I was thinking either the Thinkpad T60, T61, T60p, X60, X200.
I look at them and think they may be too big for daily carrying. Does anyone own one and can confirm the weight and such? I would like something thin as possible.
It is between those and a Chromebook, but I am unsure of the limitations, even with Linux. I am hoping for some School sales, but none have come up yet I think. The only place I know to get some stuff for cheap is Amazon, I checked Newegg, but nothing catches my eye.
Does anyone have any recommendations? My Major will be CET, if that changes much.
I really do not want to spend over $250, money is pretty tight. If it is really good, I can do $300.
I have a T61p, excellent laptop, messed up by the dedicated quadro fx 570m (revision 2 fixes the bga loose socket problem). One WUXGA (1680x1050 IPS pannel) whose gpu died because of that and is now running on intel graphics mobo, I also bought a cheaper 15" WXGA t61p and it's been even better for games up to 2010. They're pretty heavy, you've got to get used to it if you want the quadro one, careful though with the gpu revision, must be 2008+. I've also had a T42 which is obsolete but MUCH lighter (thin and light) but the battery wouldn't last 30 mins.
The keyboards are a matter of prefference, but they are all INSANELY GOOD FOR TYPING. I loved the T42 keyboard, the t61p has a softer touch.
My dad has X200 and I think an X60, It's super fast and can last a really long time on extended battery, fr about 2kg with that. It's almost as slim as a macbook air, while still having a dvd drive and proper usb ports. I'll get back to you to be sure.
You can also undervolt and mess with TPfancontrol and underclocking, IDA and LFM and voltages to suit your battery life needs and audibility.
Thinkpads are tanks, they're buisness class, they have the best laptop keyboards ever (I'm not sure about the newer Lenovos, but the older IBMs surely did), they can survive a freaking car run over them, can now (t60 and up) survive liquid spills on keyboard (must be cleaned if it's not water though) and has a useful ThinkLight for keyboard illumination. Plus a load of security and longevity feautures like good solid chassis (which changed, Lenovo is now in charge of thinkpads), pretty tight bios security I advise not to mess with (it's a hardware chip that can hardly be hacked through DIY) and most batteries are compatible with eachother.
And since I already sound like a marketer, here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q96n_nnDhxU
Thanks for the insight, I appreciate it. What were you trying to link? Nothing there.
Anyways, any thoughts on the Chromebook? It looks pretty thin and light to me, though am I weary of support on an ARM processor if I install Linux on it.