Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: IBM Thinkpad R50e or Dell Inspiron 1000

  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Posts
    154
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked
    1 time in 1 post

    IBM Thinkpad R50e or Dell Inspiron 1000

    ThinkPad R50e
    UR08Sxx
    Intel Celeron M Processor 330 1.40GHz 512KB
    Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
    256MB/ 2GB/PC2700 DDR SDRAM
    30GB (ATA-100 (Enhanced IDE))
    14.1'' 1024x768TFT
    Intel Extreme Graphics 2
    2.7Kg
    TrackPoint with "Press-to-Select"
    DVD-ROM
    £500

    or

    Dell Inspiron 1000
    Processor
    Mobile Intel® Celeron® Processor (2.20GHz, 256kB L2 Cache, 400MHz FSB)
    Operating system
    Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
    256MB 266MHz DDR RAM
    14.1" XGA TFT (1024x768) Screen
    Integrated Direct AGP Graphics
    Integrated 8x DVD-ROM Drive
    56K Data Fax Modem
    1 Year Euro Collect and Return Service
    30GB Hard Drive
    £400

    ----

    My key requirements: Good keyboard / screen, general reliability and DivX playback.

    If they were the same price, I'd take the IBM but is it worth the extra £100 or is the Dell better in terms of bang per buck?

  2. #2
    Will work for beer... nichomach's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Preston, Lancs
    Posts
    6,137
    Thanks
    564
    Thanked
    139 times in 100 posts
    • nichomach's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3
      • CPU:
      • AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 95W
      • Memory:
      • 16GB DR3
      • Storage:
      • 1x250GB Maxtor SATAII, 1x 400GB Hitachi SATAII
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Zotac GTX 1060 3GB
      • PSU:
      • Coolermaster 500W
      • Case:
      • Coolermaster Elite 430
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell 20" TFT
      • Internet:
      • Virgin Media Cable
    Apples to oranges; that Dell's a desktop Celeron, with correspondingly poor performance and battery life. Better apples to apples'd be the IBM versus the Inspiron 510m. And of those, I'd take the Dell. Sorry, but although the base clock speed's 1.3 as opposed to 1.4, it's got double the cache, a bigger screen, bigger hard disk and a combo DVDROM/CDRW drive. That said, I'd visit Crucial and at least bung another 256MB RAM in it, especially if I was doing anything involving media de- or encoding.

  3. #3
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Posts
    154
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked
    1 time in 1 post
    Cheers for the helpful input - very useful.
    Last edited by Hobart Paving; 17-03-2005 at 02:21 PM.

  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Posts
    1,085
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    2 times in 2 posts
    IBM's look nicer and are built much better, that would sway me over.

  5. #5
    Will work for beer... nichomach's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Preston, Lancs
    Posts
    6,137
    Thanks
    564
    Thanked
    139 times in 100 posts
    • nichomach's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3
      • CPU:
      • AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 95W
      • Memory:
      • 16GB DR3
      • Storage:
      • 1x250GB Maxtor SATAII, 1x 400GB Hitachi SATAII
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Zotac GTX 1060 3GB
      • PSU:
      • Coolermaster 500W
      • Case:
      • Coolermaster Elite 430
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell 20" TFT
      • Internet:
      • Virgin Media Cable
    The Intel Pro Wireless b/g upgrade would be one I'd take; we use Dell's TM1350 adapters here, but we have two machines with the Intel adapters and they work fine; I'd rather have the ability to work at 54Mbps if I wanted to. The upgrade from XGA to SXGA+ takes you from an OK 1024x768 screen to a very nice 1400x1050, and I like that option. 802.11a is going to be pretty irrelevant to you; you actually need a license to operate in the 5GHz band that a occupies, and most wireless routers for instance don't support it.

  6. #6
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Posts
    154
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked
    1 time in 1 post
    Thanks again! 510m it is then.

  7. #7
    Banned
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Leeds, London
    Posts
    1,478
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    Depends what's important to you.....

    The IBM has supposedly better build quality (though my last Thinkpad developed a cracked motherboard) and nice 'laptop' orientated features - HDD head parking, ThinkLight, Backup and Restore, excellent battery life (though my last Thinkpad's battery developed a fault where it would only hold about 1 hours worth of charge), and TrackPoint (which is vastly superior to a track pad). Also best keyboard of any laptop ever. The main downside is the quality of the screen - I have yet to see a IBM TFT which anything more than mediocre - poor brightness / contrast etc Slightly expensive for what it is.



    The Dell is better value for money, has reasonable build quality, a noticeably better screen (Dell TFTs are pretty good IMO) but absolutely abysmal aftersales service and slightly suspect long term reliability. Also worth considering the Inspiron 6000 which is about £50 more expensive for a better spec. I've used Dells Inspirons/Lattitudes alot through work but haven't ever owned one so can't talk 1st hand about reliability.

    3D performance is supposedly better on the IBM but that's a red herring - it just isn't possible to play any modern 3D game on these machines. All laptops are bit a delicate so I wouldn't put too much stall by the robustness of either.

    Personally, I lean towards the IBM over the 510m, as I think its a better machine but for 510m is a cheap as chips at the moment - Easter holiday weekend offer - £420inc all in.
    Last edited by davidstone28; 27-03-2005 at 11:34 AM.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Price Check: IBM ThinkPad R40e + Dell Axim X30 PAN/LAN
    By Craig in forum PC Hardware and Components
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 10-02-2005, 09:02 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •