Good Value Laptop for a Student

[mariol90]

The guy you were sitting next to probably either had a bad computer, was bad at note taking, or both.

I've been taking notes on tablet PCs for 4 years without any issues at all. maybe he's blowing it out of proportion?

OP: are you looking for something like this? ASUS - Eee- ASUS Eee Slate EP121

since tablet PCs are usually more compact than regular laptops i had no problems with carrying it around and fitting it on those really small desks some college classes have. i'm not quite sure what you're expecting when you say they may be cumbersome and have worse battery life. you could always get a battery slice and that'll outlast most, if not all android/iOS tablets.

[molecularman]

I was looking at PC slates but I think a physical keyboard is nice to have. I guess I will ultimately have to end up buying a high price system. I was hoping to get something that was cheap and have the market, I guess, stabilize but there will always be some new thing. Thinner/lighter form factor, higher res displays, better performance, etc.

I didn't want to spend the extra price for an ultrabook or a similar device while the market still trying to settle, if that makes sense. I probably sound a little confusing. I might just get a cheaper device and see how the market develops.

[Kuroi-Tsubasa]

I was looking at PC slates but I think a physical keyboard is nice to have. I guess I will ultimately have to end up buying a high price system. I was hoping to get something that was cheap and have the market, I guess, stabilize but there will always be some new thing. Thinner/lighter form factor, higher res displays, better performance, etc.

I didn't want to spend the extra price for an ultrabook or a similar device while the market still trying to settle, if that makes sense. I probably sound a little confusing. I might just get a cheaper device and see how the market develops.

You could try looking for a Dell Insprion Duo from their outlet. It's relatively new, has a touchscreen display (so you should be able to use a pen with it), and it's around $450-$550.

Honestly, I don't think that buying an older Thinkpad, such as the X61t, is such a bad idea. I'm actually looking into either buying that or the HP Elitebook 2730P whenever I get the extra money and motivation to buy one (thinking about getting into a digital art hobby, and using a graphics tablet + laptop is a little awkward for me).

The three things that I'd be concerned about with an older laptop would be (in order of important to not):
1) Display --> it's not too dim/faded, backlight functions properly
2) Battery --> pretty self-obvious
3) HDD --> Really not too important, since you can cheaply replace yourself with a newer drive

Everything else is just a matter of benchmarks, since the CPU/RAM/GPU should not degrade meaningfully over time (I don't think any tablet PC came with the flawed GeFroce GPUs of a few years ago).

[molecularman]

Taking into account things like resolution, screen quality, new battery life, ease of upgrades like RAM (DDR2 vs. DDR3) and SSD, etc. What do you guys with Thinkpad experience think would be the best value for the money between the systems in the links below. The goal would be to get the best bang for the buck system or the possibly the cheapest system if they are all fairly similar. Once again, main uses are reading and taking notes. Basically on indoor use. I'm leaning towards x60T because it's the cheapest and has the SXGA+ display.

forum.thinkpads.com • FS: X60/61 tablets, all w/SXGA+ LCDs, some w/onsite warranty

LENOVO THINKPAD X200 7453-W75 TABLET LAPTOP 1.86 GHz 3GB 200GB WIFI 12.1" 883609939397 | eBay