Lenovo ThinkPad T43

Advantages quite light, reasonably fast, comes with good software package
Disadvantages ugly, poor keyboard features

...To start with the bad news, this laptop, like most thinkpads, is ugly! sorry! The laptop keyboard setup is awkward to use and the touch mouse pad seems slightly unresponsive to me. The screen is of reasonable quality although can sometimes look grainy to me, although that may be my contact lenses!! Power consumption is good and I can get about 3-3.5 hours on the train doing reasonably CPU intensive work. The laptop is reasonably fast for a laptop though and I have had no problems with the hardware itself, although the CD writer isn't the best and doesn't always complete writing a CD for me, although that could be my CDs. The software package that came with my laptop, XP Pro, was good with all MS Office applications. The harddrive is large for a laptop too. Overall an ok laptop but not one I would buy again... Read review

Advantages Works generally
Disadvantages totally unreliable DVD/CD player/writer, batteries that can explode in flame

...Do not buy this laptop. The CD/DVD player has a habit of jamming up or gumming up. Poor door hatch design. The burner doesn't work because it doesn't spin consistently. They also have the batteries that catch fire and IBM/Lenovo made no effort to inform us and when I tried to get the promised replacement batteries they were a world of excuses and shipping charges. Also letters wear off the keyboard keys in a flash so you'll need an auxiliary keyboard at home. It's not an impressive machine and lousy support. I rated it satisfactory because it works, generally except it's pot luck if I want to play a DVD, depends if it feels like letting me open the access door for the disk or spin up to speed. Also terrible USB placement. You can't use both USB ports at same time with most devices. Pretty crap for a laptop that is far less than 2... Read review