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sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 2:35 pm
by Heliotropen
I'm so sry for making a new thread here, - but I just got an offer for a w500 with a dock, for 3700-3800 ddk, - that is the same price I have been offered a t500.

I made a thread here about the t500, but I don't know anything about the w500, so should I make this deal?
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=103537

She needs a very fast anwser, so hence this thread, I'm REALLY sry.

- Helio

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 2:45 pm
by RealBlackStuff
All I know is that the W500 is the high-end Workstation version of the T500.
From the TYPE you should be able to find out the specifics.
http://shop.lenovo.com/ISS_Static/merch ... asheet.pdf

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 2:50 pm
by Heliotropen
RealBlackStuff wrote:All I know is that the W500 is the high-end Workstation version of the T500.
From the TYPE you should be able to find out the specifics.
http://shop.lenovo.com/ISS_Static/merch ... asheet.pdf
Thnx man, so it's practial identical, except for power?
Sadly I don't have time to research it enough, because she needs a fast answer :)

Is there any downside of chosing the w500, instead of the t500. If not I will go for it, if you guys say it's a better/as good a machine.

- Helio

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 3:04 pm
by rumbero
Heliotropen wrote:Sadly I don't have time to research it enough, because she needs a fast answer :)
A minimum of research would help to prevent you from giving the false fast answer. Ask the lady for the exact Product ID of the machine and check it's configuration details at support.lenovo.com/en_US ("Use Quick Path").

This will give you specific configuration details as in following example for a T61:

Code: Select all

ThinkPad T61 (7665-13U)
T7500(2.2GHz), 1GB RAM, 120GB 5400rpm HD, 14.1in 1440x900 LCD, 128MB nVIDIA 
Quadro NVS 140M, CDRW/DVDRW, Intel 802.11agn(n-disabled), Bluetooth, Modem, 
1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Secure chip, Fingerprint reader, 6c Li-Ion, WinVista Business

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 3:15 pm
by Heliotropen
It's the w500 I have gotten the offer for, - but she has another one considering it, willing to give a little less, so she has to have an answer tonight (it's 22.15 here now so)...

It's a W500 (4063), Intel Core 2 Duo T960 2,8ghz ...

She is considering selling it to me, for the same price as I can get the t500, but with a dock included in the w500 price. (:

How does they differ in design? fell, weight? power consumtion, and so on? :s

Thnx again man, you guys are so f.. cool!
- Helio

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 3:29 pm
by rumbero
Heliotropen wrote:How does they differ in design? fell, weight? power consumtion, and so on? :s
You want to make sure to get a display resolution of 1680x1050 instead of 1280x800, don't you? And you also want to be sure to have a much better P8xx/P9xx CPU instead of the T9xx CPU. There are so many important details to consider, and you should really make sure to not have to regret afterwards.

First get hold of the exact Product ID. Make sure it doesn't end only in CTO (as in "8895-CTO"), but has some different endling (like in "8895-WFJ" or "7665-13U", etc.). The Product ID is printed on a sticker at the bottom of the machine or can also be found on the entry screen of the BIOS setup.

If she primarily needs a *fast* answer, than i'd rather be careful to avoid a possible rip off.

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 3:34 pm
by Heliotropen
Man I'm really getting stress here :) But really appreciates it.

You are right, I will ask her about that... (:
I'm rather sure it's not a ripoff (:

As for the CPU, - I'm on a really tight budget here ... and it's the only danish w500 I have found, - how much does the CPU count, - if the alternative is that I pay the same + a dock for a t500.

I'm also checking my t500 possibilities right now.

I can see on the site, where I buy used stuff, that she have over 200 happy customers for clothes she has sold, and no unhappy, - and I saw the other dude made the offer before I even contacted her, so as the naive person I am, I think I thrust her ...

However, she has not answered me back ... so perhaps it's to late :)

Thnx again man ...

- Helio

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 3:57 pm
by ajkula66
You can't go wrong with a W500. Period. Not at the same price asked for the T500 anyway, and with a dock included...

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 3:59 pm
by Heliotropen
ajkula66 wrote:You can't go wrong with a W500. Period. Not at the same price asked for the T500 anyway, and with a dock included...
Thnx man - that was my initial thought also :)

EDIT:
It's a 4063-CA3 with 1920x1200 (and she has agreed to send it to me) :)

I just got another offer on a t500 for 3000DDK without a dock, - and this will cost me around 3700-3800 with shipping and a dock included :) - But I take it that it's still a really good deal? :)

SO unless you guys have something to say, I'm going for it :)

- Helio

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 4:11 pm
by rumbero
Heliotropen wrote:It's a 4063-CA3 with 1920x1200

Code: Select all

ThinkPad W500 (4063-CA3)
Based 4063-34G: T9600(2.8GHz), 4GB RAM, 200GB 7200rpm FDE HD, 15.4in 1920x1200, 
512MB ATI FireGL V5700, CDRW/DVDRW, Intel 802.11agn, Bluetooth, Modem, 1Gb 
Ether, UltraNav, Sec Chip, FPR, Camera, Turbo Mem, 9c, WinVista Business 64
Go for it!

