Best small business PC laptop for $1200 ?

[Henry Schmidt]

Need a gift for the wife. She uses it primarily for stock trading and small tax accounting.
15.4" and somewhat lighter is also a bonus.
Cheers

[stomachmonkey]

You can get a box to do that for half that.

If you want to stick with around that pricepoint then a Lenovo T60, (Thinkpad), may be in order.

5.1 pounds, tons of WIFI options, 9 cell battery. Nice box.

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=1F106632CBC24D2CBD23DF19644D3694

[jriera]

Henry, check your email.

[Wickd89]

At work, I was able to order what ever i wanted, and i picked the Levono. 15.4 widescreen 160gig harddrive, 1 gig ram, etc....

[Henry Schmidt]

Jordi, that is a very nice offer. I will seriously consider buying one.
Thanks to the rest of you who offered an opinion.
Merry Christmas

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by Wickd89

At work, I was able to order what ever i wanted, and i picked the Levono. 15.4 widescreen 160gig harddrive, 1 gig ram, etc....

+1. Work approved my spec of Lenovo T61, 2.0GHz C2D, 3 GB RAM, 160 GB 7200 drive, XP Pro. My only complaints about the machine thus far are slow USB ports, 30 seconds to transfer a 45MB file, and weak WiFi radio compared to the T42 it replaced. I'm giving it back next week to see what's up with the USB. Other than that it's a handsome and solid laptop.

[KFC911]

Do the Lenovos have the same build quality as the older Thinkpads in your opinion? That's why I opted for the T42 (a known quantity) instead of something newer that I was not familiar with.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by KC911

Do the Lenovos have the same build quality as the older Thinkpads in your opinion? That's why I opted for the T42 (a known quantity) instead of something newer that I was not familiar with.

Far as I know yes.

Thinkpads are my favorite non Apple laptops.

Had a few and they always held up.

[RANDY P]

lenovo. Good sale on their website right now and check out the outlet stuff - refurbs and new units that have been cancelled.

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by KC911

Do the Lenovos have the same build quality as the older Thinkpads in your opinion? That's why I opted for the T42 (a known quantity) instead of something newer that I was not familiar with.

Same outward quality as my T42. They are sitting side by side as I type this on the T61. The screen is definitely brighter on the Lenovo. I never used the fingerprint reader on the T42 and my T61 does not have it. I have heard others have had issues with that piece of hardware so I would avoid it.

[Scott R]

I hated every day that I worked at IBM, but I LOVED the laptops they issued us. I took my T42 all over the world, damn good piece of hardware, and it was made by Lenovo.

[Sonic dB]

It is good to see that no one has mentioned HP. I bought an HP laptop a little over a year ago and it has been a total and complete failure.

[Henry Schmidt]

Originally Posted by Sonic dB

It is good to see that no one has mentioned HP. I bought an HP laptop a little over a year ago and it has been a total and complete failure.

That is interesting. I have an HP Pavilian that has performed without a hitch for almost 3 years. Consumer Reports calls the HP they're Best Buy. Sounds like I got lucky.

Here is where I have landed. They are all about the same price for similar features. Your thoughts please.

ThinkPad T61 7663-13U Duo Core T7500 Processor 2.2GHz

* 3GB Ram
* 120GB Hard Drive
* DVD Recordable Drive
* 5400rpm HD
Everyones favorate, Great offer from Jordi, Thanks again

Dell 1521 AMD Turion 64 X2
TL-60 2GHz 2GB DDR2
160GB HD DVDRW
Great warranty, I have two Dell desk tops they seem to work great.

Sony VAIO VGN-CR140N/B 14.1"
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7100,
2 GB RAM
160 GB Hard Drive
Vista Business
Brand loyalty, always had good luck with Sony products.

One last question:
Intel 802.11agn(n-disabled) what does disabled refer to? and can it be enabled ? How much?

