do i really need the magnesium alloy frame in thinkpads?

[badkuk]

is it really that critical for everyday use, or are "typical" laptops ok? i'm intending it to replace my home pc, and i really don't expect to lug it around too much, except around the house and the occassional meetings.

[Negus]

If you won't lug it around that much, imho, I'd just buy a nice laptop holder/cooler for the additional cost.

I also bought a desktop-replacement laptop recently because space is a problem and I move alot. It becomes really hot when converting videos or running cpu heavy applications so an aluminum type cooler is a relief. just buy a hard case/heavy duty bag na lang para safe ang laptop.

[oj88]

How much more expensive are mag-alloy lappys? If it's not too much, it may be well worth it. The thing with plastic is that, no matter how careful you handle them, most of them would still crack over time due to thermal cycling and the daily rigors of opening and closing the lid. Mag-alloys are more resilient, have better thermal conductivity and usually lasts the useful life of the laptop.

[ghosthunter]

is it really that critical for everyday use, or are "typical" laptops ok? i'm intending it to replace my home pc, and i really don't expect to lug it around too much, except around the house and the occassional meetings.

The alloy frame is not really that important for typical use which includes daily transport to/from home/office.

Where the alloy frame would come in useful is when you would be using the laptop in the field like construction site, site survey or where-ever a rugged version of a laptop would be required by the job.

IF you are concerned about your laptop during transport, i would suggest a good padded laptop bag to protect your laptop.

I have a netbook which obviously have a plastic chassis. My bag is a moderately padded messenger bag. When I put it in the car, I occasionally just toss the bag into the back seat. My netbook comes out none the worst. Generally laptops, notebooks and netbooks are pretty rugged and would survive small drops and bumps with no problem as long as the PC is OFF or in hibernate or sleep mode (hard disk is parked).

[Negus]

How much more expensive are mag-alloy lappys? If it's not too much, it may be well worth it. The thing with plastic is that, no matter how careful you handle them, most of them would still crack over time due to thermal cycling and the daily rigors of opening and closing the lid. Mag-alloys are more resilient, have better thermal conductivity and usually lasts the useful life of the laptop.

additional $600, as mentioned here:
http://www.cooltoyzph.com/viewitem.php?iid=636
prices might have gone down since introduced.

[badkuk]

IF you are concerned about your laptop during transport, i would suggest a good padded laptop bag to protect your laptop.

...actually i'm more concerned with my pamangkins messing around with it.
i doubt if even the thinkpads are completely kid-proof B)

[ghosthunter]

...actually i'm more concerned with my pamangkins messing around with it.
i doubt if even the thinkpads are completely kid-proof B)

Well, small kids shouldn't have access to your work computer. Accidents do happen.

Best to let them have access to another PC which they can do whatever they wish.

[badkuk]

Well, small kids shouldn't have access to your work computer. Accidents do happen.

Best to let them have access to another PC which they can do whatever they wish.

point taken B)

[Horsepower]

New Macbook Aluminums are coming this June... you might wanna get that instead of windoze...

[CVT]

My "regular" T61 is on almost 24 hours a day, doing all sorts of stuffs.... No issue so far after ~2years....

8000:borg1:

[badkuk]

hmm...aren't the Thinkpad T-series magnesium alloy-endowed too?

[Jun aka Pekto]

If it doesn't cost too much extra, sure. A metal frame is much more useful than a bling bling paint job like the $500 overhead of say, an Alienware laptop.

That said, I've had my (plastic) Toshiba laptop for almost two years now and it's been in my travels the whole time. It's been holding up well.

I had an (plastic) HP Pavilion laptop that fell from the roof of an SUV. Outside, it looked ok with maybe a scratch or two. But inside, the motherboard was probably cracked because the pc shuts down after a minute and wouldn't post again.

I take it that magnesium alloy frame is merely decor and does not really help with impacts like the one with my HP.