<p>I'm still deciding between the Dell Lenovo e6400 (Performance), e6500 (Professional), Lenovo ThinkPad T400 (Performance), and T500 (Professional). Btw, this is for Wharton.</p>
<p>I guess general questions to help me pick one...</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is 14.1 in too small or 15.4 in too big? I really don't care about the difference in weight. Just for college, which one is better for looking at/using in college?</p></li>
<li><p>I know that Lenovos were recommended in the past but this year, Dells are recommended. Is this because the quality of Lenovos are decreasing a little bit now that they are separating themselves from IBM even more? Or this there another specific reason that Dells are now recommended?</p></li>
<li><p>Which of the 4 would you recommend?</p></li>
<li><p>If price wasn't an issue, would the Lenovo T400s be better than all 4 even though that the graphics card sucks in comparison to the not so great graphics cards in the laptops that I mentioned? Would I come across problems in a class like marketing where you probably have to make a video for a commercial? Also, I think the processor and memory is a little lower than the Professional models. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>If you do not care about weight, why the hell would you not go for 15.4" or even higher?</p>
<p>IBM is better than Dell, case closed.</p>
<p>I have no bloody clue which 4 you are referring to. I would, based on the crap I got from Penn, get a Mac and dual boot XP/Vista/7.</p>
<p>Ummm, do not be silly. Simple video editing does not call for good graphics card AT ALL. You can always use the computers on campus anyway. Judging from the questions you ask, I would say any graphics card would work for you.</p>
<p>First go for Lenovo and not Dell. They have not changed their recommendation from lenovo to dell because of some degradation in lenovos quality. There is no technical reason imo. There was an initial issue when the build quality of the keyboard was changed from the t61s to the t400s but after user complains they reverted back to the old thing and its great now.</p>
<p>Buying a 15.4 will add about 2 lbs to your laptop and if you plan on carrying it around college all day, it can be quite a pain.</p>
<p>Graphics card in the t400 sucks? its a ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 256MB. In other words it has a discrete graphics card not a stupid built in one. And yes its not one of the most amazing graphics card, but it can handle quite a bit of games (not the top ones though. for eg: cod4 only when the settings are kept low) and other stuff. its much better than Nvidia Quadro NVS 160M 128MB in Dell and worse than that on the t500 only.</p>
<p>Apart from the addition weight in the t500 a 6 cell battery would give you less runtime than it would on a t400. My recommendation Lenovo thinkpad t400 (performance).</p>
<p>Also the t400 and t500 have the best processors (p9500) and the maximum ram (4gb) being offered on any of the systems.</p>
<p>I’d go with a smaller screen to make it easier to use in class. Those half desks are kindof small and a big computer will be tough to use on them.</p>
<p>I have a T61 and have been relatively happy with it. It kindof sucks that I have to shutdown my computer every few days or it starts getting skrewey, but overall i havn’t had any hardware problems with it (different story from the Symantec antivirus I downloaded from Penn). </p>
<p>Unless you absolutely must have a Mac, it’s not worth the extra costs of having to buy bootcamp, Microsoft Windows 7, and the software again (assuming your parents already have Windows based MS Office and stuff at home). If you really must use a Mac Van Pelt has a bunch you can use specifically for video editing.</p>
<p>@Moizhuk
In number 4, I was referring to the T400s which is a decent amount more when it comes to price but it doesn’t have an option of integrated graphics (I don’t really know what that means. It has Intel GMA 4500MHD. It isn’t sold by Penn so I would I have to create it myself.</p>
<p>@ everyone
From what I can tell… are you guys suggesting that I get the Lenovo T400 over the T500 and T400s?</p>
<p>I would prefer to have a Mac (if I wasn’t in Wharton) but I really don’t want to have to deal with Bootcamp or w/e else I may need. I’d prefer to have no problems with my computer when I have to run Wharton programs.</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know how long it normally takes to get comps frm Penn so I know how long before I should order one.</p>
<p>There are plenty of Wharton students with Macs. It’s not that much of a hastle to run Windows for a few classes when you have assignements for them. It’s not like when you’re in Wharton all 5 of your classes will make you constantly run Windows. Only when you have assignments in OPIM 101 or Marketing 101 will you need to run stuff in Windows.</p>
<p>But doesn’t it not always work? I thought that even with Bootcamp, students still sometimes need to use the school computers. And I really didn’t want to complicate anything (since PCs are recommended)</p>
<p>^That hasn’t happened to any of my friends. There are situations when students are too cheap to buy software and use school computersk, but I havn’t heard of anyone not being able to use bootcamp and needing to use a school computer. For half of the classes you need Windows for (OPIM 101, Marketing 101, etc.) you do most of it in group work, so you’ll either be in Huntsman anyway or you can just use a friend’s computer.</p>
<p>Do most Wharton students carry their laptops with them (In which case I would be deciding between the Dell Lstitude e6400, Lenovo T400, and Lenovo T400s which is a lot more money)…</p>
<p>No problem, there is a Mac lab in Van Pelt ;)</p>
<p>
Dude. It’s Windows. You’re going to have problems no matter what hardware you’re running it on. If you weren’t going to have problems then the University wouldn’t employ dedicated IT help staff for fixing all the problems that pop up.</p>
<p>If Boot Camp is too challenging for you, you really wouldn’t have been able to get into Penn in the first place.</p>
<p>As for the PCs, a T400s would be great as it is quite thin and light.</p>
<p>Well thanks so much for all your advice. After all this, I’m still not entirely sure which wize computer would be good. I know that the 15.4 inch screen is heavier and may not fit onto desks easily but I went to a store to look at the T400 and T500 next to each other and I am just worried that the screen is a bit too small and I’ll end up sitting awkwardly to get close to the screen (which won’t be good for long blocks of time). So as you can see, I’m still confused so any more comments are still greatly appreciated! Thanks again.</p>
<p>If I did get the T400 (and decided to customize my own)…</p>
<p>Should I get a 1440x900 screen with CCFL backlight which isn’t that bright or get a 1280x720 screen with LED backlight which I heard has great contrast and brightness. A screen is not available in 1440x900 LED.</p>
<p>Millhouse, whatever you buy, make sure it is light. I bought my son a 14.5" laptop and he complains that it is too bulky to carry around. Forget about the 15" screens, they are too heavy to carry around. </p>
<p>FWIW, I got my DD a Lenovo Thinkpad x61 for her MBA 2 years ago and she loves it.</p>
<p>It’s not the size of the screen that affects legibility, it’s the resolution. I’d say you could go as low as 12-13" without worrying about a difficult viewing experience.</p>
<p>Another advantage of LED backlights vs CCFL is that the LEDs are also more energy-efficient, which means longer battery life. They’re also better for the earth as they don’t contain mercury (CCFLs do).</p>
<p>Ok. So since a special Lenovo deal runs out tonight, I was just wondering if anyone had any more opinions on the 14.1 inch screen. I can get the CCFL (dull) backlight in 1440<em>900 or the REALLY good high nit LED screen but only in 1280</em>900. Thanks.</p>