About to buy; T42 vs T43; NOISE, HEAT, 15" SX vs. UX LC

[dozer]

Despite the frustration of sloowww dialup, I have searched and read many threads and posts on this subject.

Still, you know how many threads end without any good "resolution"....i.e., the OP never posts back to let us know how it worked out, etc. etc.. Also, many 'answers' contradict what one sees in another thread...lol...

So, since I am about to make what is a pretty major financial decision for us; I'd like to get some 'hard' confirmation on a couple of specific

Briefly, my needs and priorities are:

- Never play 'games'; but do do some 2D CAD/EDA; and some 3D
- Not that concerned about the last 100mhz of CPU speed
- More concerned with QUIET and cool enough to work on lap.
- Eyes getting old...need LCD with larger/taller letters than 14"
(considered Z61m, but 15.4" wxsga is actually no taller than 14" !)


So, my specific questions....

1) Was the heat/noise problem ever solved on the T43's?? Or do ALL T43's run noisily all the time? My wife's T41 is virtually silent, except once in a while the fan will run with that annoying 5-second periodic speed-blip.


2) Are T42's truly quiet as I've read...i.e. fan is silent during 'normal' browsing, text-editing, etc. ?? Are T42 "p" models the same as plain? Or does the fancier video hdw cause fan to run a lot more and faster/noiser? (I really don't think I need the fancy gamer-video, but I DO need the 15" hi-res screen)

Can the extra video-ram on the 'p' models be disabled? e.g. I don't need "true color". Has anyone done a comprehensive (and factual/usable) thread about power-reduction twitches and mods?


3) In regards to the BGA/mainboard failure problem, did T43's have this too? On T42s, WAS there ever a revised board that cured it? I saw that mentioned in search-results, but never did find a HARD answer to it.


4) In regards to 15" UXGA, was this on any non-p 42/43 models?


5) I've read a couple threads where someone had trouble with text being too SMALL on the UXGA ! That really surprised me, because I don't see why simple settings-adjustments in windows-2000 wouldn't let you set it how you want. When I switched from 17" crt to 21" with 1600x1200 a few years back, I just changed the settings in windows...no problem. Does this not work on laptops for some reason?

Truly, getting a screen with larger text, to reduce the work-related (eyestrain) headaches I'm beginning to experience, is the primary motivator behind this purchase in the first place. The faster CPU etc. over my old P3 machine is just icing on the cake (but TASTY icing, oh yes...lol).


6) I don't think I have EVER seen a single bad thing said about the UXGA screen. In fact, reports seem to suggest that, besides the higher res, they are better than the 1400x1050 Flexview even in the color-saturation and contrast (black background) dept. Is this true, or am I only seeing the happy-camper posts and missing the problem-posts? Is there ANY reason not to choose the UXGA?


6) Should I be looking at a T60? Were the major 42/43 problems solved on those? I.e., flaky mainboard, fan noise and heat, etc. ??

I don't really need faster performance than T4x series; but if a T60 solved every major flaw in 42/43...and I can possibly swing it...maybe it's a better choice?

I really want to keep this to $800 or less; and need to keep it under $1,000 in any case. I've seen a few T60's near $800, but they were either SXGA or 14".


7) Are ALL the 9-cell batteries covered under that recall; and is that recall-program still in effect?


Thanks VERY much to all who have hard factual answers to the above. As I said, this is a pretty major financial decision for us; small as it might seem to some.

We just went through a major unplanned expense in having to replace the entire battery-bank in our off-grid power-system. But I do need to stop the headaches too...and my wife must be in the xmas mood, as she is encouraging me to do so right now...so lucky me is going to take advantage of that largesse !...LOL...

