redford

It's coming down to the Thinkpad T60P versus the Macbook Pro (and I'm leaning towards the 17" model despite the title of this thread). Other contenders are the Asus line and the Acer 8204, but the Asus and Acer pale in comparison to the Thinkpad.

Any thoughts on the T60P vs. the MBP? I bought and returned the 15.4" MBP because it was excessively hot, so I'm hoping the 17" dissipates heat better.

Thinkpad T60p advantages:
-- black body; less prone to ugly scratches
-- best laptop keyboard
-- better trackpad with extra mouse buttons
-- fingerprint reader
-- superior videocard (ATI V5200 is the workstation version of the X1600, but it is not severely underclocked like in the MBP)
-- superior LCD (quality as well as higher resolution)
-- does not overheat; no whine
-- 3 year warranty
-- alt-tab works as expected

MBP advantages:
-- OS/X arguably better
-- thinner (but hotter temperature-wise)
-- built-in webcam
-- built-in DVI port (T60p requires a dock to get DVI)
-- slot-in DVD drive
-- better suite of pre-loaded application software

Nimbus

I arrived at about the same conclusion on Dell, albeit without buying one. Reports indicated very low battery life, possibly due to the graphics chip. Supposedly worse for NVidia than for Radion 1400, with the native Intel chipset (no accel) posting the best battery life. Still not good in general. That leaves the USB Chipset/Drive bug as the main suspect. (Covered at Tom's Hardware etc).

I guess Apple has solved that problem. Screen resolution on their 17" is close to what I was looking for (actually prefer 1900x1200, but Apple's 1680x1024 is OK).

I'll stay tuned for your report on the MacBook. Please post about battery life if you get a chance.

Augustes

All of the issues with the Macbook Pro, dropped wireless connection, whine, overheating, and a couple others, have been fixed with revision E of the Macbook Pro. They are now shipping.

Some dislike the Macbook Pro becase the graphics are substancialy underclocked but people don't notice they will still beat a lot of graphics cards out there like x1400 and stuff. Also, with a graphics card that is underclocked you will be able to expiriance noticeably better battery life. I would like to see the differance if anyone can point me to some credible lab testing of underclocked and overclocked macbook pros. If your a gamer you will probably dual boot with windows anyways so you can easily fix the slow graphics with ATI Tool so that problem can easily be solved right there.

Another big bonus when you go with Apple is the slew of software you get. You get iLife which is a very powerful suite of programs. Along with iLife, you also get OS X. Some, myself inclued, prefer OS X over Windows. With Front Row with remote you can also use your Macbook Pro as a way to watch moves and other stuff you download from the internet with your home entertainment system by using the inclueded DVI/S-Video ports. Apple has to develop these and it may be this software that drives up the cost of the laptop. I don't think thier doing any more price gouging than other computer manufacturors, they just pay more to make their laptops.

The reason I think the Macbook Pro is the BEST 15 inch laptop is because the chasis. It is the thinest and lightest laptop in it's league by a large margin, at least it's a large margin to me. The laptop is solid to with it's hard chasis with out much flex. It looks really nice too. I always had a beef about Dell and the look of thier laptops. They are really plastic looking and look cheap. The new latitudes that came out look nice though so I would consider buying one of those. Apple is the has some of the best looking laptops to me. I especialy like the illuminated keyboard on the Macbook Pro. It can be very nice to have when you don't have light. Having a slot load drive is nice to have too.

One thing that the Macbook Pro doesn't have that can be a problem is lots of USB ports. It only has 2 USB ports and one Firewire port(I don't think too many people use Firewire). When I have my laptop at my desk I have all of my USB ports in use. An easy way to solve this problem is to spend twenty bucks on a nice USB hub, I actually should do this. Other than this one minor problem, the Macbook Pro is near perfect for some. Me personally, I like smaller laptops so I am going to see what Apple has to offer to replace the ibook.

redford

Let's do this based on scores of 3dmark05:
x1400 - 1600
Nvidia 6600 - 2400
ATi X1600 - 4100

Say the X1600 gets underclocked about 20%, which is typical by most companies. Then assuming we maintain our clock:speed ratio..you'd get about 3300 points in 3Dmark.... So yes, it would still be much better than the 6600.. But the thing is, if the video card is underclocked, you can easily clock it back to the regular clock when you want to play games, as well as have your laptop run nice and cool when you're just doing word processing..

I actually would prefer laptops that have underclocked video performance in 2D mode ... They run much cooler

Nimbus

Ya im also interested in the battery life. Generally i purchase two batteries whenever i buy a new computer but this time i was really cheap. Apple was charging me like $129 or somehting close to that and i just didnt want to fork over the money just now

http://www.ebags.com/scully/large_co...?modelid=48257

Augustes

Guess this is the best 15" by those criteria then:

4157 -- $2500 -- 1,66 -- Acer 8204WLMi -- 2.0 GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 256MB, 15.4" 1680x1050, 2GB, 120GB 5400rpm, 3kg, 3h

I like mine.

alexismartin55

There is illumination, has DVI, excellent graphics, and looks fastidious, first-rate pound verve and now management windows on it is a section of lump.

jessehebrew

It is radiance, has DVI, first-rate graphics, and look polite, first-rate hammer years as well as now successively window on it is a part of a set of encrust.

secretniche

Sony models are the better in design, solidity and performance.
They're more expensive, but it's worth buying one of them.

Yours,

secret-niche.com