Is this a good deal? (and some other very intriguing questions)

[stingystooge]

Im an inch away from committing to this, and I don't want to go to college and have someone laugh at me like "HAHA I GOT THE EXACT SAME THING EXCEPT BETTER FOR CHEAPER"

Lenovo (IBM) ThinkPad T61
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 (2.0GHz 800MHz 4MBL2)[1]
Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic[12]
14.1 WXGA+ TFT, w/o Camera
Intel GMA X3100 GM965 w/ 1394
1 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
60GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm[4]
CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo 24X/24X/24X/8X Max, Ultrabay Slim[5]
ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wi-Fi wireless LAN Mini-PCIe US/EMEA/LA/ANZ[10]
7 cell Li-Ion Battery[60]
7658: 1 Year Depot Warranty - Express[7]
$ 825.35

or with a normal 14.1 WXGA TFT screen (without the WXGA+) its $30 less so about $795

Im not planning on buying any more warranty, and I will be buying it with an American Express card, which means i get an extra year of warranty

Also, I'm going to buy another 1GB of laptop memory to put it in myself (since its $80 more if I do it through IBM)

(another question: does "Intel GMA X3100 GM965 w/ 1394" mean there is a Firewire port?)

[KarmaKiller]

I myself would look for something with a bigger hard drive. And some more ram for sure, more then likely the ram will come in 2 x 512 sticks, thus taking up all your ram slots. So if you want to upgrade to 2Gb of RAM, you'll have to buy 2gigs of RAM. Then you'll have 2 sticks doing nothing, and would have spent alot more money..But you almost need 2gb of ram for Vista..

But just my 2 cents..

[stingystooge]

Ah thats what I was wondeirng about too. ther ewas an option for 1GB of memory as 1DIMM and 2DIMM. does that mean 1 stick or 2 stick?

Also, Im plannign on relying on a 320GB extgernal hd

thanks for the help though! keep it coming!

[nemowolf]

Unless your planning on doing business applications, i would stay away from the Think Pad line and try maybe their 3000 line.

If your looking for something with a bit more omph then try the new Vostro line of Dell Laptops replacing some of the Inspirion lines.

[carl33p]

stingystooge, are you planning on gaming on this notebook?
If so, you will want a graphics card. Not onboard.

This Dell Vostro 1500 comes will double the hard drive space, a dvd burner, and Graphics Card for 225$ less than your IBM. Although it is does have a 15.4" widescreen.

With the extra money, you could upgrade to the 8600GT graphics card. (assuming you want to Game some) Otherwise, you could upgrade the processor.
And buy another 1GB of memory from somewhere like newegg.

[carl33p]

If you are set on a 14": the Vostro 1400.

Core 2 Duo 1.6Ghz
2GB ram
120GB HD
8400GS graphics card
DVD Burner
700$