[richk]

I'll answer as much as I can. Some machines are noisier than others, even if they are the same model, but I haven't heard as many complaints on T42 machines as on T43. I can say that I have access to lots of machines and the one I use is a T42p with a 15" UXGA display. I have not heard of MB failures on T43 machines. I have personally seen the most failures on T40/T41, fewer on T42 machines and none on T43. My theory is that the reason is that the solder being used has changed and the newer solder is less likely to crack, but that is my idea based on no solid information. I believe UXGA is only on T42p and T43p, but I have not really checked all the models in the hardware manual. Some applications do a better job with others at letting you adjust text size, but I use a UXGA screen and I certainly don't have young eyes. The only problem with XGA from my point of view is cost. You won't get a 15" UXGA T60 for near $800. I guess you also asked about turning off the extra video memory. The answer is no. One thing to consider. If you don't do games, and want the text bigger, you could also consider the 15" XGA screen. They are really nice, bright screens. They may or may not work for the CAD/EDA you do. It depends on the applications you run. They certainly much cheaper.

[gunston]

go for T42, to your $$$ budget.

T43 might get too hot at the southbridge with Intel Wireless card,
PCI-express ATI X300 graphic drag more power than AGP ATI9600 as in T42

[ajkula66]

Having owned many machines within T42 and T43 varieties, here's my take on it...

a) Only "p" models had UXGA screens on both T42 and T43 series. However, SXGA+ FlexView LCDs were available on both.
b) Personally, I'd get a T43 for reasons of performance and likelyhood of it having warranty left. Noisier they are, but as long as you stay under 2.0 processor, noise and heat are quite tolerable in my opinion.
c) Motherboard failures are slightly less likely to happen on T43 machines than on the rest of T4x series.
d) If you're going UXGA route, you may want to consider R50p, which is an excellent machine that doesn't overheat, works quietly and is less prone to MB problems than its T4xp counterparts.
e) If you're going SXGA+ route, there are R5x machines with 15" SXGA+ FlexViews that should be considered...
f) T60 with 15" FlexView SXGA+ would definitely be a very sound option.
g) A FlexView is a FlexView...if your eyes can tolerate UXGA, go for it. If they can't, SXGA+ will be as pleasurable. I've got both of these and colours are quite comparable.

If you can find a T42 with 15" SXGA+ FlexView and some warranty left, you're good to go. If you can't, a T43 will do just fine.

If the warranty is of no concern to you, go for R50p.

And if you can sneak a T60 with FlexView and warranty leftover within your price range-which is not impossible but requires patience and some luck-forget all of the above recommendations and grab it while you can...

Hope this helps.

The best of luck with your noble quest.

[dozer]

Thanks much for the 3 answers so far guys.

Gunston, appreciate the tip on the Wifi. I definitely need the built-in Wifi....so that'll be a consideration.

By the way, I often see it said that the Atheros-based wifi card is the best; but all the 42/43's that I see have one of the Intel cards in them.

Was the 'atheros' card not an IBM product? If not, who is the mfg of this card?


Richk and Ajkula, thanks for covering several topics with good observations.

I'm still a little unclear about why the higher-res screen prevents getting the text-size you want. Applications which don't have their own text-size control must be getting their size-info from the OS, aren't they?

I admit I haven't touched the win2k display-settings in years on my current machine; but as I recall, they were pretty simple, and affected ALL menus and such. Am I remembering wrongly?

I guess a more precise question would be: IS this an 'insoluble' problem? In other words, are the people posting about problems in this area experiencing cases where they truly -cannot- increase the text-height in a certain app, no matter what?

Or are those cases more due to unfamiliarity with the OS, lack of vigorous research and config-file twitching, etc. ??


A related question about the LCD's: So far I've not been able to find official specs for the actual viewable dimensions of the various LCD's. However, I did find a post on another forum which said that the 15" SXGA was 9.4" vertical actual screen height. (compared to only 8.4" for the 15.4" wsxga and usual 14.1" screens).

Can you verify that dimension?

Equally important, could you verify whether the UXGA is any taller; or simply more pixels in the same 9.4" ?


