Manning, Yes my Thinkpad as a TI firewire chipset. I actually got through to a salesman who could assure me right up front that it was a TI chipset. He promised me I could send the thing back for a full refund if it didn't have that chipset.

I don't know if IBMs still have TI chipsets or not - as you are aware, things change very rapidly in PC world.

Here's the thing - there are really only a few laptop manufacturers that along with making lappys themselves, also private label for the big names. Acer is one, Asus another, ProStar is another (I'm remembering off the top of my head right now) I think Lenovo/IBM actually makes their own, or at least specs their own.

I remember ProStar actually listed out their chipsets on their website. That brand was recommended to me by a friend that has had a successful home and small-business computer sales/networking business since around 1987 or so. That's 20+ years buttering his bread in the DIY computer market. He did have a couple bad years when after he moved into a much larger location, the road commission basically shut down any walk-in business to that location to make a big change to some entrance/exit ramps on I-75 in MI.

I ended up buying the Thinkpad because I got a better deal than with the ProStar. It has been bullet-proof mechanically and hardware-wise. Software - I've run into an issue where the DVD/CD Writing software that came native with the machine doesn't work and I've had to go with a 3rd party app.

-Scott

Article on which company makes laptops for which big-name brands - Interesting to see that Acer makes some Apple lappys:
http://www.laptopworldwide.com/laptops.html

One other tidbit, guess who services many of the big brands? If you've read the book "The World is Flat" you already know the answer is United Parcel Service. Yes, that's right folks, UPS does the typical 'swap component' service for Toshiba and I believe some of the other big names in lappy-world at their own shipping facilities - saves the lappy manufacturer all of the shipping costs to send lappy and components to/from the service center.

Last edited by rockstar_not; 12/05/09 01:36 PM.
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