Re: Micron Millennia Transport P133 review (fwd)

[Sandy Meltzer <sandy@surf.com>]

At 11:13 PM 3/25/96 -0600, you wrote:
>Further to my post in regard to ThinkPad's Vs. Competition. I cam across 
>the latest review (with specs) of the new Micron product. I would love to 
>hear how you would compare or contrast the quality/performance of these 
>models in relation to the review contained below. I would again liek to 
>thank you in advance for all your help.

The Micron Millennia looks like a real nice machine and has
been receiving some fine reviews. Is it available yet?

The "hot swap" issue is important for many users and I personally
would prefer the 12.1" screen of the 760 over the 11.3" screen. I
do lots of graphic designs for Web sites and never have too much 
screen on a laptop.

On the other hand, I'm tired of waiting for IBM to get their act
together on the 760 series and I'm not sure I can wait for them
to produce a model similar to the Micron Millennia.  Time is money.
And with IBM, time and money never seem to be an issue...as long
as it's my time and my money. :-(  The new 760 models will probably 
be available long after similar models have become available from 
their competitors and then they'll charge us "thousands" of dollars 
more for the privilege of buying it "late".

I'm a long time ThinkPad user and have always appreciated IBM's
overall quality and service.  Although they often seem to take
the lead with progressive designs like the 760CD, they seem to
have enormous problems delivering them and are often "me too"
products by the time they are available.

I've been waiting for months for a 760CD-120 model I ordered and 
now it appears that this model will be "old" even before it's 
available.  The newer 760ED is suppose to be a PCI-bus 133Mhz
Pentium version similar to the Micron machine, but if IBM does 
their normal production turnaround, it probably won't be available 
for many months...just in time to be behind everyone else again. :-(

So, I can buy "older" technology ThinkPads at exaggerated prices or 
continue to wait.  Frankly, I'm growing tired of this and have started 
to consider other laptops.  With the laptop market the way it is,
what functionality or quality would I be losing by buying a Micron 
Millennia today instead of waiting months for IBM to produce?  Look
at the money I would save too...hell, I could upgrade my desktop
machine with the latest 166MHz Pentium/motherboard with the money
I would save and would get immediate use from it.

Also, I never understood why IBM isn't the true performance leader 
in laptops...they always seem to produce ThinkPads that benchmark in
the middle or towards the rear-end of the pack.  And availability
is becoming a real issue for me too.  Why should I spent $2000-$3000 
more for a ThinkPad that becomes available long after everyone else?
I don't mind spending the extra money for a top-of-the-line ThinkPad,
it just doesn't make sense to buy it knowing that the next generation
is only weeks away and that its resale value is going to drop like a 
ton of bricks.  I experienced this last year with the 755CX.

The huge amount of extra money you have to spend to be the "first kid 
on the block" with the latest-greatest ThinkPad model wouldn't be bad
IF the new models were real and available within a reasonable period of
time.  But this is seldom the case.  I guess the smart move is to wait
a bit longer and buy the come-lately  ThinkPad when the price does drop.

Sorry for the long winded post...it's very late at night and I'm very
tired. My new 760 ThinkPad is also very late, and I'm tired of waiting.




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