Which latest T series is your favorite..and why?

[STS06]

Just wondering which series people like. Don't mean anything by it really..just curious!

[dokein]

T42p, but I may be a little biased...

[pointfielder]

i do like my second thinkpad T43p 2687-E4U, mainly because it is
as quiet as my first one (a T42p 2373-KXU) and i can actually control
the fan sound.

we should also poll only for t43/t43p models to see if there is any pattern
between excessive fan noise and any particular models.

[STS06]

That's a good idea. So why did you go from a T42p to a T43p?


I'm pretty sure most of the people responding have one of the four listed TP models...so they'll be biased...but the underlying question is why'd you choose whatever model you have over the other ones. Just to see the different reasons. Hey, we may all learn something!...ya never know!

[asiafish]

I bought my T42p because at the time there were no T43ps for sale. That said, after reading about the T43p on this forum and in reviews, I'd still get the T42p.

Honestly the fan noise issue isn't that big of a deal as I rarely work in places quiet enough for it to matter, though I do like a quiet computer as much as the next person. My T42p is nearly silent unless its working hard (3D games or video rendering).

The big deal for me is battery life. I routinely get 10 to 12 hours on my T42p with the 9 cell and the Ultraslim Bay batteries installed (screen at 3 bars), and can probably coax more from it if I dim the screen further and use some utlity to underclock or undervolt. Currently I only use IBM's power management utility set to max battery and the runtime is fine for me. If I need more, I'll get some T43 batteries, which are higher capacity.

[pointfielder]

i had bought t42p in dec 2004, and t43p were going to be released soon.
t42p hard drive developed a problem within 30 days. i returned the machine
and instead of a replacement decided to wait for the t43p.

i know of other people with T43p (2687-E4U and 2687EJU) who haven't
encountered any fan noise problem and are quite happy with the machine.

also, if you have bought a model, you preferred it at the purchase time
for one reason or another, so it isn't really a bias. besides, many people
who don't have access to more than one thinkpad model can only tell
about the model they own.

[dokein]

I routinely get 10 to 12 hours on my T42p with the 9 cell and the Ultraslim Bay batteries installed (screen at 3 bars), and can probably coax more from it if I dim the screen further and use some utlity to underclock or undervolt.

Good god. How the hell do you get 12 hours? I get maybe 4 hours with my 9 cell battery, and I can't imagine the ultrabay battery will add 8 more hours.

I use centrino hardware control for max battery performance and have the LCD brightness to 3 also. I still need to underclock the too, but still. 12 hours, that is insane.

What are you doing that I am not?

[GomJabbar]

Hey, you forgot the T42. It's my favorite because it's MINE

[STS06]

No..its included...when I mean T42/p...that means T42 or T42p....combined the two. Maybe its not the universal or IBM way, my apologies.

I also have a T42! The T43 noise issues and the graphics card turned me away. Well let me be more specific. The T43 fan issues I heard about from others...there wasn't a real concesus on whether or not the fan was an issue. Also I heard that the 9600 Graphics card is better equipped than the X300 for games and etc. Also the T42 had very few negative reviews and online reviews said the T43 was not much of an improvement over the T42 but had a lower battery lifetime. For me, all I had were reviews and recommendations and this forum....since there were fewer questions regarding the T42's performance, build, and overall satisfaction, I chose that one...despite not being the newest IBM.

I originally ordered a T42p at $2600 AFTER EPP....its was an expensive computer. The "only" differences between that one and my current model (2373N3U) were the graphics card, 200 Mhz increase in speed, and the fact that the Ram was DDR2 in the p model and DDR in the T42....and there was a roughly $700 difference in price. Since I have a desktop...a good one ...and I will continue to have it in conjunction with this laptop, I opted not to spend so much money on the IBM...the N3U can handle anything I need to throw at it..and the stuff it can't (i.e: top of the line games), my desktop can pick it up.

So there's my reasoning for getting the T42. Partly why I created this thread is because its the reasoning behind the choices that helpd me choose a computer...its a pretty complex and nerve wrenching (cuz I really couldn't decide) process...especially when its ones' first laptop...so to help those future IBM consumers...post as much as you can explaining your decision cuz you never know if someone is in the same, or similar, situation as you!

Good day!

[GomJabbar]

No..its included...when I mean T42/p...that means T42 or T42p....combined the two. Maybe its not the universal or IBM way, my apologies.

Hmm, my last post never appeared. Maybe I did a preview instead of a submit. What I said was..........

I believe that is the IBM way. It's a confusing way for me. Maybe it's the Lenovo way?

[asiafish]

I routinely get 10 to 12 hours on my T42p with the 9 cell and the Ultraslim Bay batteries installed (screen at 3 bars), and can probably coax more from it if I dim the screen further and use some utlity to underclock or undervolt.

Good god. How the hell do you get 12 hours? I get maybe 4 hours with my 9 cell battery, and I can't imagine the ultrabay battery will add 8 more hours.

I use centrino hardware control for max battery performance and have the LCD brightness to 3 also. I still need to underclock the too, but still. 12 hours, that is insane.

