So who owns a T41p? Opinions.

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Dead1nside · #1 Post by **Dead1nside** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 6:55 pm

You might have read my other thread, but I'm a student studying computing and I needed a laptop to program on, so I set my eyes on the Thinkpad T4xp series. But the T43p is far too expensive for me.

I settled on the T41p. Just enough power, not a lot of bulk. Good battery life.

My question to you is, if you own one. What do you think of it? What do you really like about it? Anything that annoys you? Have you run Linux on it? What would you say is missing? Any other gripes? Any other praises?

If you could do that for me, I'd be very grateful. Thanks.

Oh and, what other Thinkpad do you wish you had. That's for anyone.

christopher_wolf · #2 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 7:44 pm

Well, I used to use a T41 a few years ago and, more recently, a T41p that is in one of the labs as well as my T43.

I can say that it is a T Series in every sense of the word; excellent slim form factor, great battery life, very nice keyboard, and a very large amount of processing power for both the CPU and the GPU. It will run Linux fine; depending on the distro, you can just about get everything the T41p will support running smoothly and accessible from Linux.

Not alot is really missing from it; one possible, but not common I don't think, gripe is that the CPUs available for it aren't in a big a range as, say, those available for the T42p or T43p. Although that is if you want to cram even more power into the system for a larger increment of money above the T41p.

HTH

#3 Post by **daeojkim** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:36 am

I have a T41p and I cannot be happier.. (Actually I would be happier with dual core).

SXGA+ is great, I carry it with me every day to classes. It has been very reliable. It has all the features that could ask for. INcluding bluetooth, 7k60 HD, powerful GPU with 128 MB, security chip to secure your computer and data, 3 year standard warranty.

I think once you purchase a T41p the only thing that you may need is a 1GB RAM stick to meet all your needs as a student.

You can also upgrade the CPU with Dothan 2.x GHz if you desire and /or prices for those CPUs come down more.

I am planning to use it with a 20" UXGA LCD monitor at home using a port replicator II. When I go out I would simply just pop it out and carry it with me.

As for my desired notebook is a T series with dual core Merom processor. Perhaps T61p??

christopher_wolf · #4 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:43 am

daeojkim wrote: As for my desired notebook is a T series with dual core Merom processor. Perhaps T61p??

Waiting for the T61p with the Merom too, huh?

Torque · #5 Post by **Torque** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 2:16 am

I had a T41p before I bought the T43 currently in my signature.
The T41p had a much better battery-time and better all-round performance. If I could choose, I'd go with the T41p again.

Dead1nside · #6 Post by **Dead1nside** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 6:56 am

That's really great you all replied. Looks like a lot of people holding out for the T61p. I must say that the 256MB 12-pipe graohics card is very tempting. Real powerhouse. And dual-cores, very nice.

I'd really love a T43p. But I think the 15'' would make it a bit too bulky.

I'm really looking forward to getting the T41p in September. Hopefully I'll post my impressions, and how I got Linux running on it. Cheers. Keep them coming.

rdh · #7 Post by **rdh** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 9:00 pm

I have a T41p and love it! Speedwise, for the applications I use it performs as well as my T42p. The T41p is also extremely quiet and runs without much heat, has the invaluable IBM hard drive active protection system, a great 7200 rpm 60 gig hard drive, and a 9-cell battery that can give you five to six hours of unplugged use, all for a good deal less money than the later T-series models. Highly recommended!

christopher_wolf · #8 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 1:20 am

A good point to make as a follow up is that the T41p can be had for a great price for all the "basic" advanced technology features of the later T4X Series Thinkpads then, later on, heavily upgraded as the user's needs grow. Almost so as to the point of the latest T4X Series Thinkpad.

Having the HDAPS system is definitely a big plus, especially if it is going to be used in day-to-day life as a student.

Thinkpaddict · #9 Post by **Thinkpaddict** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 2:51 am

christopher_wolf wrote: Not alot is really missing from it; one possible, but not common I don't think, gripe is that the CPUs available for it aren't in a big a range as, say, those available for the T42p or T43p.

I have a question about this. I was under the impression that the T41p could use any CPU that the T42p does. As a matter of fact, I thought that the T41p and T42p motherboards were basically interchangeable. Please let me know if this is not right.

Thanks.

christopher_wolf · #10 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 2:59 am

You can interchange the boards just fine, if I recall correctly.

The T41p also uses the Banias P-M instead of the later Dothans, so the *original*, from factory, CPU range (1.4GHz to 1.7GHz; all T41ps I have encountered thus far have had 1.7GHz CPUs) is rather limited when compared to what the user can do to upgrade the planar board and the CPU to, say a Dothan P-M; giving you a range of Dothan-based P-Ms ranging from 1.6GHz to 2.26GHz. Should the user decide to, the T41p can be upgraded with one of those boards.

Although the a good range of boards that the user can deck the T41p out with includes, as you stated, the T42p motherboards; in fact, I believe there is one user here that has already done that.

rainab68 · #11 Post by **rainab68** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 3:10 am

hah~~

t40 and t41 have too much problem,it's USB2.0 to 1.1 ; bad video BGA,
so you'd better buy t42p(or t42 8ZX series such as 8zu 8zh... with ati 9600 64m 14'sxga+)

good luck~~~~

christopher_wolf · #12 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 3:15 am

Problems? Haven't heard of many problems with the T41ps. I hear more complaints here about mobo issues with the T40 and t42p than I do anything wrong with the T41p. Also, the T41p has USB 2.0, so what is the problem there? The card on the T41p is a FireGL 128MB Radeon T2, more than enough for all but the most demanding graphics applications.

Back to upgrading a T41, I think J. D. Hurst here upgraded his T41 from a Banias to a Dothan (1.8GHz if I remember correctly) some time back. Quite successfully, I might add.

