Thursday, June 09, 2005

T43

I finally pulled the trigger on a new laptop today after patiently waiting 6 odd months, for the prices to fall. I could afford the wait mainly because of the surfeit of computers in my life, with a laptop and desktop at home and a couple of computers at work. With this, I just made my most expensive MBA related purchase till date. The computer that will (hopefully) be my faithful companion and friend for the next 2 years is an IBM/Lenovo (unless you have been living under a rock you should know that IBM sold their laptop business to Lenovo) T43. I was lucky enough to get an IBM EPP discount rate on the laptop, and it reduced the price of the machine by 450 odd dollars.

The stats are as follows:
T43 2687DRU, 1.86 Ghz Sonomas processor, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB HDD, 14.1" monitor, SXGA+, 4.8 lbs and the ultra cool fingerprint reader.

For anyone doing comparison shopping on IBM thinkpads here is the little excel spread sheet I built on the models available right now on sale. Please note that these prices are the EPP prices and web prices will be a lot higher:
T43 1875DNU $1,259.25 4.7 lbs 1.73 Ghz 512 MB 60 GB Intel 2915ABG 1 year 14.1" XGA 1024x768 Fingerprint
T43 266849U $1,266.85 4.7 lbs 1.86 Ghz 512 MB 40 GB Intel 2915ABG 3 years 14.1" XGA 1024x768
T43 2687D4U $1,311.75 5.5 lbs 1.86 Ghz 512 MB 40 GB Intel 2915ABG 3 years 15.0" SXGA+ 1400x1050
T43 2687DRU $1,371.75 4.8 lbs 1.86 Ghz 512 MB 60 GB Intel 2915ABG 3 years 14.1" SXGA+ 1400x1050 Fingerprint
T43 266872U $1,889.25 4.8 lbs 2.0 Ghz 512 MB 80 GB Intel 2915ABG 3 years 14.1" SXGA+ 1400x1050 Fingerprint, Bluetooth

12 Comments:

Blogger Forrest Gump said...

once you pay the first installment of the b school tuition fees, i am sure this expenditure will seem miniscule....and btw, some people still live under the rock :)

a T43 at that price is a pretty good purchase.

June 09, 2005 7:25 PM  
Blogger Tanya said...

450$ is a rock bottom price man!

May be a silly ques- What's an EPP price?

June 09, 2005 8:11 PM  
Blogger aregon23 said...

Forrest,

I agree a T43 at that price is pretty good. But I wouldn't have minded going for a slightly lower processer like those in the T42's because the Sonoma's suck battery power. Will have to upgrade to a 9 cell lithium at some point of time due to this and it will increase the weight of the computer. I doubt any MBA student needs more than 1 GHz of processing. :)

Atta Girl,

Actually the computer cost me 1,500 $, the 450$ was what I saved on the cost price because I went through the EPP (Employee Purchase Plan) program. Since IBM made these thinkpads before, they used to offer their employees hefty discounts. To make the deal sweeter and to spread the dominance of the big blue, they made the scheme open to friends and family of the employees, which translates into anyone who has a friend or a friend of a friend working for IBM can get a pretty decent discount on their machines. Which is exactly what I did, and it reduced my purchase price by 25%.

If you haven't gotten a laptop for your MBA program, I highly recommend the Thinkpad, you can't go wrong with any of the T models.

June 09, 2005 10:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Interesting... I've been researching T43s for the past week, and I also decided on the 2687DRU. That model seemed to have the best value for the features. I'll probably add 512MB ram, and was thinking about getting another battery, but I'll hold off on the battery until I see how it does on 6cells. Did you get the Thinkpad protection?

June 10, 2005 4:51 AM  
Blogger Tanya said...

Thanks! I am yet to buy a laptop. The recommended one was an IBM T43 or a dell Inspiron C600. I think i'll go for IBM...sounds like a safe bet!

June 10, 2005 6:49 AM  
Blogger aregon23 said...

anonymous,

The 2687DRU is an awesome machine and currently retailing at a great price, you can't go wrong with it.

If you plan to use your laptop only for school you don't need anything more than 512 MB of RAM that comes built in with the 2687DRU. That is unless you are an intensive gamer. Normal word processing and excel functionality don't need that much memory. Besides if you decide to upgrade the memory at a later date, it might be cheaper to get it outside than from IBM.

I dint get the Thinkpad Protection, it was an additional 112$ I think. Dint see the need for it since I am usually quite careful with my stuff and the basic warranty for 3 years will cover most problems that I could have. But I can see why you might want to get that. 1500$ is an expensive investment.

There was this awesome deal for a 9 cell Li battery for 33 $ that was available as a special offer a couple of days ago, I am trying to see if I can swing that. If I can't get that offer then I am going to pass on the additional battery. The 6 cell battery should last you 5 hours of regular usage as long as you don't use too much wifi. Which is ample time to get from one power source to another. You need the additional battery power only if you are a big time road warrior.

June 10, 2005 11:41 AM  
Blogger aregon23 said...

AttaGirl,

Comparing a T43 to a Dell Inspiron is like comparing a Lexus to a Corolla. To make the comparissions fairer, you will have to compare the Dell Lattitude to the T43, which works out to comparing an Infinity to a Lexus. The Lattitudes are Dell's answer to the business user, and having owned a couple in the past 5 years, I can tell you they look COOL. But even so, a T43 kicks the lattitude's ass all over the room. There is no comparission when it comes to build quality or reliability. The T43 is simply awesome.

This difference is also something that is reflected in the price with the Lattitudes and more so the Inspirons costs less than the T43.

The only good thing about carrying the Inspirons every day to school, is that it will be a good workout. Those beasts are heavy as hell. :)

I don't think you can go wrong if you go with T43, and like I mentioned earlier the 2687DRU is currently a steal with EPP. If you can't find someone who can swing you a EPP deal, send me an email and I will see if I can help you find one.

June 10, 2005 11:49 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I guess I'm living under a rock!

June 10, 2005 4:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi, Aregon. I'm a fellow MBA class of 2007 hopeful. I start next week and am in a desperate search for a laptop. I've been looking for over six months and have settled on an IBM T43. Do you have an IBM EPP hook up you're willing to share? I would LOVE that! I wasn't sure how to email you directly. Please let me know by responding here.

Thanks,
RAS

June 13, 2005 8:16 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

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October 14, 2005 1:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A

November 28, 2005 10:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

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December 18, 2005 4:42 PM  

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