Both of you alluded to a UXGA T60 being a great choice; but I missed an actual confirmation that the major 42/43 problems had indeed been fixed in the T60 series.

While I haven't seen a T60-uxga for $800 yet, as Rich noted, I -have- seen a couple near that magic $1000 mark. If I were confident that it was buying me something worthwhile (e.g, no BGA-crack worries, assurance of no fan-noise or lap-burn), I'm likely to spring the extra 200-300.

Again, this is a 3-5 year investment....I'm not going to be stupid about it...i.e. refuse to go that last 50 bucks; since it's going to make a big difference over years of time.

But if T60 fans run too...and mainboards fail alot too...then it wouldn't really be getting me anything I -need- (i.e. extra cpu speed is nice, but not my top priority).

Also, can anyone comment on NEW (major/failure) problems...i.e. unique to the T60 ?

It's certainly true that I'm likely to get far more warranty with a used T60.

I guess I should modify the above question to ask that any answer about the old and new problems distinguish between T60 and T61, if there are any differences. And I plead ignorance on that series in general right now. I hadn't even thought of going that 'far'....but Ill be doing some homework on those this weekend.


ps; Ajkula, thanks for mentioning the R50's. I hadn't even thought of them for some reason. I think I always had the impression that they were 'cheap' or 'plastic'....i.e. "not a T-series magnesium titanium whatever"...lol...


For what it's worth as info, I've found half a dozen very nice T42p's today for under $800 configured very close to my specs. None had 160gb drives, but several had 120's. And a couple were closer to $600; giving me room to just get a 160 or 200 and put it in later.

And although I wasn't looking closely, I saw several T60's at or under $1,000; some with 15", but I don't think Uxga. I'll be looking a lot closer if you folks confirm that T60's solved the 40-series problems without adding any new critical flaws of their own.

I've been looking with growing 'seriousness' for 1-2 weeks now; and it seems to me that t42/43 prices have dropped about $100 just in the past week or two.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Thinkpad prices drop another hundred or two after xmas. Some of the prices on brand new machines are stunning (i.e. core-duo wsxga Z61m at Staples for only $549 new, full-warranty, for example).

Not that post-xmas helps me much...as I really do need to get this research/shopping project DONE...in the next few days.

thanks again guys....looking forward to more such great info!

[ajkula66]

UXGA is NOT any taller...just looking at T42p versus T43...same size

BTW, T60 would be SXGA+, it would have to be T60p for UXGA...

[dozer]

oh...that's good to know...that'll narrow down my searches quite a bit...thanks ajkula.

What about the T60 and fan-noise and heat?

Is it more of a 'silent' machine like the T42p?

Or is it known for noise and lap-burn like the T43p?

Also, is the mainboard flex/BGA-failure problem fixed in T60p ?

Any major NEW failure-modes in the T60p to be worried about?

[exTPfan]

I may have been unlucky, but the T60 I bought has an annoying whine from the fan. The fans on my T60 and my T42 both run almost continuously at about 3000rpm, but that on the T42 is almost silent. Also, I found Vista a pain, so, for the moment at least, I've gone back to using my T42 (14inch SXGA+). The screen (15.4in WSXGA+) on the T60 is spectacular, but the keyboard on the T42 feels better, and under XP it doesn't seem much slower.

[ulrich.von.lich]

I've compared a 14" T60p and a 14" T43. The T60p runs both cooler and quieter. However the fan on the T4 series can be turned off completely by a software called TPFanControl while I haven't found a way to do so on the T60p. Nevertheless, for me the fan of T60p is quiet enough to be ignored.

exTPfan, I don't know if it'd be much different on a Widescreen T60, but have you tried to blow off the dusts from the fan? It'll usually make the fan quieter and work more efficiently.

I've never owned a T42/p but from what I've learned, the fan is not always on only if the T42 has a low frequency Dothan CPU (say anything below 1.7Ghz). T42p with a high end Dothan is pretty much like a T43 with a fan that is continuously on. But overall the T42/p is quieter than T43/p. My T43's fan whines at startup, for just a few seconds and for no reasons. (The machine is cold at startup) This will not occur on T42s. If you could bear the noise, I think T43s are faster and more abuse-proof than T42s.

