New T43 owner

[luckyjack]

Hi all,
Just got a refurbished T43, and I am becoming more and more excited the more I read these forums. I've had laptops for work before, but this will be my first personal lappy.

Because it's a refurb, all I received with it was the power adapter, restore disks, and an invoice. She's a type 1871, but I was curious how do I determine the model type, so I can see what her specific specs and hardware are?

Mainly interested in what type of RAM to by (1 gig right now, so that's the first upgrade),
I've read that the upper limit on RAM is 2 gigs; so is it a given that there is the RAM slot underneath and one under the keyboard, or is that an optional thing?

What is the meaning of life? (just checking)

Also, I've read some posts that refer to upgrading the processor, but I don't remember if that was for a T43; is that something possible with this beauty? If it is upgradable, does the motherboard support dual core by chance?

Any tips/tricks/sage words beyond the "don't evereverever grab it by the corner with the LCD open" (silly GPU)?

I love this board; all my years of IT I've worked almost exclusively with (don't lynch me) Dell laptops, but this is like a whole new world. Okay, I may be close to babbling, I'm just excited about me new precious.

Cheers,

Clever signature goes here

T43 (I keep typing T34, have to myself she's not a Soviet tank) 1871

[ArtShapiro]

Welcome! (Send tri-tip!)

Normally the exact model should be on a sticker on the underside of the unit. If that has been worn or obliterated, I think there's a page on the Lenovo site where it will auto-sense your model, possibly as part of warranty interrogation. I always have to stumble around for that, and others will have it at the tip of their fingers if you need it.

Art

[Harryc]

T43's take 2x1GB sticks of PC2-4200. How does $14 after rebate sound? Welcome to the forum.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820146517

[dsvochak]

The link to the "detect this system" page is:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... eLenovo.do

[killer]

Another welcome to the forum.

I have a 1871-FWG. This is probably a UK only model, but will be very similar to yours. There is normally a 500MB memory underneath the keyboard. You have to remove the keyboard to get to this. It can take a 1GB stick instead of the 500MB stick.

WARNING! Please search the forum to find out about the difficulties you may encounter in removing the keyboard and how easy it is to strip the heads off the screws.

The remaining RAM can be inserted by removing a little panel underneath the machine. This space can take up to 1GB. 2GB is the machines's limit AFAIK.

If you want to find info on your machine you can use PC Doctor or, if you use IE you can go to the Lenovo website and do auto-detect.

About the meaning of life ... the answer is 42.

Good luck, matey.

[exTPfan]

I recommend running siw.exe (google for the free download).
It will tell you everything about your computer including the model number (System summary/product name) and maybe even some of the previous owner's passwords (happened to me).

[sjthinkpader]

... This space can take up to 1GB. 2GB is the machines's limit AFAIK.

....

T43 can take 2GB sticks. I have one with 3GB total. Haven't had success with two sticks of 2GB yet.