My First Laptop: A ThinkPad
Another summer has passed me by, and I still haven’t learned how to ride a bike nor how to swim properly. Alas, I suppose I’ll get to these eventually. I have kept one of my resolutions though. I finally splurged and bought myself a ThinkPad (specifically, a T500). I decided upon the following specs:
- Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8400 (2.26GHz 1066MHz 3MBL2) 25W
- Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic (Will be used only to verify hardware functionality. Fedora will replace it thereafter.)
- 15.4″ WSXGA+ TFT, w/ CCFL Backlight (137 DPI…sweet.)
- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator x4500HD with vPro
- 4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
- UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
- 250 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
- DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)
- Integrated Bluetooth PAN
- Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology
- 9 cell Li-Ion Battery
- 4 Year On Site Upgrade with 4 Year ThinkPad Protection
Thankfully, I found an excellent discount through the CPP (Contractor Purchase Program) which cut the cost from nearly $2,200 to just $1,400 (including shipping and taxes, state fees, et al.) – a savings of 40%! The 4-year protection plan was about 30% of the final cost. Well worth it, though.
As it is, this will be a life-safer, as I’ve been having a lot of intermittent hardware issues on my desktop: I get seemingly-random WiFi disconnects; DVD-burning often fails for no discernible reason, and my hard drive is on its last legs, so to speak. (In fact, just today I saw another 12 sectors go bad and need to be reallocated…its count is now at 177. The manufacturer maximum is 188!) – I’m all anxious and impatient now!
So, in the span of one month, I’ve spent almost $4,000 (tuition/registration fees, books/supplies, and ThinkPad). I think that’s quite enough for a while. 😮
“DVD-burning often fails for no discernible reason”
Based on my experience, this is probably because modern optical disc drives are utter shit. I have a stack of no-longer-working DVD burners that half fills the top shelf of an entire closet. Not one of them lasted a year, most only a few months. The things just crap out – usually writing doesn’t work any more, reading is often still OK. I’ve tried a bunch of different brands, they’re all as bad as each other. There’s a reason the things cost about five cents each…
Actually, I think it’s a bad DVD-R batch this time. I just tried to burn the F12-Alpha image on my mom’s Windows machine, and it also failed burning – same discs. I need to go buy some other ones from the local Office Depot tomorrow, it seems…
@Peter
At least…I’m HOPING it’s a bad DVD-R batch… 😮