Re: : bargain ThinkPad t530i (fwd)

resending again after 4 more days.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: D. Hugh Redelmeier <[email protected]>
To: Toronto Linux Users Group <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 03:08:02 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: [TLUG]: bargain ThinkPad t530i (fwd)

resending again because neither of previous ones showed up after another 
16 hours.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: D. Hugh Redelmeier <[email protected]>
To: Toronto Linux Users Group <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 11:01:56 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: [TLUG]: bargain ThinkPad t530i (fwd)

Resending because this didn't show up after 12 hours.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: D. Hugh Redelmeier <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 22:16:41 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: [TLUG]: bargain ThinkPad t530i (fwd)

| From: Lennart Sorensen <lsorense-1wCw9BSqJbv44Nm34jS7GywD8/[email protected]>

| On Thu, Jul 10, 2014 at 01:17:42PM -0400, D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:

| The t530 could be ordered without nvidia graphics.

Oh.

The official box says T530i.  On the other hand, online lists don't
seem to include my model.  And Lenovo support could not find an
official set of specs for it (that's abnormal).

| > - a little old (as indicated by bundled Win 7)
| 
| Better than coming with windows 8.  And it is win7pro 64bit.

I don't think that I care.  We'll see.

(In a different context, I am jealous of the fact that Win8.1 handles
touchscreens much better than desktop Linux distros.  Another boat
missed.)

| > My fanciful guess: these were originally built for spooks, thus the lack 
| > of leaky peripherals.
| 
| Looks like it was made to be cheap except for the high res screen.

And the 3 year warranty.

I think that the correct word in this case is "inexpensive".

| Of course the redflagdeals forum seems to indicate the screen spec is
| wrong and should be 1600x900 which is a lot less impressive.

Those posters are wrong.  But you cannot look up type 2394 bk4 to find
out for sure.

|  Some do
| seem to say they bought one from CC and it was 1920x1080.

I posted that.  I don't remember if others did too.

| Certainly some of the specs are wrong.  It says it has HDMI, which
| is wrong.  The T530 has VGA and mini displayport (an adapter to HDMI
| isn't very expensive though).

You are right.

I was surprised by the mini-DisplayPort since the T520 and W520 came
with full-sized DisplayPort.  Mind you, there are a lot more mini
cables available because that's what Apple uses.  (Mini-DP things
usually come in white and non-mini usually come in black.)

| Like it so far?

Yes.  I haven't used it a lot yet.

I had thought that the keyboard was supposed to have been downgraded
in the transition between *20 and the *30, but it seems good (one
change: no keys are blue).  I guess the keyboard changed in the *40.

The 1920x1080 resolution seems quite nice at 15.6".  More is nicer but
beyond that point it is not so much for packing more text on the
screen but for making the same text look better.

I really like the way you can get at the guts.  I sure wish there were
no whitelist in the "BIOS".

| I like my W530 but that's a different level of machine.

I think that the framework is the same.  But I imagine you have a quad
core i7 and thus 4 memory slots (32G!).  You also have nVidia Optimus
graphics.  Not yet well supported by Linux, as far as I know, but with
"manual transmission", you can choose between a fair bit of GPU power
or energy efficiency.

I think of these ThinkPads as the ultimate serious Linux notebooks.
Not always the best choice, but wonders none-the-less.

The large and serious Linux userbase is valuable too.
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