What are you doing that I am not?

I get 12 hours because in periods of inactivity, the screen goes blank, the hard drive shuts down and the machine goes onto standbye. For continuous runtime (standbye turned off) I still get 10 hours, which is very easy. I have the power management set very aggressively, meaning the processor runs at its slowest, the screen dimmed (3 bars, sometimes zero if the lighting permits) and the laptop is configured to disable the WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, Audio and LAN cards.

Besides that, the only other difference I can think of is that my T42p is a 1.8GHz where yours is a 2.0GHz.

The 9 cell battery is worth between 6 and 8 hours, depending on how often I am idle (dark screen and parked drive), while the Ultrabay battery is worth between 1:40 and 2:30, again depending on how much time the screen is black.

I use it for notetaking and writing in this mode. If I wanted to surf or even to read (requiring the screen to always to not go black after 1 minute idle) I am sure my battery life would drop, but not to 4 hours.

Oh yeah, I have Windows set up with NO virtual memory. With 2GB of RAM, there is never a need for it to use the hard drive as memory, which also probably saves some battery power.

[Rhino]

i do like my second thinkpad T43p 2687-E4U, mainly because it is
as quiet as my first one (a T42p 2373-KXU) and i can actually control
the fan sound.

Pointfielder, how can you control the fan sound on your T43p???

[pointfielder]

The fan sound is controlled indirectly through the Power Manager Utility:

When you chose a power scheme like "power source optimized", "thinkpad
default" etc...you can also custom make one of your own settings.

You can control max cpu speed, optimize fan control, and display brightness
among other timer things, which then indirectly control: performance,
system temperature, fan sound level and battery life.

When I customized max cpu speed to adaptive and optimize fan control to
maximum performance, this lowered the fan sound by probably lowering
the speed of the fan. When you customize those two settings, you can see
the bars change for fan sound level, battery life etc, showing you what effect
your choices will have on those indirect factors.

Try it for yourself, and report here how it went.

[Rhino]

The fan sound is controlled indirectly through the Power Manager Utility:

When you chose a power scheme like "power source optimized", "thinkpad
default" etc...you can also custom make one of your own settings.

You can control max cpu speed, optimize fan control, and display brightness
among other timer things, which then indirectly control: performance,
system temperature, fan sound level and battery life.

When I customized max cpu speed to adaptive and optimize fan control to
maximum performance, this lowered the fan sound by probably lowering
the speed of the fan. When you customize those two settings, you can see
the bars change for fan sound level, battery life etc, showing you what effect
your choices will have on those indirect factors.

Try it for yourself, and report here how it went.

I am currently using CHC to undervolt the system like crazy and extend batter life etc.

When I open the Power Manager Utility, I see that it is indicating 2 Green Bars (out of 7) for fan sound, however the freakin fan is loud right now.

Are you able to get lower than 2 Green Bars for fan sound???

[pointfielder]

I am not using CHC, just the Power Manager Utility.
With my optimized settings, I have 5 green bars in front
of fan sound but I still cannot hear the fan.

I am guessing that you have set the CPU speed to adaptive and
optimize fan control to max performance. Since you have two
green bars and you have a loud fan, it appears that either
the sensor that controls the fan is buggy or your system is
generating that much heat.

To rule out a buggy sensor, you could try to change the settings
in Power Manager such that you get 4 or 5 green bars in front
of fan sound level. If your fan gets louder than it is now, then my
guess is your sensor is probably ok.

Is this the problem with yout T30 or T43p?

[Rhino]

T43p unfortunately.

I had tried different settings as you suggested. When I first set to cpu adaptive fax max perf, the fan immediately turned off. But then, it came back a few min later with a vengence! The temp also went from the "normal" 45C to about 48C.

I tried doing a few other things, but nothing worked. *sigh* Here I am typing on my brand new T43p that has a loud hissing fan. Maybe I expected too much from this $3,000 piece of work :-/

[dvorak]

And just to mention, you two disussing about sound are not equal either, you probably are of different age, vision and hearing. What for one is loud is not audible at all for the other, don't forget that.

I'd still go for a T42, yeah, they DO have their quirks, creaking palmrests, gaps here and there, but are a bit cheaper, were accessible to me at that time (no T43 when I got mine) and take less power. Losing 10% of processing power for 30 minutes of extra power-on time seems like a win situation, it's not like they're really suited for gaming anyways. And I don't see much of a difference between running other programs, wohoo, Firefox starts up a split second faster, and that's it, would be the case :)

I'll perhaps once get my Thinkpad's abnormalities fixed with T43's parts, so it'll be best of both parties :)

[pointfielder]

I agree that there is a level of subjectivity in the matter of loudness of
the fan, but the same was true for the T42/p users. So clearly some T43/p
models just have a bad / buggy sensor or something else wrong!

People who think that the fan noise is annoying should just return the
machine. This will force Lenovo to take notice of the problem and correct
it, as they are the best positioned to track down the problem.
Consumers should not have to use things like the CHC or any other
undervolting tactics, to solve what appears to be a product problem.