
does it only apply to the T series?

 

[Volvohead]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
Normal home use, BUT i do some photo editing, watch videos/movies quite a bit, too. I also burn CDs and DVds pretty often.

. . .

Battery life is not a problem; this is pretty much a home laptop, only VERY occasionally will it be used for travel/outside.


Why not look at an AIO? You'll get a much bigger and usually better monitor than a lappy, eliminate the recurring battery expense entirely, and it doesn't take up any more tabletop. You'll likely get a slightly more robust burner component as well. Everything in a laptop is reduced form for mobility, which is last on your list.

I like my Thinkpad. But if I want to watch a video/movie, I usually turn to something bigger.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: Rand
google VISA LENOVO DEAL

use the 20% off coupon and 6gb free upgrade

to make the T-series a better deal.

pay with visa card. Win.


The w-series is workstation replacement. Its intended to replace a desktop and is awsome but imo the T-series is the way to go.

For bonus points Choose the 839$ middle t520 its the best deal

It is only 200$ more than the cheap option but you get the 105$ processor upgrade 50$ screen upgrade, 50$ w7pro upgrade and the switching nvidia "optimus" graphics with 4200m

if you want details feel free to pm me.

I just spend 2 days researching and configuring everything.

Also note there is a difference between I7-QM and I7-M

one is dual core one is quad core.

IMO the sweetpoint is the I5-2450 or I5-25xx

also consider ponying up for the FHD screen an expensive option but its AMAZING


Again note a quad core is not all that its cracked up to be. A quad core can process 4 threads at once. If there are 4 threads ready to be dispatched. Very few single applications can be split up and processed simultaneously across multiple processors. Now if you are always running many applications at once that are all doing work at once, not just sitting open but idle, then I suppose 4 cores might make sense. But you will then have bottlenecks with IO to the disk.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: Rand
google VISA LENOVO DEAL

use the 20% off coupon and 6gb free upgrade

to make the T-series a better deal.

pay with visa card. Win.


The w-series is workstation replacement. Its intended to replace a desktop and is awsome but imo the T-series is the way to go.

For bonus points Choose the 839$ middle t520 its the best deal

It is only 200$ more than the cheap option but you get the 105$ processor upgrade 50$ screen upgrade, 50$ w7pro upgrade and the switching nvidia "optimus" graphics with 4200m

if you want details feel free to pm me.

I just spend 2 days researching and configuring everything.

Also note there is a difference between I7-QM and I7-M

one is dual core one is quad core.

IMO the sweetpoint is the I5-2450 or I5-25xx

also consider ponying up for the FHD screen an expensive option but its AMAZING


Again note a quad core is not all that its cracked up to be. A quad core can process 4 threads at once. If there are 4 threads ready to be dispatched. Very few single applications can be split up and processed simultaneously across multiple processors. Now if you are always running many applications at once that are all doing work at once, not just sitting open but idle, then I suppose 4 cores might make sense. But you will then have bottlenecks with IO to the disk.


That's why you make sure you have enough RAM so that you aren't paging to disk.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
Normal home use, BUT i do some photo editing, watch videos/movies quite a bit, too. I also burn CDs and DVds pretty often.

(i know - my uses are nowhere near the needs that normally warrants a W series, but i also think that T and W are better made thinkpads, and I do want long life, and i can be a bit rough on my laptops, physically..and who knows, I might develop interests later that warrant more power?)

Battery life is not a problem; this is pretty much a home laptop, only VERY occasionally will it be used for travel/outside.

For travel, I have a pretty good Acer Netbook, and iphone 4s.



In that case, get the more powerful one. Just remember that if you take any long flights, the battery will run out quicker.

 

[Rand]

Save 20% off ThinkPad T520, T420 and T420s when you use ecoupon code USXALLT0419

OFFER EXPIRES: April 25

note you have to go there without following a link from fatwallet etc.. or it wont let you

fwiw when I ordered on teh 18th it said ending on the 19th.

I think its actually good till may 2nd

google lenovo visa deal

click the offer expired X

click redeem deal next to lenovo (it will be right there)

click link that opens up.

takes you to the special "visa loyalty" page at lenovo's website.