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 4:22 pm
by Heliotropen
Thnx man, if it's rumbero approved I will!!! :)

- Helio

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 5:23 pm
by ajkula66
1920x1200 on these machines might end up being a *very* lousy screen with poor colour reproduction and atrocious viewing angles. I've used one of these for several months and hated it with a passion. Likely the worst screen I've ever seen on a ThinkPad.

My choice would always be 1680x1050. Much safer bet.

Apart from that W500 is a great machine.

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 2:05 am
by dr_st
ajkula66 wrote:Likely the worst screen I've ever seen on a ThinkPad.
Have you seen X30x screens?

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 4:39 am
by Heliotropen
ajkula66 wrote:1920x1200 on these machines might end up being a *very* lousy screen with poor colour reproduction and atrocious viewing angles. I've used one of these for several months and hated it with a passion. Likely the worst screen I've ever seen on a ThinkPad.

My choice would always be 1680x1050. Much safer bet.

Apart from that W500 is a great machine.
Arghh, I have already bought it :=)
It's shipped so is getting it in the next few days.

But I'm sure it will be a shock, going from this 1024 4:3 to it ... but directly a " lousy screen" sounds rather disappointing. But when I'm searching in here, it seams allot love the screen, and that ppl is rather split here? ... Well have to see when I get it ...

I'm more concerned right now, about if I will have ubuntu 12.04 running nicely on it, or if I get forced back to windows to take advantage of it(the switchable graphics and so on).

- Helio

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 5:27 am
by Tasurinchi
It's known to me that the T61p models may have panels either from Samsung (lousy) or from LG/Phillips (good). Do W500's have only Samsung panels? Any chance that they have another brand?
Heliotropen wrote:But I'm sure it will be a shock, going from this 1024 4:3 to it
That's a huge lap in resolution... You surely will be shocked :wink:

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:05 am
by Heliotropen
Tasurinchi, Yeah I have had a few old txxp machines before though that I absolutely loved, - but it's almost so long ago that I have forgotten how it felt lol ... It's funny how humans can adapt, a friend of me wrote his bachelor special on a 7" notebook almost the size of a mobile phone lol, can't figure out how he was able to do that, since it also took it 10 minutes to boot up windows :mrgreen:

This is perfect for writing(at-least stuff like blogging and so on), reading and browsing = what I intend to use this x60s machine for only ... and then the other as my actual workhorse :)

I really hope it's not going to be as bad as you guys say :D (I don't uses glasses by the way, and have perfect vision = but don't want to screw that up lol)...

Perhaps I ended up being to fast on the tricker anyways: Now I'm both having a nervous breakdown over what I can expect from the resolution, that though I got a dock with it, I ended up paying 900 DKK(3870DKK total) more than I would for a t500 without dock(3000 DKK), and for if I have to run winsucks on it, and dump my beloved ubuntu... :roll:

- Helio

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:42 am
by RealBlackStuff
A W500 is probably overkill to run just Ubuntu, but that machine is still state of the art.
Don't know if Ubuntu is clever enough to use the switching graphics option, though.
But (especially with an SSD in it) you should be good for the next 5 years at least.
And a bad LCD can always be replaced!

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 10:09 am
by Heliotropen
RealBlackStuff wrote:A W500 is probably overkill to run just Ubuntu, but that machine is still state of the art.
Don't know if Ubuntu is clever enough to use the switching graphics option, though.
But (especially with an SSD in it) you should be good for the next 5 years at least.
And a bad LCD can always be replaced!
Thnx (:
"just to run ubuntu" - ubuntu 12.04 can run just as demanding programs as windows? xD - I run photshop inside ubuntu just fine trough wine etc. :)

If it can run as well as win 7, on a w500, that is then the question?

Perhaps I should consider to shift back to win 7 again? - it's just that I really prefer the fell and way ubuntu works - but of course win 7 can be modded. - Not to mention that I have not had a virus since I shifted.

If not, I expect's to dual boot - so that I will use ubuntu 12.04 for work stuff (what I have bought the machine for), and win 7, for the game I play once a year lol...

