Help for a muddled doctor (me!)

[Resham]

Hey all! Here’s my form. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

General Questions

1) What is your budget? -At this point, no specific price.

2) What size notebook would you prefer? Ideally 14”

3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.- Kuwait/Middle East

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like: Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo, Acer, Asus
b. Dislike: Any Mac, Fujistu-Seimans, Sony (but I would consider it if nothing else available!)

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?- No

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
-Surfing, Emailing, heavy movie watching, some photo editing, using medical educational software, documents, presentations.

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both? Taking the notebook to different places

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games? No

9) How many hours of battery life do you need? At least 4-6 hours

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?
-Buying online or ordering it is okay

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.- Windows 7

Screen Specifics

12) Resolution- Standard to Midrage Resolution is fine.

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen? Doesn’t matter

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you? No, I prefer functionality over looks.

15) When are you buying this laptop? As soon as possible.

16) How long do you want this laptop to last? At least 2-3 years

Notebook Components

17) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 640GB? Do you want a SSD drive? Minimum 320 GB and don’t have a preference for SSD.

18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive? Yes, I need a CDRW/DVD-ROM + DVD Burner, but not Blu-Ray

Additional Information and Experience:

19) RAM- At least 4 GB

20) Core Processor- I’m not really that worried about this, but would of course prefer it to be current

21) Frequency- At least 2 GHz

22) Experience with Laptops- I’m a medical doctor by profession and don’t have that much experience with computers, but a few friends and family members have helped me along the way while I’ve been searching for laptops and I’ve picked up a few things. This notebook is going to be my main computer, so if possible I’d like to find one that is powerful while still portable.

[jtcady]

Lenovo Thinkpad T410
Build quality is amazing and will withstand anything you throw at it.
Its a heavier "portable" laptop but not too bad.

I would get the i5-520/540M, 4GB RAM, and 500GB 7200RPM unless you want SSD.

[Resham]

Lenovo Thinkpad T410
Build quality is amazing and will withstand anything you throw at it.
Its a heavier "portable" laptop but not too bad.

I would get the i5-520/540M, 4GB RAM, and 500GB 7200RPM unless you want SSD.

Yeah, I've heard really great things about this notebook...in fact my sister has the T400 and seems pretty happy with it. I've just never used a Lenovo before and wanted to be sure I was going in the right direction or not for my needs. I've heard on separate accounts about this model so I think I'm going to get it. Not too bothered about the weight since I've been lugging around a 15.6" Sony Vaio, the battery of which is a replacement that weighs a ton!

Thanks very much for your help! Any further suggestions will also be welcome.