The best public deal on the w-series is like 5% off

I paid 966+tax and list was 2300$

you can go as cheap as 639$ with 6gb memory upgrade

my main upgrades were FHD(+250 or +200 from 839$ model) screen, i5-2520 (base on 839$ model(105$ from 639 model), bluetooth 3.0 +20(,centrino advanced wireless +20,6gb ram(free)
I downgraded to no camera -30, and w7p to w7home -50.

those prices were not counting the coupon%
so the +20 for advanced wireless was 16$

The 839$ model is also the only one with quad core i7 available but its a 300$ option on top of the i5 so I passed.

OH and their website was broken adding a fingerprint reader added 79.20 to my cost not 16$ not sure if they fixed it yet..

Edit: nope still busted.. it goes from 839 to 911$ (should go up 16$)
so if you want fingerprint reader call them on phone to order.


it also looks like the 6gb memory upgrade isnt free now..
so just get the base 4gb and buy another 4gb chip for 23$
from newegg.

 

[Rand]

sorry for the book above.

I did ALOT of research..
I'd pass on the w-series you dont need the 1000$ graphics card option or the 4 ram slots etc.

The FHD screen is must have for me..amazing and its the same screen for both.

the t520 is fairly amazing, I considered the W-series and if it was the exact same price I still dont know which I would have gotten, but W- is 300-400$ more minimum so I didnt have to make that choice.

If you decide you want to go as cheap as possible
spec out the 639model with the i5-2450 vs the i5-2520.. you wont miss the "Virtualization technology (VT-x / VT-d)"

which is the only thing missing.

I'd also recommend the 50$ 1600x900 screen upgrade

that would make it 739$ with i5-2450 and the hd+ screen

the nvidia optimus graphics are nice but not really that much of an upgrade from the hd3000 built into the i5.

Whatever you do dont pay for memory upgrade they charge about 4x the retail price.

also their hd/ssd price upgrades are so crazy you can buy a SSD, buy a external enclosure install it and have the base hd free for backups.

 

[97tbird]

And now they have a T420 "s" and W520 sale...
any thoughts on that?

Dang this is confusing....Thanks so much for the ton of tips/info you posted...
I am still trying to decide...
my budget is around $1200

Oh, and do people ever get the mobile broadband option for $125?
I mean, can i just go anywhere and access VW 3G without any additional pay? (we do have iphones with VW with unlimited data...)

 

[Rand]

you have to pay for a data plan just like if you bought the verizon dongle.

the base w520 is over 1000$ and it has the hd screen

so you are looking at 1200$ min. for FHD screen do you want to spend that much.

The base model has a i7 but its not the quad core

ok looked again the mid model its about 1270$+tax with the regular options ie decent wireless and FHD screen.

imo its not worth the extra 350 over the t520 unless you really want an i7 or i7-quad

if you want those the prices are fairly comparable between platforms.

 

[97tbird]

Thanks Rand - pondering further...
which of the 2 centrino advanced wifi adapters is dual band compatible? is it the $20.00 one?

 

[Rand]

any of them that say A

bgn is 2.4

AGN=both

so the 20$ and 40$ ones

fwiw I got the 20$ centrino advanced on mine.

 

[97tbird]

Thats what i'll go with then (the $20 one)- thanks

 

[Rand]

Imo this is like saying which is the best oil.

You can pick some great ones but what makes it best is the application.

Same the the T,W,X series thinkpads. Its more the application. They are all great laptops.

Oh and let us know what you got

 

[97tbird]

hehe I will - for some reason i feel guilty getting rid of (or retiring) the old 2004-ish thinkpad r60 which is REallllly slow compared to wife's Edge E520 (has the i5 on it with win 7 home premium) ..

I mean it still works, after getting ubuntu on it (win xp crashed out and died on it totally about an yr ago), but i want a win 7 machine ... way too many incompatibilities with ubuntu and ff is buggy etc etc and i am tired of having to change to the netbook or wife's laptop every time i have to do something thats not comp. with Ubuntu

I got some good use out of the beast, though...some of the keys are busted and don't work well anymore...i've been pretty rough on this laptop...but it still runs with Ubuntu

idk if i should get the new one now or wait...Lenovo seems to have some type of deal every other week these days...

 

[Rand]

well ivy bridge is coming so once thats out the deals most likely wont be as deep.
this is sorta inventory run down time.


ivy bridge should be 10-15% faster and have faster built in graphics it will also use less power.

but its a totally new design and who knows what bugs or issues will develop.

trigate etc.