hi!

[phr@netcom.com (Paul Rubin)]

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	Please introduce yourself!  Tell us what kind of machine you have,
	how it's configured (how much memory/disk, what accessories, etc.),
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Hi!  I'm a programmer and laptop buff who uses laptops mostly at home
(I hardly ever use my desktop machine and plan to get rid of it soon)
but also while travelling.  I've had 5 Toshibas and watched their
quality go down the tubes over the years; I just tried switching to
Samsung but those are not so great either.  So it looks like I'm about
to bite the bullet and get a Thinkpad.  It's a used 755CE, 8/540,
about 3 months old and supposedly like new.  I haven't seen it yet but
I'm told it has 2 fairly benign bad pixels.  Price is $3300 including
the fancy carrying case that IBM sells.  I plan to run Linux on it.

The slight reservations I have are (1) I'd really prefer a Pentium
processor because of its floating point speed (I work on some DSP
apps, would like to have a machine to test Pentium-optimized code that
I write, etc.); and (2) I fear the 640x480 screen is going the way of
640k RAM machines.  I saw Windoze 95 recently and it really wants more
pixels.  800x600 would be a start. 

In other words, I actually want a 755CX, but it's outside my spending
limit ($4k, say).  If I really regret not getting the Pentium, I can
get the IBM upgrade for the 755CE for $950 or so (ouch).  But I don't
think there's a screen upgrade available, or if there is it will
probably cost a bundle.  I figure the 760 will flush out some 755CX's,
so if I still feel the need next year I might try to unload the CE
then and move up.

I feel somewhat foolish spending this much for a 486 machine when for
$3795 I can get a Samsung 90 mhz Pentium with a 1.3 gig disk.  I do
need disk space but can live without it for a while and upgrade the
755 when the prices of 1 gig drives get lower.  But it looks like
Thinkpads have the best laptop keyboards currently made, and I'm very
fussy about keyboards.  The keyboard is the main thing that bugs
me about the Samsung.

Is there any market yet in used 755CX's?  Does buying the 755CE I
described sound like a good plan?  Thanks.

Paul