Laptop shopping

[winter]

Out of curiosity, has anyone had any experience with a Lenovo ThinkPad R61?

Our office has the T60s, and while I'm on a Dell, the ThinkPad squad like theirs. Since my home computer is hitting the 6 year mark this June, it's time for something new. And June 30 will be the stop-mark for new computers with Windows XP - I can definitely do without Vista for the moment, though the R61 is Vista-ready.

The configuration I'm eyeing would be 2GB of RAM, 2GHz dual Intel, 160GB hard drive. I think this would last me a while - not necessarily another six years, but at least three - considering my main home tasks are done in Firefox, MS Office (2002) and the now elderly Paint Shop Pro 8, plus whatever forays I make into GIMP and Inkscape. I'd miss the smooth Dell curves, but somehow the ThinkPad seems to have more personality to it. I think it looks like a Bob, or possibly a Logan.

Comments

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

*blink*

And you actually used the computer?

[winter]

Every day, including heavy graphics work for a while and installing dozens of plugins :P That was the one reinstall not related to a computer/OS change over five computers since 1995.

Back with Win 3.1/95/98, after installing each program, I used a piece of software called Delta to see what it had changed and rolled back .dll write-overs etc if necessary. This cut back on needing to reinstall because new software broke something. I also don't play games, which counts for a lot, and I'm generally careful with security - I've never used peer-to-peer other than BitTorrent for a while, for example.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

What usually breaks my OS is my love for trying out new software. Deinstalls never get rid of everything, so eventually there are just too many remnants lying around. I don't think I've lost a single OS install to a virus or a real security issue. It's just a matter of too many programs bugging things down.

Using something like Delta might help with that, but the effort... might as well calculate an hour every few months to get a clean and pristine system. :-)

[winter]

Delta was only really feasible in 3.1/95, when the Windows folder was manageable ;) I have to admit I've cut down heavily on new software installs unless I'm sure I'll actually use something.