As for the switching thing, - it does not seam like it: that is, it don't seam to be able to swich in the OS(though they have made some solution for it, they don't seam to work on the w500 yet), but it should work when doing it in the bias.

That's fine by me, - I will mostly use the machine plugged in or docked with one of my two desks, - sometimes I will have to bring it in the train, or use it for a presentation, - but then it's fine for me to boot into the battery saving thing ...

My prefered OS, is OSX Lion, - but I'm not going to play with trying to get it to run on these two thinkpads right now I think ... to much trouble :)

By the way thnx for your post ... it made me fell allot better about my deal...
- Helio :)

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 10:43 am
by Tasurinchi
Heliotropen wrote:I really hope it's not going to be as bad as you guys say
WUXGA is a great resolution! My T61p has it and is one of the notebooks that I mostly use, when I said shock I didn't mean it in a negative way... Sorry if that confused you.

If I were you I would just relax and look forward to the W500... :wink:

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 11:11 am
by Heliotropen
Tasurinchi

Ohh dear, that was awesome to hear, thnx :mrgreen:

Then I can boil my biggest problems with it down to deciding if I should be going back to windows 7, and only run ubuntu on the x60s, or even shift that one to win 7 also, or just try to dual boot, and get my work ubuntu work environment working on the machine... thnx

- Helio

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:44 pm
by Tasurinchi
I'm using Linux Mint 12 64bits (which is an Ubuntu based distro) in my WUXGA T61p and I think is redundant to say that it flies on that old hardware. But I'm also using an Intel SSD, which contributes a lot to enhance speed.

I have Win7 Ultimate in my smaller T61 (also with SSD) and it's also fast. Mint is faster in booting, but using Internet and basic office tasks there no big difference to Linux Mint.

When is your W500 going to arrive?

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 4:39 pm
by ajkula66
First of all, RBS' post is worth its weight in gold. He just nailed everything that comes into play here.

Don't get me wrong, short of atrocious display (Samsung) I loved the W500. It was powerful and well-built, a workstation in the best sense of the word.

Back in those days, I tried running Mint (8?9? I don't recall) on it and it didn't play well with switchable graphics. Later revisions might have addressed that issue. There is no doubt in my mind that W7 will run fabulously well on it - mine had Vista and was very snappy even under its bloat.

Keep us posted.

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 5:13 pm
by Heliotropen
Tasurinchi

I don't really know Mint that well - but I'm really loving ubuntu (and have used red hat, and allot of older distros in the past).
Will not say my x60s flies on ubuntu, but untill tommorow it have only had 1gb ram, and a really slow hd, - and it runs decent.

I get both the new rams for the x60s, and the w500 tommorow, so is really excited :)

ajkula66 I will consider hooking it up with win 7 and only run ubuntu on the x60s :)
It's just that I really, really, REALLY like ubuntu for work ... though win 7, also has a BIT better work aps running for it ... I really hate the win 7 shell, the actual fell of it when I work with it and so on - it's hard to exactly describe ... but of cause that part can always be replaced.

Can't wait to see with the monitor, - but you say that it can be replaced, if it's not good enough? :)

- Helioh

Re: sry but few min to make decission between w500 and another.

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 5:36 am
by Heliotropen
Then it all arrived, - I'm writing from the x60s with 3 gb ram as we speak :) (it was already running well but big difference).

The computer and docking station had some small scratch on the top, the seller seamed like a rather good guy(It was not a women as I thought, but a dude selling from his wifes account, - I can see his was a programmer with a leader position from Microsoft, not having another big position and so on, with numerous of courses completed = on his online CV on linkedin, we even share a few connections) last night he wrote to me it was a machine he had gotten from work, and that it had almost only been standing in his docking station while he had almost only used his macs, which clearly was not true = as I said unlike my much older x60s, there was small scratches on top, not deep, but almost like they where cut with a razzor, or a very small dog had scratched it, - same with a small part of the docking station. (I happened to google that they have a small dog lool .. so go figure) (will perhaps make some pictures later today).

It had however been sitting on the dock for some while = I could see, as it is very dusty, and the trackpad very dirty(clearly it was his porn backup machine - and he had not had the courtesy of cleaning it before he shipped it).

Overall I'm pleased, and beside the mentioned it seams like a new machine.

Any trips and tricks to cleaning the MF'er?

I was thinking about vacum cleaning it, and then washing it off with something? Perhaps use some alcohol on the screen.

I have just gotten it(there was some shipment problems also, but the lady at the post office finally gave it to me ... at least he had send it rather well), so have not thrown an OS on it yet, I said no to paying to get the original vista he wanted to sell with it.

I guess this is expected when you buy used... But overall I'm still rather pleased.

- Helio