I also prefer the keyboard on T4 series.

Hope it helps

[underclocker]

Very tough question, but I think it's important to first remember that you're splitting hairs to some degree - all are fine machines.

I'm thinking the following;

1) If you're sensitive to noise, any T43 will bother you. Their fans are louder and burst on more abruptly and with greater force than other T4x's. Even low-end T43's behave this way. By comparison, the fan on T42p's don't get as loud although they may run constantly.

2) I have seen information during Lenovo sales presentations that suggest improvments were made to the T4x motherboards over time. I have also recently noted that some T42 motherboards definitely modifications to the ATI GPU package. On a 2373-6UU that I recently sold, I noticed that there were red beads of some substance under the corners of the GPU. Normally, the "glue" is black, but in addition to the normal glue, there were eight red dots, two on under each corner of the GPU. I made a mental note of this because, it was the first time that I've seen it.

I have had other T42's that looked like T41's and T40's - no red dots. Anyway, something was different about this late model T42. It was made in 2005. I suppose it could have just been a manufacturing variation, but that doesn't seem likely. IBM has replaced many motherboards in T4x's and they note it in sales presentations when they discuss their manufacturing improvement processes. I should have snapped a picture...

3) Be careful about picking up an UXGA screen. They are very high resolution (some will argue that compared to QXGA, they aren't, but that's for another thread). Yes you can modify fonts to some degree, but you can not control the fonts in every program or web site. Some fonts will inevitably be tiny. I have found a 15" SXGA+ to be a reasonable compromise. Try before you buy!

4) I do not have much experience with T60 or T61's, but definitely try to figure out if they will work for you. Their pricing is quite good now - even as new machines. I would thoroughly vet this option if I was hoping to keep a machine for several years.

5) Regarding warranty, they are nice to have, but I do not feel they are worth paying too much extra for. You can generally find the top end parts (like UXGA LCD or T4xp motherboard) for $250. Not great, but at least you don't need a new machine if a major part dies.

6) Heat. All T4xp's get very hot. The high performance GPU does that. And the T43p models with CPU's over 2GHz are always hot.

Bottom line, for a sub-$800 machine, I'd look for a T42p (assuming you want UXGA and a little heat) or a T42 with SXGA+ (quiet and cool, yes I'm biased, see my signature). With that budget you can pretty much max out the CPU, HD and RAM.

For an $800+ machine, I'd get familiar with the T6x options. The possiblity of dual core, cheap memory, new machine, etc. is very tempting. But remember, once you cross over to the T6x or R6x world, you're going to have to use the newer model AC adapters. That means that you and your wife will have to use different AC adpaters. Maybe you need to buy two new machines?!

[thinkpadlover07]

FYI, shameless plug for my own thread about an issue with 15" UXGA screens. I own a T42p 15" UXGA, 2373-HTU, that is currently being repaired by Lenovo for the problem I mention in the thread, as well as for a motherboard failure (most likely from flex due to lifting the computer from the left side of the wristrest). And I bought it second-hand off of a very reputable member on this forum.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=53125

good luck!

[dozer]

07, I appreciate you mentioning that problem in my thread. Good to know of every potentially serious issue beforehand.

underclocker, I'd meant to reply before now and thank you for your good observations and advice. thanks much

Ironically, for a thread titled "choose between t42 and 43", the advice I received here convinced me to spring a few hundred bucks more for a T60p....lol.

Funny enough tho, I've gotten very tempted twice now by UXGA R50p's that have sold in the $350-450 range. That's a [censored] nice chunk of thinkpad for 400 bucks.

