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> On Oct 12, 12:26pm, Alex Judd wrote: > > Subject: Thinkpads vs ? > > It is a sad day. After spending two years investing time and money > > in to Thinkpads, my company has today decided that they will no longer > > be using Thinkpad machines as our standard lap-top machine. > > > > Therefore I am now faced with trying to find a replacement machine > > that has all the facilities and power of a TP760ED for our support > > people, and the screen facilities and light weight of a TP560 for > > our sales people. > > > > I know this is not the right place for this discussion, but I guess > > everyone here must have weighed othermachines against the Thinkpads, > > and have a fair idea what comes second best. > > > > Any advice much appreciated (please email me if you can). > > > > Thanks in advance, > > > > Alex Judd > >-- End of excerpt from Alex Judd > this is the perfect place for this kind of discussion because it helps to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the thinkpad line. if a few ibm people subscribe discussion of weaknesses might lead to some improvement. my thinkpad 755CE has been by and large a great machine, well worth its price to me. support has been good, both locally and in terms of the ibm ftp site. however, our software support person, to whom i have given a few of the problems (like trying to deal with an infernal Jaz drive) keeps telling me to get a toshiba or digital because they are more likely to follow [ even if they may not set : - ) ] industry standards, and therefore there is less need for support. but when i get a new machine, hopefully shortly, i expect to pass the 755ce onto a programmer i work with, and expect a couple of more years use from the mahine. one thing i find offputting is the dribble dribble dribble approach of ibm to its offerings. the 760 came out last november and what did it offer? a 12.1" display and a movie clip. then over the next 3 or 4 months each previously offered machine was superceded, bit by bit, dribble by dribble. no upgrade path, no (i think) components that you could carry forward to your next machine (eg, a large hdd), a cd-rom drive. this incremental approach really encourages postponed decisions, or changes to machines for which you can say, well at least i will have the damn thing for 6 months before it is superceded by some feature i'd really like to have (such as a PCI bus in the case of the first 760's). i too am looking for discussions about new machines, of any brand. regards, al Alden S Klovdahl / alden.klovdahl@anu.edu.au / fax: +61 62 49 05 25 Sociology Arts / Australian National University / Canberra ACT Australia 0200