My wife needs a notebook, so I've been reading around for a few days and I've come to the conclusion that a Lenovo ThinkPad is the right one for her (the keyboard being one of the reasons why).

She's an academic and will use it mainly to write articles at home and to take to conferences, libraries etc. so she would like something with a nice keyboard, portable, long battery. She would also hate for it to be very slow (no patience... :-)


€1500 negotiable
14" screen - below that two small for her.
Word, Internet browsing, email, pictures, mp3 files for iPod
She will be both taking the notebook with her to different places and working on her desk
No games
Good battery life
between 60 and 80GB
DVD-ROM


Thanks!

Not too sure about UK pricing, but in a 14" you have several choices:

T60 - Great mix of power and still somewhat light
Z61t - Wide screen. Similar weight and perfomace to T.
R60 - Least expensive. Good specs. 14" is not as light as 14" T or Z.

Since you don't need a lot of power, I'd go with the lowest speed Core Duo, you don't need a Core 2. Wireless of course. Does an iPod have bluetooth? Get a Combo drive CD-RW/DVD-ROM...not that much more and you'll be glad you have it. Get the bigger battery...adds a bit of wieght, but not that much. Integrated graphics will meet your needs.

Whatever you chose, I think you'll be happy. I've enjoyed every Thinkpad I've used.

Are you looking to buy used or new?

I see shes set on a certain screen size, but the screen on the X31 to X60 is NOT small by any measure, and it satisfies the requirements (except for optical drive, but that can come with an expansion bay which numerous online auctions are now including).

For what shes going to be doing with it, something extravagant is really overkill.

Get an X31 (or X40/41) and save some money.

Get a T43. You don't need a CoreDuo for browsing and text editing. True te T43 is a little bit havyer then a T60 but you might save some money.

Or get an x31 with an external unit and you will have a very portable laptop. She won't use the DVD all the time.

If she is a Teacher/Staff at an educational institution, there are educational discounts.

I am seriously consider getting this:
IBM Thinkpad T60
2ghz Core Duo
1gb Ram
ATI X1400
100gb Hdd
14.1" SXGA+ screen (1440x1050 or something like that)
Fingerprint reader, shock protection, magnesium alloy roll cage
Fantastic keyboard, and great battery life (depends on which battery you get, but the 9 cell seems to net around 5+ hours, but it juts out the back, the 6 cell seems to get around 3ish).

This was around 1500 dollars US. I imagine their are educational discounts in the UK too though.

how do you get those educational discounts? From the lenovo web page?

Thanks!

I suggest anything from the T series from the T40 and up.

I just purchased an R60 (Got it yesterday) and its great, sort of the lower prices/same quality as the T series.

An R60 Config via an Educational or Employee discount page with an 80GB HD/DVD Rom/Core Duo/512 Ram would run you about $800~ after discount (its a hefty discount).

NOTE: They are having a big sale on the R60's, which ends in a day or two I believe.

T60 is great BUT expensive... On the other hand, R60 is cheaper but heavier and the keyboard is crappy noisy. I hate the keyboard and i am thinking of ways to make that keyboard silent.