[beeblebrox]

07, I appreciate you mentioning that problem in my thread. Good to know of every potentially serious issue beforehand.

underclocker, I'd meant to reply before now and thank you for your good observations and advice. thanks much

Ironically, for a thread titled "choose between t42 and 43", the advice I received here convinced me to spring a few hundred bucks more for a T60p....lol.

Funny enough tho, I've gotten very tempted twice now by UXGA R50p's that have sold in the $350-450 range. That's a [censored] nice chunk of thinkpad for 400 bucks.

Another idea might be to assemble your system by yourself. I am currently working in Europe and once in while check their local ebays.
There are a lot of T42p in SXGA and UXGA running at € 399,- to 499,-
and I saw a lot of motherboard-broken 15" SXGA systems.
All sold by IT companies, not private.
You could get one of these and ask them to put in a regular motherboard, so you could have a great screen and a moderately decent but silent system.
Myself, I am looking for a good R50p with a dead motherboard. Will use the cheapest T4x board I can find and enjoy the great screen.
Btw. motherboard failures are not an issue, because they result from "bad behavior" (holding the heavy notebook on a corner). If you always keep that in mind when you pick up your notebook, you won't ever have problems.

[Troels]

2) Are T42's truly quiet as I've read...i.e. fan is silent during 'normal' browsing, text-editing, etc. ?? Are T42 "p" models the same as plain? Or does the fancier video hdw cause fan to run a lot more and faster/noiser? (I really don't think I need the fancy gamer-video, but I DO need the 15" hi-res screen)

Having owned a T42 and now a T60p both with flexviews (the T42 even retrofitted with a UXGA flexview), i must say that the T42 fan is quieter. The T60p fan has a bad habit of not exhausting dust particles well, so it needs to be cleaned from the outside once every few months.
This was avoided with the T4x rapid spin-up at system boot.

The high-res versus "old eyes" may be a problem. My father thinks SXGA+ is too tiny for the 15". Infacts, i have seen multiple quotations that people generally find 110 DPI the most comfortable. The UXGA 15" is 147 DPI in comparison.

Can the extra video-ram on the 'p' models be disabled? e.g. I don't need "true color". Has anyone done a comprehensive (and factual/usable) thread about power-reduction twitches and mods?

No. True color does not take much memory in comparison to how much video memory that is available.
T43/T60 takes additional memory from the laptop when the laptop memory is used up - the AGP based FireGL-T2, Radeon 9600 or Radeon 7500 found in T42 and T42p does not this feature.

5) I've read a couple threads where someone had trouble with text being too SMALL on the UXGA ! That really surprised me, because I don't see why simple settings-adjustments in windows-2000 wouldn't let you set it how you want. When I switched from 17" crt to 21" with 1600x1200 a few years back, I just changed the settings in windows...no problem. Does this not work on laptops for some reason?

Yes, but it is up to the individual developer if they want to use the DPI setting defined by windows or not, also icons are not scaled, and neither is text written in images. But yes, the solution of increasing the DPI is definately possible.

6) I don't think I have EVER seen a single bad thing said about the UXGA screen. In fact, reports seem to suggest that, besides the higher res, they are better than the 1400x1050 Flexview even in the color-saturation and contrast (black background) dept. Is this true, or am I only seeing the happy-camper posts and missing the problem-posts? Is there ANY reason not to choose the UXGA?

As mentioned above, dust problems, which is pretty much irritating. As to why this happens i'm not sure. When Sony took over IBM/CMO's joint venture IDtech who manufactured the Flexviews it was called "completely outdated". This leads me to think that the environments may not have been too optimal dustwise considering how small a company they were (In comparison, Samsung had more than 66 times as many employees as Idtech).

The visual experience also depends of manufacturer. All flexviews had about the same viewing angles. The LG Philips was according to most people the most vibrant screen, but at some point had quality issues with the sparkling from the polarizers.
The BOE-Hydis only found on the T60p UXGA were afaik less vibrant than the LG/Philips, but a little more vibrant than the IDtech. Viewing angles was not completely as wide as the idtech.

