Fast, Reliable, and Linux-Friendly
Written: Dec 20 '99
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fast, reliable, light weight, great keyboard
Cons: Price (until now!), mediocre display in Windows, no gaming
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| Jag1820's Full Review: Lenovo ThinkPad 600 (264585U) PC Notebook |
This is the second ThinkPad I've owned, the first being a 380D with a 233MHz MMX processor and a measly 2 GB hard drive. But I've always coveted the 600E series -- there's not a sleeker, sturdier, or more reliable notebook on the planet. All of this is apparent as soon as you open the 600E -- from the durable rubber casing, to the slim form factor, to the most comfortable keyboard ever, the ThinkPad is as elegant as it is functional. Until now, the price has always made the 600E just out of reach for me.
What's changed? Nothing, if you look at the prices for 600E's on IBM's website, or the prices from online resellers like PC Connection and Outpost.com (although you can get a pretty good deal on refurbished units from PC Connection). In fact, if you're willing to spend upwards of $3 grand to own the best laptop from IBM, you may as well bypass the 600E completely, and head straight for the new series of ThinkPad, the 600x. With bigger hard drives, more video RAM, and PIII processors, these babies are less expensive, or at least comparable, to the prices still being charged for the 600E series.
But if you are comfortable buying in online auctions, now is the time to strike for a 600E. With PIII's from IBM and other vendors flying off the shelves, the prices on the 600E's have come down on the auction sites. I walked away with mine, new and factory-sealed, for only $2385, including shipping -- that's over $1,000 less than full price! Comparable units have sold for $200-$300 more on Ebay, but the discount is still worth it. Unless you won't do without the latest PIII's the PII 600E ThinkPad may be a perfect fit for you.
Which brings me to performance. I bought this ThinkPad for two main purposes: to write (I'm an attorney and author) and to surf the web and check e-mails (okay, I guess that's 3 purposes). For these tasks, the ThinkPad can do no wrong.
My ThinkPad came with Windows NT 4.0, service pack 4. It has a 400 MHz PII, 128 MB RAM, a 10 GB hard drive, and a 24X CD-ROM. The system boots quickly, and the applications, such as Office 2000 and the new Mijenix System Suite 2000 (a highly recommended alternative to Norton System Works 2000, which I run on my desktop), run quickly and glitch-free. I use Compuserve to connect to the internet, and the modem has so far provided fast and uninterrupted access.
The screen is bright enough (although I've used a Compaq Armada M300 with a much brighter display) and is easily viewable even from off center. The keyboard is simply terrific -- super-comfortable and perfectly pitched for my long fingers and average typing skills.
Best yet, I have installed Corel Linux Deluxe on a separate partition, and it looks and runs beautifully. The Corel Linux display looks super bright on this laptop (yes, even brighter than the Win NT desktop), and the mouse works like a charm. WordPerfect 8 for Linux looks better on the ThinkPad than it does on my desktop, which has Riva TNT 16 MB video card behind it. Sound, however, did not work on its own, and will require some work on my part to get it going.
In shopping around, I considered the Dell Inspiron 7500 and the Gateway Solo 9300, both of which are now available with PIII processors (IBM's PIII, wasn't yet available when I started my hunt). But a PIII processor, even IBM's, will run you into $3000 territory, including tax and shipping, if applicable. As noted, I was able to pick up this unit from an authorized IBM reseller on Ebay for only $2385, including shipping. While the PIII may do many things better than the PII, from browsing to battery life and heat dissipation, a 400 PII hardly feels like a compromise within the beautifully configured and speedy 600E. With 128 MB RAM and a large 10 GB hard drive, this unit will serve me well for a long time.
In fact, by the time I'm ready to trade up, those 600x units will finally be in my price range!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Jag1820
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Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
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