Continuing a previous post comparing the Standard and Enhanced configurations of the popular ThinkPad T400, today we will be looking at the Enhanced and Elite models.

Enhanced vs. Elite

Standard base price: $1029
Elite base price: $1199

Elite DOES NOT have: Core 2 Duo P8600, P8700, P8800 processors; Vista Home Premium or Basic; Displays without webcam (except WXGA High Nit); 2GB RAM (2 DIMM); 4-cell battery; Intel WiFi Link 5100

As you can see, the Elite model trims out a LOT of stuff to simplify the buying process, and raise the price tag of any customizations you make. I will say that aside from the processors, most of this stuff you don’t want anyway. Vista Business, with the free XP downgrade and Win7 upgrade, is the way to go. Webcams only add like $30 to the price and are running as a free upgrade at the time of publishing. Upgrading to a single 2GB RAM stick is a no-brainer and the 4-cell battery is practically only good for booting the system.

Frankly the higher end processors are a waste for most people, as the already powerful Core 2 Duo’s are plenty fast at most any clock speed. Heavy duty users need only apply.

Minimum equal configuration

As before, this is a look at what the two different configurations would cost if they were configured identically:

Intel Core 2 Duo processor T9600 (2.8GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2)
Genuine Windows Vista Business
14.1 WXGA TFT, w/ CCFL Backlight, Camera [Camera free upgrade]
ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 with 256MB
2 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 1067MHz (1 DIMM)
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
250 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm [Currently free upgrade]
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)
Express Card Slot & PC Card Slot
Integrated Bluetooth PAN
ThinkPad WiFi (BGN)
Integrated Mobile Broadband upgradable
6 cell Li-Ion Battery
Country Pack North America with Line cord & 90W AC adapter

Enhanced price: $1149
Elite price: $1149

Bottom line

At the time of publishing, Lenovo’s Enhanced and Elite models are priced exactly the same, given the same configuration. This is likely partially spurred by the “free” upgrade to the LCD with integrated webcam, which is normally about a $30 option. We will check back on the T400 in a week or two to see if prices fluctuate further. If you look closely at the screenshot in the Standard vs Enhanced post, the base prices of all three models have risen a decent amount. The added amount to the base price might be made up by the free webcam and 250GB upgrade.

Overall the Enhanced model proves to be a much better value than the Elite, thanks to its better valued processor choices. Equal configurations are one thing, but with the Elite model you are forced into a $120 upgrade to the 2.8GHz T9600 processor. For most users this higher clocked chip is overkill compared to the 2.4GHz or 2.53GHz variants, considering the fairly hefty upgrade cost. The rest of the stripped options in the Elite model, detailed above, are of good value and importance to upgrade for most every user.

Read other Price Analysis posts
Find the best deal on the ThinkPad T400

Today we are taking a detailed look at the pricing and value differences between Lenovo’s pricing categories of the ThinkPad T400. If you’ve been to Lenovo.com to shop for a ThinkPad lately, you’ve undoubtably noticed the pricing categories, pictured above. It seems pretty clear that the Enhanced and Elite models have higher end parts, thus the higher end price. But is there more behind this to just more expensive parts being the default? There is, and we’ll go through it all with you.

Standard vs. Enhanced

Most people shopping for a bargain might be tempted to head straight for the cheapest model there, but you may end up spending more than if you had gone with the “Enhanced” version.

Standard base price: $849
Enhanced base price: $979

Enhanced DOES NOT have: Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo

The Enhanced version essentially eliminates several options that a sizeable portion of customers won’t opt for in the first place, making Vista Business and the DVD Recordable drive standard for $130. If you are on an extreme budget you can go for the Standard model to get Vista Home Basic, which is $49 cheaper than even Home Premium, and for some customers that works for them. However most people won’t want the crippled Home Basic, especially considering it doesn’t come with the free Windows 7 upgrade.

All other components of the Standard and Enhanced configurations are available at the exact same price, so your purchasing decision largely hinges on if you are cheap enough to want a lower end operating system and the plain-jane CD-RW/DVD-ROM.

Minimum, equal configuration

As a straight-forward look at the value of each system, we have configured the Standard model to the same base specifications as the Enhanced by adding Vista Business and the DVD Recordable:

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40GHz 1066MHz 3MBL2) 25W
Genuine Windows Vista Business
14.1 WXGA TFT, w/ CCFL Backlight
ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 with 256MB
2 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
250 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)
Express Card Slot & PC Card Slot
Intel WiFi Link 5100 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology
Integrated Mobile Broadband upgradable
4 cell Li-Ion Battery
Country Pack North America with Line cord & 90W AC adapter

Standard price: $998
Enhanced price: $979

Bottom line

Upgrading to both Vista Business and a DVDRW for only $130 is a distinct value that will best serve most people’s needs. Customers who are okay with Vista Home Premium and a CDRW/DVD-ROM can save $81, but even moving up to the DVDRW there makes the savings negligible. We certainly don’t recommend the Vista Home Basic option, as you lose out on the free Windows 7 upgrade offer. By choosing the Enhnanced model with Vista Business, you can also choose the “Windows XP Downgrade” option at no cost and have all three operating systems for your ThinkPad.

We hope you enjoyed this article about ThinkPad pricing options. Tomorrow we will do a follow-up to this about the Enhanced and Elite models of the T400, and other products at a later date as well. Let us know what you think of these new articles, or any questions at all, in the comments!