On Wed, Jan 28, 2015 at 03:21:41AM -0500, D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
The T-series is appreciated in the Linux world. (The W series is like T, with a bit more capability). Certainly some W models can take a lot more ram than a T model, but that seems it might not be the case in the future. Not sure, given so far only the slim version of the W550 (W550s) has been shown, and it is not looking good as far as a lot of W5xx fans are concerned. Seems most W5xx users think slim is irrelevant compared to functional and trading features for light weight and slim is not something they are willing to do. The difference between needing a 170W and a 65W power supply gives some idea how much was stripped out in the slim version. The real W550 is apparently not happening until later this year when the next generation of mobile core i7s are ready.
If you are paying a store to do this, you are spending real money. You might as well pay a bit more and get at least a T420 (in my opinion). A T430 is even better but I think that many are unhappy with the T440's trackpad (I may be misremembering). Yeah people are not happy with the T440.
I'm more familiar with the T5x0 models, but they are very similar. I care a lot about the screen resolution, and there are choices. CPUs matter too. In notebooks, I prefer recent CPUs for their lower power consumption. T4xx and T5xx are essentially the same except screen size.
But of course I don't know what you value.
There are a lot of resources about Linux on Thinkpads on the net.
One source for old thinkpads is IBM itself. Sometimes there are good deals, sometimes not: <http://www-304.ibm.com/shop/americas/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/default/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=2576396&storeId=1083996950&catalogId=-124&langId=124> Right now, I consider these prices high. I went back to the store to re-examine the T410 more closely and to look into the T420 as someone suggested. My attention switched to a T520 that he had available for $20 more than the T410. It has Intel wifi (Centrino) and switchable graphics (Intel & Nvidia). It presently has nvidia but he said I could get intel graphics instead. I don't know if
On 01/29/2015 12:13 PM, Lennart Sorensen wrote: this switchable thing means that I can swap graphics cards. Unless someone sounds an alarm soon, I'll be buying the T520 later in the week. Thanks, John.