Also, they are more or less affected by a slightly dark right corner, by some it is very pronounced - but it's a draw of the luck.
Of course, it is no replacement of a good desktop LCD (and by that i don't mean a TN screen, no matter how much dynamic contrast and overdrive they try to offer)

I don't really need faster performance than T4x series; but if a T60 solved every major flaw in 42/43...and I can possibly swing it...maybe it's a better choice?

I have no complaints with the T42, none with the T60p either except the cooling system could be better designed. Not that mine overheats. The roll-cage design does seem like a rigid construction.

7) Are ALL the 9-cell batteries covered under that recall; and is that recall-program still in effect?

Nope, depends on the manufacturer. It's really only possible to tell from the serial number or a program supplied by lenovo. Panasonic cells were not affected by the recall, only Sanyo and Sony.
See http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... #determine
I think the replacement program is still valid and running.

[Johan]

I have read this thread with interest, and your search very much looks like mine when I was to get my first ThinkPad about three years ago (bought on behalf of a friend, actually). Back then, I was too focusing particularly on fan noise and display quality (and also the phenomena of ”ghosting”, which was reported for some older ThinkPad displays). So, after reading a LOT of this superb forum, I ended up back then with a 15” T42 w/FlexView SXGA+ display (see my signature), and I have not for ONE second regretted that choice. Every time since when I have used that T42, I am just pleased by it… its aesthetic pleasing, cosmetically clean IBM-design, the FlexView display, the (Thai NMB) keyboard, the low noise, the stable performance. And on and on and on! I would recommend such a T42 anytime – period! (provided of course in good condition, and with some warranty left). Then, this spring I wanted a T42 for myself, and since I had secretly been dreaming about UXGA T42p FlexView's for years, I ended up buying a (used) T42p. My reasons for choosing a T42p over e.g. a newer T60 is discussed in the thread Buying a 2nd hand T42p, and seems to be quite close to yours (same applications, same priorities etc.). Based on what you describe, I think you would be satisfied with an UXGA FlexView/IPS T42p, unless you really have a serious problem with UXGA. If your choice is between SXGA+ and UXGA, the best would of course be if you could get a chance to see and use one of each, and play with the font/DPI size etc. – since I understand that you are worried about that. I would say that I could surely live happily forever after with SXGA+ although I still (a bit more) like the UXGA, but I have also no problems with eye strain or small fonts; actual I like small fonts and big screen real-estate!

Have a look in the thread 15" 1600x1200 screen - Text too small?. Also, try search this forum (all sub-forums) after ”UXGA eye strain” and also ” UXGA readability” (and in both searches, use: ”Search for all terms”).

If you wish to see the selection of which T42’s and T43’s were/are available, have a look in the thread T4X specs (see the post of Sun Jan 28, 2007 7:35 am) and get the ltwbook there.

Warranty: I would certainly say, try get a ThinkPad with some amount of remaining warranty, if this is within your budget. As you already know, the earliest ThinkPad T4x lines (T40/T41/T42) suffer from the flexing motherboard syndrome (see t42 shuts down when I move it), and many T4x owners have been hit by this (incl. I on my T42p!), and you will see many T4x being ”sold for parts” on eBay with these symptoms mentioned – so beware! If buying a T42(p) with some remaining warranty, this will give you a chance to have it repaired, if you discover the problem – and you may also have the warranty extended.

Warranty extension: Consider having the warranty on your hopefully soon-to-be T42(p) extended; this is possible both possible if the ThinkPad is still covered under warranty, and may also be possible if the warranty has expired. In the latter case, what you need is a ”post-warranty maintenance” ePac, see e.g. ThinkPlus Maintenance Services. Note that it is cheaper to have the warranty further extended while the ThinkPad is still covered. These threads might give you more inspiration about warranty extension: re-extending warranty and FS Flexview heaven T60P and T42P's (see the post of Sun Nov 25, 2007 7:41 am).

