T40 model question

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TPadguy · #1 Post by **TPadguy** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 10:49 pm

What are the pros and cons between a T40 pentium M and the centrino version?

I am considering buying one of these because of the good reputation and battery life but trying to find the best combination possible for the money.....

Any ideas? I have a line on a mint Pentium M for about $550 1.5ghz, 512mb, xga, internal wireless etc....

thanks....Is it worth it to go this route with all the new dual cores coming out. Will this quickly become obsolete or remain a good notebook?

schmaud · #2 Post by **schmaud** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 3:35 am

Hi,
Centrino is a Intel Marketing Phrase, it means:
Intel Pentium M processor (Later: 7xx processor)
Intel mobil chip set
Intel Wlan-card.

As far as i know, non-centrino T4x have either no wlan factory installed or use a wlan card from a manufacturer different than intel. Otherwise they have identical hardware to "centrino" stuff.
There is some dicussion if the drivers/ the sensitivities/the power consumption for the intel card are better/worse than others, but I doubt that it makes any real-life difference

check the tab book for infos if and what Wlan is installed.

cheers

ralf

schmaud · #3 Post by **schmaud** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 3:35 am

Hi,
Centrino is a Intel Marketing Phrase, it means:
Intel Pentium M processor (Later: 7xx processor)
Intel mobil chip set
Intel Wlan-card.

As far as i know, non-centrino T4x have either no wlan factory installed or use a wlan card from a manufacturer different than intel. Otherwise they have identical hardware to "centrino" stuff.
There is some dicussion if the drivers/ the sensitivities/the power consumption for the intel card are better/worse than others, but I doubt that it makes any real-life difference

check the tab book for infos if and what Wlan is installed.

cheers

ralf

#4 Post by **KristianJ** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 4:35 am

From personal experience (having bought a T40 about 4 months ago) I'd say it is an excellent investment, even with the dual core options available. Considering the wide range of upgrade options available to you, I don't think there's much chance of an immediate obsolescence - it'll eventually happen, but if all you're going to be doing on it is browsing, office apps and some DVD watching, a T40 will do that nicely. The price you're looking at seems to be fairly indicative of a T40 with those specs, I think.

#5 Post by **underclocker** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 6:21 am

A "Centrino" T40 just happens to have the Intel 802.11b wifi adapter installed.

All (well there may be a handful in the world that don't) T40's have built in antennas and the same Intel chipsets plus a Pentium M processor.

A good majority of people (including me) have upgraded the wifi adapter to B/G or A/B/G models - for a long while the non-Intel adapters made by Atheros were prefered due to reliability and strength of connection. They are called the IBM wifi adapters and may actually say Phillips or Atheros on the adapter.

I doubt anyone can truthfully claim they noticed any difference in battery life due to one of these upgrades. I certainly cannot. The battery lasts a long, long time.

However, Intel now offers a few adpaters which include B/G and A/B/G models. Intel has also expanded it's definition of Centrino. Add one of these cards and your laptop will still officially be a Centrino model. Whether or not these adapters use more or less power doesn't matter much. As mentioned above, it is mostly marketing.

Of further note, and posted everywhere on this forum, IBM requires all wifi adapters to be IBM branded - essentially coded to be recognized by the IBM BIOS. If not, an error occurs at boot up that halts the boot up process. There are ways around this on most machines, but the cost difference is negligible and may not be worth the hassle.

Bottom line, buy the finest T-series you can with as long a warranty as possible. If it has the wifi adapter you like, great, if not, a new A/B/G one directly from IBM is about $50. Less on eBay or in the marketplace here.

Good luck.

ParzanM · #6 Post by **ParzanM** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:27 am

.Is it worth it to go this route with all the new dual cores coming out. Will this quickly become obsolete or remain a good notebook?

I was thinking the same thing when I bought my T42 a while back. I never like getting stuck with old technology. I dont need to have the latest and greatest but I would like to at least be on par with the general population if not a bit higher.

I am a university student and mostly need the laptop at school where I can type up my lab reports or start some program between classes. I can pretty much do anything I want to do on this laptop that I was able to do on my desktop(which i sold) except hardcore gaming,but being in engineering doesnt leave much time for gaming.

If you are in the same sort of boat. Then the T4x series would be the ideal choice for you. Its light weight,good on battery life and its one of the most respectable notebooks out there.

Good luck in choosing your notebook

ParzanM

#7 Post by **underclocker** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 9:11 am

In two years, based on how well T23's are still selling, I'd predict that a well maintained T40 that costs $500 today, will still sell for $300.

A well kept T60 that costs $1,200+ will probably sell for around $700. Some one year old T42's have lost 50% of their value.

Who is really stuck?

If you need T60 power, buy it, if not, as others have suggested, any Pentium M machine is more than adequate for all but hardcore gaming and hardcore graphics.

Over in the X-series forum, many state that the X22 (800MHz Pentium IIIm) is adequate for today's apps. That is a $2000+ machine that goes for $300 today.

ParzanM · #8 Post by **ParzanM** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 9:18 am

very well said underclocker.

TPadguy · #9 Post by **TPadguy** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 4:52 pm

Thanks everyone for the comments! Well, I am aware of the differences with the M and Centrino on paper but was wondering if there were actual differences in performance....The centrino in theory should use less power but who knows?

Aside from the T40P series what was/is the fastest processor that was made for these? I seem to only come across 1.5ghz machines...Would like a little faster but then if I found one the price would be a factor too....The machine I am considering is in mint condition but is a 1.5ghz Pentium M, 40gb hd, xga display(would prefer sxga) 512mb memory(I need to upgrade to 1gb) has internal wireless B(would prefer b/g) but seems okay otherwise....I am much more familliar with the later T series than the early 40s, so want to be sure I am getting a good deal.....

thanks for the input!

#10 Post by **KristianJ** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 5:33 pm

Some came with the 1.6GHz CPU and had the SXGA+ display (not just T40p's)...just in case you're not aware of its existence, you can download a document from ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitu ... awbook.pdf that will list every T40 model ever released, with factory specifications.

TPadguy · #11 Post by **TPadguy** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 9:13 pm

Thanks for the link! So, that explains why most t40s are 1.,5ghz because the 1.6 Dothan and the sxga were probably a limited version perhaps before the T41 was released?

Anyway, I will check it out...Seems like if I can get a machine with the specs I described for about $500 US, then it is a fair deal....]

Thanks

TPadguy · #12 Post by **TPadguy** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 3:00 pm

how hard is it to find a SXGA T40?

T40 model question

T40 model question

check the tab book..

check the tab book..

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