Talk me into or out of this laptop purchase

DaMaN · Post by **DaMaN** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 7:06 pm

As some of you may have read I was recently laid off work.

I was assigned by my previous employer a Lenovo T400 which I loved to use but had to send back. In my 4+ years of using it, I purchased a few things on my dime to enhance it as a tool. I purchased a spare SATA 160GB HDD, A spare 90W AC adapter, a Lenovo caddy, a spare 6 cell & 3 cell battery that I kept.

I also have an spare used 90GB SSD drive in my parts bin, a USB DVDRW and a few 2GB sticks of DDR3 SODIMMS.

I recently sold my trusty Lenovo / IBM T42 to EvilHorace and miss it already.

Although I just purchased a Dell Vostro from bman1 last week, I already have it sold to a friend who is in need of a basic laptop.

I came across the below spec'd T400 on a Thinkpad based forum that is sort of enticing.

Lenovo T400
14.1" WXGA (1280x800) high-nit LED LCD
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 (2.80 GHz, 6MB cache)
256MB ATI Radeon HD3470 switchable graphics
4GB RAM (2x2GB SODIMM)
320GB 5400rpm hard drive
Intel 5350 N-WiFi + WiMax
AT&T WWAN + GPS
Bluetooth
Fingerprint reader
4-in-1 card reader built-in
DVD-Multiburner
9-cell battery
Windows Vista Ultimate Recovery DVD discs
Windows XP SP3 Recovery DVD discs
Lenovo 2504 mini dock /w 2 keys and base extender plate
90W Lenovo AC adapter

My question to you, should I get this T400 or invest my ~ +/- 400 into something newer and eBay / forum sell my spare T400 parts to supplement my purchase. What laptop would you buy with ~$400-500? Gaming type specs is not required.

Thanks,

David

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 8:13 pm

The Lenovo sounds like a good deal.

Here's another option. Dell has an enterprise leasing division and they sell factory refurbished PCs that come off leases. I've helped a few clients get some outrageously nice deals there. My accountant's PC blew up, and he had to have WinXP due to some old legacy software. We found a Core 2 Duo quad core, 4Gb, DVD-RW and a 160Gb drive for $250. The thing looked like new inside.

Start here: http://www.dfsdirectsales.com/dell/lapt ... p43620/cl1
I'd look at the Latitudes as they are better build quality than the Vostros or Inspirons. You can set up a search filter by price range. A lot of these will come with Vista but keep in mind that you can install a Dell OEM WinXP CD and probably a Dell Win7 OEM CD on these.

I was poking around and saw this interesting deal: An Inspiron 15 N5010 with a modern Core i3 CPU, 3Gb RAM, 300Gb HDD with NO OS for $435. That model isn't more than a year and a half old. It's a budget PC, but it's the latest generation CPU instead of last gen.

You can use any Dell Win7x64 OEM OS installer CD on it and it will install without requiring a serial or activation. Borrow one from a friend, get one off torrents, or I have a bunch lying around if you need one.

Drivers here: http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshoo ... /555/Index

DaMaN · Post by **DaMaN** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 11:17 pm

Thanks FP.

DaMaN · Post by **DaMaN** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 2:01 pm

Could not resist, after some negotiating the price down , I bought T400

DaMaN · Post by **DaMaN** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 2:05 pm

The only upgrade i will probably do is to up the memory to 8GB.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=ThinkPad%20T400%20Series&Cat=RAM

I have a bunch of 2X2GB DDR3 SoDIMMs sets if any is wanting to barter!

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:24 pm

4Gb is enough if you put Win7 in there.

If you stick with Vista, make sure to install SP2.