Homepage
Forum
Drivers
HMM
MTM
Feed
T42 2378 1.8ghz, 512mb, 14" 9600ati, sxga, 80gig, bluetooth, no FPR, IBM Wifi Atheros a/b/g. 2 years warranty left
Panel:
It has the Samsung SXGA panel, which colours are vibrant enough to let me forget about not getting the hydis (not an option anyway for the 2378). The colours are really great, the viewing angle is good but not 1st class. The black (contrast ratio) is a milky grey if viewed from top, therefore you will never see the whole screen with the same colour brightness. But.. it is a beautiful panel.
Fonts:
Today DPI set to 113% (properties->settings->advanced) and Font size a bit adjusted (properties->appearance->advanced) and cleartype switched on everything is perfect viewable and i get not longer headaches and strained eyes (3days were indeed horrible)
HDD:
5K80, a horrible drive, a bottleneck and well audible. Constant faint wind sound. Access is also too loud. I heard better drives. If you have a software firewall (i used sygate) you will hear constant access clickering, all the time. After very long use the famous tik-tik-tik-tik rrrrr tik-tik-tik rrr sound come to live. I was nearly throwing the Computer out of the window to make it stop. However, with firewall switched off, the drive comes to silence after 3 minutes. ACPI/Win/NHC or whatever triggers it, switches the drive off (like "off" in suspend mode). If you
access anything, it comes up again. Therefore not an option. This drive will defintely leave the computer forever.
Fan:
It just kicked in again. Praise the Lord, i got rid of the 5sec intervall howling after doing an embedded controller update (to 3.04). Some users had negative effects, so use with care. Now the howling appears every this and then, lets say every 15seconds. That is better but still not pleasant.
Silence/CHC:
"It just kicked in again", yes, it was completely off for aprox. 10minutes. When it reaches 39-40 degrees Celcius it comes to live again for another 10minutes until 37 C are reached. I got it silent with NHC (former chc) and with switching off every Bios option one can think of. I also switched off every service from Windows i dont need and de-installed every Thinkpad Software except the TP Config Tool and Powermanagment Daemon. Virusscanner removed and Firewall also Off, which is not very wise. I thus reduced my tasklist from 57 to 23 tasks.
USB is still enabled, since i dont give up on using mice just for a design flaw by IBM/Lenovo.
Yes, design flaw, because i heard the Sonama platform on cheaper Notebooks (about 1000USD cheaper) and the fan was OFF! (samsung x20). Oh by the why, this is not Sonama, but former generation less-power-consuming Dothan with 1.8ghz@600mhz AND undervolted. The Radeon also runs at lowest possible clock speed.
Therfore one must conclude: The fan behaviour is an absolute joke for 2200USD (i work at night, in an absolut silent room) Don't get fooled by any posts. This computer is way too loud for its price.
If i can't shut down the fan constantly in Linux or with future NHC versions, i think the Thinkpad
will get a new, less sensible owner. Dont get me wrong, this is the best lappy i ever had, but i also owned a desktop overclocked 64bit system with five times the power this Thinkpad has, and i silenced it down to complete Noiseless-Heaven.Keyboard:
IMHO Very Ugly Letter printing compared to stylish powerbook printing. The keyboard response is very good though, better than on the G3 Wallstreet i have. No bloddy fingers on the Thinkpad anymore
Wifi:
Works great, but i use SFTP Cable hardwired instead. I dont like the radiation of my Wifi Router.
Overall quality:
The Computer is very small and also not heavy. Screen is rock solid but a bit squeky if closed or opened. Nothing to worry about. I will keep it.
Future Upgrades:
More Memory and a faster, more quite HDD and probably next year the Intel based Powerbook
Thanks for reading !
edit: added a screenshot to show how well SXGA can work if you invest a few hours.
Screenshot
