<p>I have heard better things about thinkpads but I found an ideapad for a good price.</p>
<p>Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 (59013885) 15.4" Widescreen Notebook Computer With Intel Core2 Duo Processor T5550 With Centrino Processor Technology at Office Depot.</p>
<p>Will this suit all my needs throughtout college (engineering)? Should I wait for the new platform to be released?</p>
<p>Ideapad vs. Thinkpad is kind of like Inspiron vs. XPS/Latitude, the latter is more expensive but is of much higher quality.</p>
<p>Lenovo pitched the ideapad series as "More consumer value" = "Cheaper components and price".</p>
<p>If you're going to go Lenovo, you might as well get the Thinkpad, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Get a Thinkpad. They were designed by IBM - Lenovo just bought IBM's PC division and started selling them with their own brand. The Ideapads, on the other hand, were designed by Lenovo - they're not nearly as well made as the Thinkpads. It has to do with much more than just consumer quality vs. business quality.</p>