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I accepted the challenge (part 2)

I’ve been pretty busy recently, but I hadn’t forgotten that Ed at Granger had posted a response to my post about my Dell D820 to his IBM Lenovo ThinkPad.

Here are some of the other features he mentioned and how the Dell compares:

Drive Locking (with accelerometer)

I’ll agree that ThinkPad has the edge on this one. The Dell only has a strike zone around the hard drive to try to help protect the hard drive.

Keyboard Light

I don’t know about the ThinkPad, but I find the display on the Dell is bright enough to light up the keyboard and some of the surrounding area when working in the dark. If I need more I keep a USB snake light in my bag.

On the other hand, I would like to see the option of bottom lit keyboard.

Ultrabay/Media Bay

The ThinkPad has a slot where you can interchange your optical drive with an extra battery or a secondary hard drive.

The Dell also offers this, also; including the 100 GB 7200 RPM model.

Battery Life

The Dell has 2 battery options, a 6-cell or 9-cell, and I always order the 9-cell. It’s 85 WHr and I get about 4hrs of use on it, but I also keep another 48WHr battery in the media bay giving me about 6 hours of use.

Other features

One touch updates: Lenovo - yes; Dell - no  (not sure how much I’d use this, since I’ll only do system bios and driver upgrades if there’s a problem or an important reason to do so. But it would be nice to have to at least download them without having to go to dell.com)

Connection Manager: Lenovo - yes; Dell - yes (Ed and I talked about this at the last IT Roundtable. Dell upgraded their QuickSet software that will automatically (or manual if you want) detect and change your connection profile. It will change mapped drives, default printers, application settings, network settings, hardware settings, proxy settings, sharing settings, VPN, firewall and Bluetooth settings. It’s pretty cool.)

Built-in Bluetooth: Lenovo - yes; Dell - yes

Ambient Light Sensor: Dell - yes; Lenovo - ??   (This will adjust the brightness of the screen based on the light in room. This is automatic or you can manually override it.)

Express Card Slot, PC Card Slot, Smartcard Slot: Dell - yes, yes, yes; Lenovo - ??,??,??

Trackpoint mouse control: Dell -yes; Lenovo - yes

Wireless Switch: Dell - yes; Lenovo - ?? (This switch will allow you quickly turn off all (or just a few depending on your settings) your wireless signals. But you can use it while your laptop is off to detect if any wireless access is available and its strength.)

I’m sure Ed has a nice laptop, oh wait, that’s right he had to pass it on. Now he has a Macbook Pro.