test

[Devil's Advocate]

I used to swear by ThinkPads, and the old ones were beasts, but Lenovo has done quite a number on the current models so they're merely average.

Where do you draw the line between old and new Thinkpads? When did the quality go downhill?

[MrFun]

NYE:

Stop it. You're just being a palooka, running your head into Asher's cyber fist.

cyber fisting

[Dinner]

Premium brands make premium products. Otherwise they're not premium brands. The distinction makes no sense.

Good to know Budweiser is a "Premium beer" since it says so on the label.

[Dinner]

Can't be arsed, plus have a torn ligament in left knee. It's not prohibited, but not 100% safe either.

In that case swimming really would be safest as it would put the least amount of stress on the knee and ligament.

[Asher]

Asher:

Should I just go whole hog and get the MBP or Dell XPS (never heard of it, but had a couple Dells...they had their issues...but I'm just sorta used to Dell) or one of the other ones you mentioned?

It's up to your preference. Maybe check the mall and play with both.

[Asher]

Where do you draw the line between old and new Thinkpads? When did the quality go downhill?

After IBM sold the brand to Lenovo.

[Devil's Advocate]

After IBM sold the brand to Lenovo.

I'm curious because I have a T60. It seems to be just as solid as the older ones I've seen, so I'm hoping that the quality didn't go downhill immediately after the sale to Lenovo.

[Asher]

I've had a bunch of problems with my various company T60, T61p, and T62p.

The T60 had its display fail, the T61p started emitting a very high frequency noise which gave me a headache, my T62p bluescreens with a hardware fault (and locks it up when it runs Linux) whenever the power goes out and comes back on (and not just mine -- ALL T62ps on the floor do it).

[Devil's Advocate]

My T60 widescreen has been good so far - no hardware issues. Perhaps the widescreen version has a better quality display. I assume your company has the regular screen.

[ricketyclik]

Can't be arsed, plus have a torn ligament in left knee. It's not prohibited, but not 100% safe either.

High cadence (rpm) low force cycling - or "spinning" - can be good for strengthening the knee's supporting muscles/ligaments. But you have to be careful about bike set-up, getting the seat to pedal to handlebar arrangement just so.

[Asher]

My T60 widescreen has been good so far - no hardware issues. Perhaps the widescreen version has a better quality display. I assume your company has the regular screen.

No, widescreen. The "p" series (for professional) are not just widescreen, but high resolution also (1920x1600).

[TCO]

I just ended up getting a regular Dell, Asher. 32 bit professional processor, some extra memory. Basic hard drive. got an internal videocam.

Won't be as bulletproof as a super machine, but as long as I can get 3 years will be happy. Paid for some ripoff warrantees and such, but I am hard on puters so works fine.

Paid a local service 250 to help me spec and order it. They also port my files and software and favorites, configure the machine, strip the Dell crap, signed me up for some offline filesaving service, etc. Still saved a lot of money versus going higher end.

Got Windows 7 (they said Vista was bad, but that 7 was ok...time to shift up from XP). They are transferring my Office 2003 to the puter so I save that money...and they say doing the new Office is a hassle still (for a consultant) since you need to remember to save as non docx or rely on your clients downloading the convertor.

Went and played with stuff at the Apple store. Quite an experience really.

I would love to buy a mac and then "learn" two systems I am intrigued with some things like the Keynote for presentations and the like.

But I have such a bad, bad record of buying computer stuff and then being to lazy to learn. In 1986 and then in 1995, I spend 3000 dollars on laptops in hope that it would force me to learn. Didn't work.

Best way for me to learn is to find a forum and troll it...that's how I ended up doing so well on Nutrisystem...learned everything about diet, cooking, psychology of weight loss, etc. etc while posting a lot....and was called a bull in the china shop.