Dream Laptop for the Rich
Written: Jan 05 '01 (Updated Jan 05 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Power, DVD, light weight, great screen
Cons: Price, Ugly looks
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| haozertree's Full Review: Lenovo ThinkPad T20 (264746U) PC Notebook |
The IBM Think Pads are the standard machines for executives. They are usually powerful and costs tons. They are also black. They are small for the power which they harness. They should be great for everyone, if they only cost less…
I was thrilled when my boss approved me for one of these beasts. From its specs this is a dream laptop. 700Mhz PIII, 12 Gigs HD and 256 MB of RAM, DVD!!, modem, Ethernet port, the options go on. When the thing finally arrived I could not wait to open it up and test it out. The T20 did not let me down. It is wonderful.
Although I work in the computer industry, I am not a hardware techie. What I expect from this machine is its power to process data, a good size, light weight, long lasting battery power(3 hours!), and good service. T20's went beyond my expectations. Although today there are faster laptops in terms of processing power 700 Mhz is more than enough for me to crunch work on Excel, running Java intensive applications, or both while listening to my MP3's.
The standard DVD drive is a blast. I can finally watch my favorite Maximus Decimus Meridus kicking butt while taking the train. Of course, watching movies or engaging in other Multimedia activities would not be enjoyable if the screen is too small. The T20 comes with a nice, 14 inch screen with great resolution. The only bad thing I would say about T20's display is its graphics card. It's equipped with a Savage 9 video card w/ 8 megs of RAM. That is good for all of the stuff I need to do for work but then I don't think I could play too many graphic intensive FPS (first person shooters, think Quake3) with this machine. Well, that doesn't matter because I shouldn't be playing games with a company machine anyways, even at home.
Since I am not paying this (thank god) I ordered whole bunch of other options as well. Other than an additional 128 MB RAM I also ordered a docking station, extra keyboard, mouse, battery, carrying bag, electricity adapter and a few other things, all of which cost a bundle. The docking station alone costs close to $500 (enough to buy a PIII700 desktop). The total came out to be $4700. In today's world this is an astonishing price for a laptop because that is enough to buy at least 5 desktops with the same specs and 17in monitors. Even when compared to other laptops the T20 is also wayyyyy up there, beaten only by newer and more powerful Thinkpads. It is a relief therefor to know that you will get what you paid extra for.
Before ordering the T20 I was also thinking about the Sony VIAO 700 Mhz laptop as well. One of my Co-workers has one and these things are cool. They are silver, small, and just as powerful if not more so than the T20. They cost about the same as the T20 and they even come with remote clickers which enables you to remotely go on the next page during Powerpoint presentations. They are lighter than the T20s too. T20 does have a better keyboard layout than the VIAO (easier to type on the T20) but the VIAO beats T20 on just about everything else. I did not buy the VIAO because company usually buys Thinkpads so support is better for the T20. If you are a serious Laptop buyer I would suggest you to take a good look at the VIAO as well.
Overall I would recommend the T20 for just about everyone. It is not as good looking as the VIAO but it sure feels a lot sturdier and IBM's support is better than Sony's. The only reason why I don't buy one of these for myself is the price, which is probably the main reason why almost NO ONE has a T20. This machine is also unlikely to attract too much attention from others (I live in Boston, and lots of people carry around laptops), but it's what's inside which matters.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
haozertree
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Location: Boston, MA
Reviews written: 43
Trusted by: 4 members
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