Buying refurbished or re-manufactured? See these threads: IBM Factory Refurbished Units - Safe to buy? and Certified Used T42p - Very disappointed and T4x Series Buying Help

Today’s prices on 15” FlexView/IPS SXGA+ T42’s Recent finished eBay auctions on 15” SXGA+ FlexView T42’s (to get an impression of the prices) are mentioned in this thread: Is this a Good Price (see the post of Wed Dec 12, 2007 4:02 pm).

Fan noise of T42/p’s: I have been using both my own 2.1 GHz 15” UXGA T42p (w/128 MB ATI Fire GL2) and my friends 1.8 GHz 15” SXGA+ T42 (w/ATI Radeon 9600), and both have silent fans. The T42 runs with no fan-speed control, and is only set to Adaptive CPU Speed in the Power Management. The T42p fan will come on sometimes, but is quiet and pleasant. The CPU temp. will range around 40-45 deg. C (fan off) with the GPU temp. triggering the fan to go on at 50 deg. C If I had ever been annoyed by the T42 fan, I would certainly have installed the (free and highly recommended!) ”Notebook Hardware Control program” --> NHC 2 is out! (with the appropriate APCI-file to allow fan control). On the T42p, I have installed NHC 2, and here I have undervolted the CPU (this has no impact on speed, and only reduces heat and power consumption), and I have also downclocked the GPU to reduce GPU temperature (as it is almost always the GPU temperature that will trigger the fan to go ”on”). The result is that under normal use the T42p fan will only come ”on” for less than 50 % of the time (while being used in a typical indoor environment, around 20 C ambient). When the fan is ”on” it will run at the lowest speed, which is audible, yes, but certainly not in any way disturbing or annoying (and note that I am very picky with e.g. fan noise!). Also, note that the T42p has the silent ”M10” long fan (with the formal name: ”Fan assembly long M10” --> FRU = 13R2657), which cools both the CPU and the GPU (PS: Try search in this T4x forum after ”M10 T42p”, search for both terms simultaneously, and read the threads that comes up). As I have understood from this forum, the T40/T41 fans may remain completely silent (for light work), but I also think that this is possible with a T42 (non-p), if installing NHC and undervolting the CPU/downclocking the GPU. The following threads will also provide more information about fan noise in T42’s: The Better* model of the T4x series???? and The search for the ultimate ThinkPad T4x - The start and end and Fan noise issue for T4x series and T42p Flexview looks amazing!.

By pure coincidence I recently learned that my own T42p seems to have, or have had, some high-frequency fan noise also (?), according to a thread by the seller from whom I bought my T42p: Very high pitched almost inaudible but INTOLERABLE noise. I am not sure if this problem was actually cured before I bought that specific T42p discussed in that thread, of if it has went away by itself later, or it is just my ears which cannot hear this high-frequency noise? Anyway, I never noticed it. The seller also never told me anything about this problem, though, and I also don't ever recall to having seen any reports about this for other T42p's. Note that I have never used my T42p in a dock. Anyway, perhaps keep this issue in mind, if there is a T42p-dock in your future.

As you may perhaps have read from the T6x forum, T60/p's are also not completely free of noise; many T60's have a well-known problem with CPU "whine" (which is actually owing to the Core Duo CPU); see e.g. the thread Fan Whine (incl. see the post there of Wed Sep 12, 2007 6:49 pm). I am not sure if an always-working cure to that problem has been found?

Test after buy: Read what/why here: 2nd hand T42p - what to look out for

Finally:

For what it's worth as info, I've found half a dozen very nice T42p's today for under $800 configured very close to my specs. None had 160gb drives, but several had 120's. And a couple were closer to $600; giving me room to just get a 160 or 200 and put it in later.

Would you be kind to disclose where you have found these T42p’s? Can you provide any prices and specifications?? Are these T42p’s used, refurbished or re-manufactured?? Thanks in advance for sharing this information!

Best regards,

Johan