I'm beginning my M.A. in Political Science in the Fall and am looking for a really reliable laptop, as I hope to keep using it through my PhD in a few years as well. I've pretty much narrowed it down to this model, ahead of the Dell Latitude D600, Compaq nc6000, and the IBM Think pad R51. If you can believe it, there is not a single IBM dealer which stocks this or any Thinkpads in this city of 200,000 people.

Primary use is obviously research, so I am not to concerned about special features - primary concern is the keyboard (as I have rather lage hands), quality of the display, and overall build quality.

So if anyone has any comments as to good or bad experiences with Thinkpad's I'd love to hear it - or if you chose something else over the Thinkpad I'd also like to hear about it. And if anyone can comment especially on the keyboards and display - I'd appreciate it a great deal.

Thanks

Nathan Klassen

So was curious if anyone has any

 Thanks everyone :) - nathan_klassen 08:38:25 07/15/04 (0)
 Thinkpads... - Fisherdude 17:08:40 07/12/04 (2)
 Re: Thinkpads... - porky_pig_jr 12:44:16 07/13/04 (0)

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 Thanks everyone :) - nathan_klassen 08:38:25 07/15/04 (0)
 Thinkpads... - Fisherdude 17:08:40 07/12/04 (2)
 Re: Thinkpads... - porky_pig_jr 12:44:16 07/13/04 (0)
 Re: Thinkpads... - Matts 19:41:37 07/12/04 (0)
 Re: Offtopic I know - Opinions on IBM Thinkpads? Specifically T41? - bcherry 20:03:45 07/12/04 (0)
 Thinkpads & reliability - Daveslater 21:05:30 07/12/04 (0)
 Fujitsu P7000D - N.B.C. 02:09:13 07/13/04 (0)

Also do a search for "leog + fujitsu" for the forum to ask questions among the groupies.

Ive never had a laptop, but after looking at the dells firsthand was not terribly impressed....on the warm/hot side for the D500 six months ago.

The IBM's seem wellmade. I just like the P7000 better overall, and a good value. www.computergeeks.com has some reconditioned IBM's, but I dont wnat to buy used.

Neil

• P7000D

I've owned at least five Thinkpads, from the first 700C to a T30, and a very good friend bought a loaded T40 not long ago.

They are rock solid. Not always quite the fastest, or quite the coolest, or certainly not the cheapest. Just the best built, with just what you need and want. Still the best keyboards on the planet. Phone service is better than anybody else.

I've also had other brands, and had friends with other brands. Stay away from Viao. Dell is fine, no problems, other than service, if you want to speak to a native speaker of English. Toshiba is fine. Gateway, well, their survival is still up in the air.

If I was going to buy a new laptop today, it would be IBM, hands down.

Clay

Don't know exactly what's going on now, but IBM went to direct marketing some time ago. That's probably why you don't find them in stores. The best deals are on the IBM surplus and refurbished store on eBay. Watch that for a couple weeks and you'll find some good deals.

Yet when I've decided to get laptop for my personal use, I've ended up with Toshiba Satellite. The main reason was price. For roughly the same features (processor speed, memory, disk type/capacity, graphics) I paid twice less than for comparable Thinkpad. And Toshiba has excellent build quality and track records as well. Not as elegant as Thinkpad, but I've saved over a $1000 on this purchase.

I'll let everyone know how it pans out after I get it

Nathan Klassen