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Henry Schmidt

That is interesting. I have an HP Pavilian that has performed without a hitch for almost 3 years. Consumer Reports calls the HP they're Best Buy. Sounds like I got lucky.

Here is where I have landed. They are all about the same price for similar features. Your thoughts please.

ThinkPad T61 7663-13U Duo Core T7500 Processor 2.2GHz

* 3GB Ram
* 120GB Hard Drive
* DVD Recordable Drive
* 5400rpm HD
Everyones favorate, Great offer from Jordy, Thanks again

Dell 1521 AMD Turion 64 X2
TL-60 2GHz 2GB DDR2
160GB HD DVDRW
Great warranty, I have two Dell desk tops they seem to work great.

Sony VAIO VGN-CR140N/B 14.1"
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7100,
2 GB RAM
160 GB Hard Drive
Vista Business
Brand loyalty, always had good luck with Sony products.

One last question:
Intel 802.11agn(n-disabled) what does disabled refer to? and can it be enabled ? How much?

Thinkpad,

Has the most RAM which you want. Faster processor than the VAIO.

Go for a 7200 rpm hard drive upgrade if available.

I would sacrifice a smaller capacity drive for the faster speed.

The slower drives are what keep laptops from feeling like desktops.

[jriera]

Henry, one thing to remember is that on this days all manufacturers want to put some version of MS Vista on new computers (and no, don't ask for XP as the answer will be NO and will void the warranty if you do it), so that means that the more memory you are able to put the better, earlier this month I switched my sister from buying an HP laptop to a MacBook due to the position of HP on MS Vista

[stomachmonkey]

On the N spec for the WIFI card.

N standard has not been finalized yet. That's why you see stuff advertised as Pre-N.

My guess is it you will be able to enable it when the standard is set.

[JavaBrewer]

You can order the T61 with XP and 7200 drives. When I got mine 2 months ago IBM would not sell me the top end processor without Vista...so I settled for the 2.0GHz. Looking at their website they might have since backed away from that policy.

[KFC911]

That's why I went a refurbished T42 (I'm very happy, it appears like new). I couldn't find XP on a new one, and didn't need the fastest processor, largest drive, etc. and most apps the new ones are loaded with. All the refurbs that I looked at on the IBM site were preloaded with XP, missing the crappy apps, and are pretty good deals imo.

[Henry Schmidt]

Thanks for all your helpful input.
I decided on the Dell 1520.
Two reasons, Dells exceptional warranty and only Dell and Sony offer top quality PINK computers.
That's right, if you want her to surrender the Pink give her the Pink.
Cheers

Detailed Specifications
Processor • INTEL Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz CPU
Memory • 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Keyboard • Keyboard on Notebook
Video Cards • GeForce 8600M GT 256 Megs Video Card
Hard Drives • 160 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
Operating System • Microsoft Windows Vista Business
Screen Size • 15.4 Inch Widescreen WSXGA
Network Interface • 10/100 LAN
• Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card
CD Drive • 8x DVDRW and 24x CDRW
Sound Card • Integrated Sound Card
Speakers • Dual Speakers System
Battery • 9 Cell 80 Watt Battery
I/O Ports & Slots • IEEE 1394 integrated port (1394 cable and software sold separately)
• 4-USB 2.0 (Universal Serial Bus) compliant 4-pin connectors
• Video: 15-pin monitor connector
• Audio jacks: Stereo headphones/speakers miniconnector (same as line-out), microphone miniconnector
• VGA Out
• 5 in 1 Media Card Reader
• ExpressCard Slot
Software • Dell Direct Download
• Dell Media Experience
• Windows Media Player 10
• DELL SUPPORT 3.0,INSP
• Image Restore
• Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0 for Inspiron
Warranty • Type 3- Third Party At HomeService, 24x7 TechnicalSupport, Initial Year
• Three year Limited Warranty

All for $1,078 delivered.

[KFC911]

That looks like a great deal Henry...plus it's PINK! My inner "he man" wouldn't even consider a white one for myself...PINK you say