Is the Thinkpad SL worth it?
I need to purchase a new laptop to replace my 4 year old Thinkpad R60. The hinge broke and a quote of around Rs.8,000 is being made to repair it, which I feel is too much.
I am a bit tight on my budget, and require a durable system which will work well for doing MS-Office (lots of typing) and also cover a fair bit of multimedia (The R60 was a bit poor in the second aspect).
For Rs.42k, the Thinkpad SL410 falls within my 50k budget, and an upgrade to 3 years warranty will cost me a further 6k. I have been told, however, that the SL/L series models aren't as durable as the more expensive versions (W/X/T-series), but then, the laptop will mostly be used at the desk with not too much travelling.
One problem with the SL410, is the fact that it only comes with a Glossy Screen. I won't be using the laptop outdoors much. Can I live with the screen option long term(my R60 had matte).
The cheapest T-series, the T410 (with Win 7), is coming to around 66k, with a three yer warranty. Now, I might *just stretch if the model is perfect, but its screen and audio receive poor grades. Not to mention that the T410 has been reported to run quite hot, by some reviewers.
Is the SL410 worth it, or is the nearly 20k premium for the T410 going to get me a much better system. I need the laptop to be reliable for the next 3-4 years at least.
Good Answers (1)
Tim S.
National Account Executive at PC Mall
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Hello Avijit, could you clarify your location as 50k in the United States would be a large sum of $, that could get you a computer made out of gold, with real ivory keys. Assuming it's a different form of currency, the T410 isn't a bad model, heat issues are debatable, cores are getting bigger, and doesn't take much to get them hot. Lenovo's is a business machine for business use, reliable, and great for international use, as I suspect this is for, for the warranty.
SL410's a nice machine, I could name mfr part #'s but they may be different in your country. You seem torn between a good solid machine, and a need for something with graphic capability above and beyond. If you're on a budget, machines with high end graphics may be out of reach, and be careful about audio, they're usually talking about the built in speakers, few laptops out there have decent speakers, best to use headphones or buy portable speakers.
I'm careful about what I say about mfr's online (the hills have eyes), but I've sold Lenovo throughout the years and it's a fine product, you may want to also check out HP, Toshiba, perhaps Apple's lower end macbook (ok I know I may open up a heated debate about Mac vs PC, but you can run Win 7 on an Apple Machine, and graphics aren't bad at all. ).
I'd strongly recommend to visit a computer shop and get some hands on time, it's an important business investment and you should be able to kick the tires a bit before you buy, nothing worse than buyer's remorse. Mfr's have modified the glossy screens because that was the initial complaint with some end users..so that "glossy" screen may not be as much of an issue with the newer ones today that are less likely to reflect, but mfr's vary, that's why I suggest to walk into a shop and touch, feel and see what you're buying.
Just a few things, make sure you max the ram, you'll thank me in the years to come, and drives are cheap but I'd start at 250GB you can always get bigger ones later and they're not hard to install.
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Wallace J.
Multimedia Producer, i3D Programmer, Acrobat 3D PDF, Android App, Virtual World & iTV Design, Kindle, Nook & Sony eBooks
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Get a Dell XPS 16 or an ASUS system it will be far more powerful... ;) Cheers.
Dave M.
Professional trade show booth traffic builder and party entertainer. Corporate and private sector events.
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Mac is the only way...