Dead1nside · #13 Post by **Dead1nside** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 5:49 am

Wow very impressed with the response, and neigh a negative word said about it. I was looking on the marketplace for T41ps and nobody has snapped any of these bargains up. Real shame.

I am also planning to replace the 1.5Ghz Banias with a Dothan. I will post my experiences with it once done.

There are a great deal of options as many people have said. Upgrade the RAM. Larger 100GB HDD (7200RPM of course).

From what I gather the larger 15'' 16x12 screens increase the general weight of the machine and this has a negative impact on portability, and the increased performance drains more battery life. So the T41p has just the right amount of power.

Has anybody installed Fedora Core, Slackware or Ubuntu on their T41p? Interested to see if there's anything I should watch out for, for a linux noobie.

Thanks for all the responses.

DaveinTampa · #14 Post by **DaveinTampa** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 11:32 am

Here's a newbies ramblings...

I bought a used t41p off ebay about a month ago.

I liked it so much that I bought a t60p a week ago!

The t41p is a great laptop, I opted for the t60p because I do application development and often have visual studio/iis/sql server and a host of other deveopment tools open at the same time. I'm hoping the two processors of the t60p will make things run even better.

Back to the t41p.

The t41p that I purchased still had the remaining factory warranty on it. It was a 3 year on site.

Last week I had a problem with the laptop not powering on. I called Lenovo on Sunday and on Wed they had a technician at my house fixing the problem - NICE! The technician would have been here on Tuesday but the replacement part didn't arrive til Tuesday.

Other ramblings...

I upgraded the t41p's memory to 1.5 meg - this helped performance in my case becase task manager was reporting peak memory useage over 1 meg thus using the swap file.

I purchased the port replicator and can easily plop my t41p into it and have two 19" lcd's - very nice.

Dead1nside · #15 Post by **Dead1nside** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 1:13 pm

Thanks for your opinions, was just wandering if you were using the 9-cell with the port replicator, (Is it the Port Replicator II) does it fit fine with the extended battery?

I'm trying to find someone to quote me a new 3-year warranty for it in the UK, but I've got to get the serial numbers first. Hopefully it'll be around £150.

Good luck with your dual-core T60p.

Thinkpaddict · #16 Post by **Thinkpaddict** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 1:31 pm

christopher_wolf wrote:You can interchange the boards just fine, if I recall correctly.

The T41p also uses the Banias P-M instead of the later Dothans, so the *original*, from factory, CPU range (1.4GHz to 1.7GHz; all T41ps I have encountered thus far have had 1.7GHz CPUs) is rather limited when compared to what the user can do to upgrade the planar board and the CPU to, say a Dothan P-M; giving you a range of Dothan-based P-Ms ranging from 1.6GHz to 2.26GHz. Should the user decide to, the T41p can be upgraded with one of those boards.

Although the a good range of boards that the user can deck the T41p out with includes, as you stated, the T42p motherboards; in fact, I believe there is one user here that has already done that.

Thanks for the response. I still think that you can put a Dothan CPU into a T41p, or at least seem to remember that a few members of the forum have done so.

When I said that the T41p and T42p boards are interchangeable I actually meant to say that they are basically the same board with a different CPU, and thus the reason you can use any CPU the T42p can on a T41p (without changing the motherboard).

Edit: Jumped the gun too early. I just saw your post mentioning JDHurst's successful upgrade to a Dothan.

I assume the T41p can then take any Dothan the T42p can. Sweet.

christopher_wolf · #17 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 1:46 pm

Yup; never said they couldn't be.

I don't know about the Sonomas in the T43ps, though, and whether or not you could drop them right into a T41p. They differ as far as the FSB goes as well as an elevated TDP range and a higher max core voltage. If not, however, you could still do a board swap if so desired.

Thinkpaddict · #18 Post by **Thinkpaddict** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 7:30 pm

Sonomas are a no go for the T41-T42 family, but I don't think it's a big deal. There's just so much upgrading you can do before crossing the barrier of insanity

Dead1nside · #19 Post by **Dead1nside** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 6:09 am

Yes. the Sonoma range though it offers more power, doesn't really seem to match Dothan's lower thermal envelope/power ratio.

I have read you can put up to a 2.0Ghz Dothan in the T41p, possibly more. This is what I intend to do.

Anyone post their experiences with Fedora/Slackware/Ubuntu on the T41p? Would be very grateful. What's the general support like for the T4x series in Linux? Thanks.

djpharoah · #20 Post by **djpharoah** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 9:34 am

Dead1nside wrote:Yes. the Sonoma range though it offers more power, doesn't really seem to match Dothan's lower thermal envelope/power ratio.

I have read you can put up to a 2.0Ghz Dothan in the T41p, possibly more. This is what I intend to do.

Anyone post their experiences with Fedora/Slackware/Ubuntu on the T41p? Would be very grateful. What's the general support like for the T4x series in Linux? Thanks.

I have tested a 2.0GHz Dothan that I bought from brentpresley in my T41p. It worked fine - temps were about the same as my 1.5GHz but then when gaming it got hot!! I even had AS5 on there and let it burn in for a couple of days.

Alas the 2.0GHz cpu was designed for my laptop at work ... so Im back to my 1.5Ghz cpu.

Dead1nside · #21 Post by **Dead1nside** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 12:09 pm

Thanks for that, would you say that the 1.5Ghz works adequatley because this is the chip in my T41p. Was the 2.0Ghz Dothan too hot as in system instability hot? It's a bit disappointing if this is the case since it's meant to be cooler. How much speed up did you get from the Dothan. Thanks.

So who owns a T41p? Opinions.

So who owns a T41p? Opinions.

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