Comments on: ThinkPad SL of your choice: $466

By: none

none — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:00:32 +0000

The person I’m thinking of this SL500 for wants a big machine, i.e. desktop replacement. I’d go for a 16″ or 17″ if the price was right, but these 15″ units are too affordable to resist. It’s just unbelievable, for years and years a serious notebook computer cost $2000 or so (they kept getting more powerful, but not cheaper).

I’ve toyed with the idea of getting a 12″ netbook for my own use as an X40 replacement, but I think I’m going to hold out for an X200s or X210s or whatever, in the hope of better Linux compatibility. I still am inclined to get a Kingspec SSD to stretch some more usefulness out of my X40, but haven’t brought myself to spring the cash for it yet. They are on the expensive side and the X40 just isn’t worth that much these days, so I keep putting it off.

By: John Hobbes

John Hobbes — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:14:26 +0000

The price for the specs is pretty decent. These don’t have all the advanced engineering as other “full” ThinkPads and only have a 6-row keyboard, but the build quality should be okay. There should be no reason you can’t burn a set of recovery discs, and it is definitely leaps and bounds above the G550. The specs should also be much better.

Have you also considered a 12-inch netbook?

By: none

none — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:07:11 +0000

Is this a good deal? Is it a better machine than a G550 which I think I’ve seen on sale for a fair amount less? One annoying thing I heard is that it’s impossible to make backup discs from the restore partition on the Ideapads. Does this Thinkpad have the same issue? Is it possible to get recovery cd’s?

I’m supposed to buy a low cost computer for a family member and this sounds like a possibly good choice. It will be used for typical internet stuff, games, videos, etc. My own tastes are more high-end and I run linux, so I’m clueless about these mass market windows boxes. Thanks for any advice.