Choose my new work laptop for me?
 

I've been working off a Thinkpad X60 for the past 3 years. Time to retire it, or more accurately to pass it off to someone junior to me at work. ;)

What do I want as its replacement?

Primary interest is portability, though it is the sole machine I use. I carry it everywhere, work to home and back, and around the world. Not concerned with a small screen, I've been happy with the X60. And I got used to not having a trackpad after 2-3 days three years back. Battery life matters as well, for when I'm on a long flight without seat power and also because I carry it around with me to meetings all day and usually don't bring the power supply.

Usaully IT just assigns computers to folks, that doesn't fly with me and they'll buy me whatever I tell them to. At the same time I do not want to appear profligate in the current environment. Still, investment in productivity matters. Don't need bells and whistles, this is not a gaming machine, I want an efficient system for my daily work in email, excel, word, etc.

My IT folks' suggestion to me was the Toshiba Portege R500 or the Thinkpad X200S. (I gave them a description of my needs and that's what they came back with.)

Do I want either of those? If so, which one? If not, what do I want?

Thanks,
Gary

If you're not doing anything heave (and the items you listed don't seem at all compute-intensive) what about one of the netbooks? They're not the highest-powered things out there, but it seems like you may not need that.

You'd presumably want something with docking station capability, so that lets out my beloved Aspire One, AFAIK. But, surely, some of the other lower-priced netbook form factor machines do allow this.

Cheers.

Logging into our database can be somewhat heavy, as can our accounting system, but in both cases the actual processing is happening on a server.

I don't actually care about a docking station, I use one at work now but I don't hook a monitor up to it or a keyboard -- the only benefit it's bringing me is (a) I don't have to go searching for wherever the ethernet cable might have gone to since I unplugged last! and (b) the docking station has the CD drive, my X60 doesn't come with it in the computer itself .. more than fine, my need for such things is VERY rare, but once in a great moon I need it.

May be missing something but the Aspire One looks like it's pretty heavy? I like the base weight of 1.72 pounds on the Toshiba my IT folks suggested for me. But know nothing other than what I reading on the screen on their website...

Aspire One is a little over 2 lbs with the 6 cell battery. I don't know the price point for the Toshiba, but the Aspire is in the $300-$350 range.

Cheers.

Oh, wow, now THAT is a price. Imagine what they're looking at for me iis more like $1500!

You're paying for small, light and powerful in that price range. I'm very happy with the Aspire as a travel computer for internet, some Office stuff, email, etc. I'm not sure I'd consider it enough as my one-and-only for work, though. I'd be more likely to have a "real" machine at work and just take what I needed on the road with my Aspire. I'm one that does want a monitor for a work computer. The small screen would get old working on documents and such after a while.

Cheers.

The address to the candy store
 

The Aspire 1 is in the netbook class, not the ultraportable class. For me the screen is too small and what you give away in performance is not worth it for everyday use. I am a fan these days of the Lenovo X200/s and the Dell Latitude 42/4300 series. All are solid ultra portables with screens between 12-13", with business users in mind (ie you can dock them).

If you're happy with the ThinkPad X series, I'd stay with them. Less of a learning curve on the new unit.

For some a netbook may be enough. It will certainly run the things mentioned above quite easily. I think the screen is also too small for every day use, and the lack of "dockability" would kill it for me. All those points have already been mentioned, but some were not important to the OP. So, it could still be a veiable option for him, albeit not for you or me.

Cheers.

If you are accessing office systems, before you even consider a netbook you need to see if the screen size will allow you to access whatever it is you have to access. Most of them do not go past 600 for height (you can not for example install some HP printers on them unless you hook up an external monitor), so check to see if they would work with your system.

Not that you are looking at a $300 computer if they are willing to drop $2,000 for you.

Given those choices, I think the primary difference is the Lenovo does not have an optical drive on it, the toshiba does, and that the Lenovo has an 8 or 10 hour battery. Personally I would probably go with the Lenovo. It just feels more solid. Not sure if it's because it's a bit larger, or it's got more metal, but it just seems like it will hold up better.

My only gripe with a netbook: 1024x600. Ouch.

That being said, I love mine.

HTSC

Duplicate

What's wrong with your X60? Considering the popularity of netbooks today, which aren't that different in size and I'd guess somewhat slower based on benchmarks I have seen, I don't see anything wrong with keeping the X60 if it does the job. In fact, I am typing this on my own X60 (tablet, actually, but I rarely use it as such), and have little desire to spend money on a replacement right now. Why? Because I haven't learned to type faster or read faster in the last two or so years. And that's what I mostly do on this machine. I might replace my battery again in a few months, but everything else still meets my requirements.

Not to nitpick, but IBM doesn't make the Thinkpads anymore. Lenovo bought IBM's PC business in 2005.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinkpad#Lenovo_purchase

I fixed it so as not to send others searching for references.

IBM is so much easier to type, I'll always think of the thinkpad as theirs.