Thinking of getting a T41p... advice/experiences please

[daeojkim]

Hello everyone,

I have not been around for a while... I have been too busy with school... *sigh*

It's great to see that the forum is thriving so much.

I came back for an advice.
I am looking to purchase a T41p.

My X24 is too small for detailed graphs and figures that I have to stare all day. And the A31p has an excellent screen but it is not something that I would like to carry around daily. The T42 has been abducted by my sister, so I need a replacement. I thought of a T41p.

I have been looking around e-bay and there seem to be some good deals for new ones with upgraded memory, and warranty.

Here are the questions.

Q1. Is there a fan / heat issue with T41p? Short / long heatsink etc. Shutting down playing games etc...

Q2. How are the MACK warranties? Are they reliable?

Q3. Is Dothan core significantly superior in terms of performance and power savings compared to Banias core? (I know about the 90 nm vs. 130 nm, 2 MB cache vs. 1 MB cache, etc). But in real life usage. I am thinking of swapping the CPU from the T42 if I do purchase the T41p if the DOthan is significantly superior.

Q4. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... e=rvi:1:2v_

Is this a good deal?

Thanks in advance.

JK

[pae77]

Well first of all, if you read the fine print, you will realize that contrary to what you stated in your post, the computer in the link you posted is NOT new. It is a used computer that has been "remanufactured" and "recertified" by IBM. The one year on site warranty from IBM is somewhat reassuring, however. I don't know anything about the Mack warranty after that.

Personally, I wouldn't buy a reconditioned used computer, unless the price was really very compelling compared to what I could get elsewhere, but that's just me. I'm sure many people have had successful experiences with these.

If you have or can get access to the EPP prices, you can get brand new T's, many with 3 year warranties from IBM (excuse me, I mean Lenovo) at very good prices and free shipping, although you will have to pay sales tax.

[Thinkpaddict]

I am looking to purchase a T41p.

I just got a new one in eBay 2 weeks ago for $1400, with 1 1/2 years of EasyServe warranty (remaining from 3 years). I am very happy with it, and you can look at my first impressions (scroll down to my long post) here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15231

To address your questions: No heat/fan issue that I notice. I didn't play any games on it (nor intend to, for that I would get a cheap multimedia laptop).
The Banias 1.7 Ghz performs very well, but I can't compare to the Dothan.
I have the extended battery, and the only time I ran it down on medium settings (Adaptive CPU, Brightness set on 3) it lasted longer than 6 hours

The seller on eBay which I got this one from has one listed right now. Search for T41p New not refurbished.

The T41p is a great computer, don't think about it twice. If you do get it, make sure that the firmware on the 7K60 drive is up to date, since there were some reliability issues in early models affecting drives shipped with the T41p among other models (this can be solved by either disabling the hard drive protection system, or by upgrading the firmware as provided in IBM's website).

Hope that helps.

[daeojkim]

pae77 and Thinkpaddict,

Thanks for the reply. I read your post about your T41p and I am glad that you like it so much. I would definitely need a 9 cell battery for all the lectures that I go to and I take notes on my laptop.

I had been quite happy with T42 that I had (my sister won't give it back) *sigh*, so I am thinking of getting another T4*. I think I would change the CPU from the T42 (Dothan).

I think I will be getting the T41p within the next few days.

I will update and let everyone know what I think of it.

Thanks

JK

[bill bolton]

> I would definitely need a 9 cell battery for all the lectures that I go to
> and I take notes on my laptop.

If I set my T41 to "Super Power Save" mode and just basically use it for continuous note taking with Word, I can easily get 4+ hours duration from the standard 6 cell battery. With whatever recharge I can achieve "over lunch time", and putting into standby, when not actively taking notes, its not hard to get a whole day of off-mains-power continuous note taking from the standard battery.

The larger battery does give longer duration but it also increases the weight and reduce the mobility convenience for "lecture" type use.

Cheers,

[holr]

I have had a t41p refurb and it has been a great machine (i did have several troubles which ibm are giving me a t43p upgrade because of, but thats more down to this machine rather than the whole t41p line).

I wouldnt buy that machine from ebay though, even though the seller has $1000 paypal protection, the system is more than this. If the deal goes pear shaped, are you prepared to loose the 300 or 400 dollars? They had good feedback sure, but i wouldnt buy anything from anyone through ebay unless it was covered in whole, not in part...