More on notebook computer shopping
The first batch of Centrino 2 / Sonoma / Dothan notebook computers are starting to be reviewed now, following the official product introduction a couple of weeks ago. I had been looking forward to seeing some improved battery life and performance from models using the new chipsets. However, it’s looking like it may be a better idea to look for price reductions in the Dothan-only generation of notebook computers that are currently on the market.
Using the IBM T42 (Dothan) vs T43 (Sonoma+Dothan) as a comparison, it appears that the newer systems have a modest performance advantage, and a slightly shorter battery life.
See this thread and this thread at thinkpads.com
The Sonoma gains almost no performance with the DDR2-533 memory and gets 20-30 minutes worse battery life. IBM isn’t using either the SATA hard drive feature or Sonoma’s high-performance audio, and the chassis is identical to the T42 (2 USB, no firewire).
The only real difference is the PCI-Express video in the T43p. But if you read the Sonoma review over at Toms Hardware, and look at the performance numbers of the FireGL V3200 vs the T2-128, there’s only a small increase in performance. Definitely not worth the decrease in battery life, in my opinion.
Check out Tom’s Hardware opinion.
The initial prices for top-of-the-line T43 models are up around $4000, vs $2000-something for T42. The T43s aren’t actually shipping yet, so it’s difficult to tell what level of discounting would be available. It’s safe to assume that the “new’ models will cost more, simply for being new. All things being equal, I’d probably prefer to have longer battery life, and save the money for something else, since the processor performance won’t make any noticeable difference to me. An upgrade to a 7200RPM disk drive from the standard 4500RPM or 5400RPM drive would make a much larger improvement.
Other issues - would like to get down to a lower travelling weight. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure that if I try going with a really small computer I will need to commit to getting another new desktop system for the office as well, rather than having a single system that can function in the office and on the road. Then there’s the issue of actually using one of those 10.5″ or 12″ screens and a mini-keyboard for any length of time. I think they’d do ok docked to a monitor and a real keyboard, but I almost always end up using just the notebook for a week or two at a time while on the road.
updated 2005-06-08 14:14
I ended up getting the T42p, some notes are here and here.
