Gear Bag Change: Say Hello to the ThinkPad T400s
I must be the most fickle person when it comes to taking gear on a trip. I went through the careful thought process to decide on what I would bring on my trip tomorrow, and all was settled. Until today, that is. I got to thinking about the gear that I might need and decided to make a major change. No, I’m not carrying one of the netbooks I considered — I have decided to bring the loaner Lenovo ThinkPad T400s along for the ride.
Why the ThinkPad, you might properly ask? I had decided that I needed a bit more performance than a netbook would provide, and that’s why I originally went with the MacBook. I wanted to make sure that I have decent compute power with me, without sacrificing too much portability. The MacBook qualifies, all right, so I thought the matter was settled.
Then today I was looking around Mobile Tech Manor, and my eyes settled on the Lenovo ThinkPad T400s. That’s the newest member of the ThinkPad line and it’s a very thin and light notebook. I started thinking about bringing it along for the trip. It’s certainly powerful enough for anything I might need to do, with the Intel 2.4 GHz processor and 2 GB of memory. It was clear the T400s meets all the performance requirements for my trip.
I gazed at that 14.1-inch screen and I realized that it beat the MacBook in this area. The MacBook only has the 13.3-inch screen running at 1280×800. The ThinkPad runs at a big, vibrant 1440×900, so that coupled with the slightly bigger screen size clinched the deal.
So why didn’t I originally consider the ThinkPad in my “careful” thought process, you might be wondering? A totally silly reason. I didn’t think the T400s would fit in my Booq backpack. Seriously, that’s the reason. I have bigger backpacks, but I don’t like traveling with anything bigger than the small Booq bag, and I had assumed the 14-inch ThinkPad wouldn’t fit in the laptop pocket. This morning I tried it and it just fit. Barely, but it does and that ended my debate. So tomorrow I hit the blue open skies with the ThinkPad T400s in tow. I’ll let you know how well it works for me.
In case you missed it, you can take a look at my video of the ThinkPad to appreciate how mobile yet capable it is.
done
So what heavy duty computing tasks do you expect on your quick weekend trip that your netbook(s) can’t handle? I love travelling with my HP Mini 2140 because it is so small/lightweight. And it’s comperably cheap, so if I lose or break it while travelling, it’s not a $2000 loss. And it easily fits into any hotel safe I have ever seen (which can’t be said for his larger notebook breatherens).
Oh, yeah, my Mini’s the HD model, because even when travelling light I don’t want to live with lower resolution of most other netbooks.
That’s a sweet netbook, for sure. As I stated in the earlier article, I may need to do audio/ video work and the Atom processor just won’t cut it.
I would have taken the MacBook – OK youve got the “old” MacBook model but if it would be the same as a have- the new MacBook Pro with a 13 inch screen- you might would have taken that with you. Its battery holds up to 8 hours while still being as thin as before.. And whats also much better on the MacBook is the durability. Mine one dropped down 2 Times onto the Road and i cant see any scratches or other stuff on it. But.. you know i only use Macs so i wouldn even think about taking a windows laptop with me. maybe thats the reason of my choice! So yeah wish you a nice trip!
Definitely a great powerful machine James, but personally I find it difficult to consider anything larger than 11″ to be portable even if thin and light.
unless of course the issue in here is not portability!
one more thing.. regarding video editing.
check out the AVS4YOU video editor and the other amazing software that you will get for free for a very cheap price of $60 if not mistaken.
AVS video editor is VERY light and can support HD and AVCHD video format and can easily run on netbooks.
Hi James,
Glad you changed you mind. I was using a Sony TZ (1.03GHz) laptop formatted to Windows XP just before netbooks became the craze. I imagine the performance would be similar to an Atom 1.6GHz or so.
While the TZ with its 11-inch display was extraordinarily light-weight, as well as having a battery life of between 6-8 hours of “real” use, I realized after a year of usage that it just doesn’t cut it.
Like it or not, I was a power user, and the slower processor was slowing my productivity and making certain tasks outright unbearable. Like you, I switched to a 2.4GHz laptop (The 13.1-inch Z series with 1600×900 display for me) and have been happily using it since.
Enjoy your T400s
Regards,
Paul Mah.
which Boog bag did you fit it into?
their website lists a bunch of backpacks for the t400s, but it looks like they’re all big.
thanks
It is the Booq Boa XS that is unfortunately no longer available.