My T42 15 inch Flexview very short review

[ssd_thinkpad]

DESIGN & QUALITY
The T42 has very high build quality, it looks slim and very modern (and this is year 2009). The 15 inch thinkpads usually look bulky on photos, but in real life they just look slim. Although of course the display is large. Keyboard is very well, too. Great thing is, that your palms can really rest on the palm rest and are not half way down between your notebook and the table surface when typing like on the x301. One word: comfortable.

SCREEN
Absolutely fantastic. Its comparable to a desktop flatscreen. Black is just black and does not turn gray when increasing backlight. Very good contrast. Viewing angles are 8/10 comparing to high end desktop flatscreens. Be sure people around you can watch what you are doing on the screen.

HEAT & FAN
The downside. I only reviewed this product for a half hour. Just starting the notebook and going to bios to play with settings, I noticed the fan started. Not being used to fans at all it may be silent but possibly this is the usual fan noise. Surprisingly, the air which came out was warm even if the notebook was just started for few minutes and was only showing the bios settings. So what is the T42 doing that makes him getting hot when just getting started?

WEIGHT
The T4x Flexview models have around 2,5 kg weight. You can plug out the ultrabay adapter which will give you around 2,2 kg. That is comparable to the T4x model with 14 inch and ultrabay included. Its weight is not too much. When comparing this 15 inch Flexview with the x301, of course this is day and night. But working on both models, the difference is also the same

CONCLUSION
Extremely satisfied. It looks good, it weights like a normal notebook but is a true desktop replacement, not only a notebook for on the road like the x series. As a sidenote: I will go for the T6x flexview route because it costs only few dollars more, has around one third better battery life and finally most utilities I have to buy anyway (battery, easier to use docking) will work with todays T400 / T500 systems. Of course the T4x docking solutions are extremely cheap you can get them for 20 $.

[sktn77a]

Nice review. Jives with my impression of the T4x over the last 5 years. A couple of observations:

1. If you think the 15" t42 is heavy, try a T61! (must be that cast iron frame they keep bragging about!)
2. I've not had the same probelms with heat and fans. Do you have a T42p? Is it a Radeon 9000/9600 without a long fan? Or maybe it just needs years of dust blown out from the fan area. Also, if the fan/processor has ever been removed, make sure it was put back together with the correct thermal grease and /or pad.

I'm typing this on a T61p (14" 4:3), which is as much of a workout carrying around as my 15" T42 but, to be honest, there's not a lot of different in everyday computing between the two.

[ajkula66]

Make no mistake about it, at the time it was announced, 15" T42/p was a true-blue state of the art machine...Dothan CPU combined with an IPS LCD made it an extremely attractive desktop replacement...and to this day remains a favourite to many people. Beautiful laptop, likely the prettiest 15" ThinkPad ever.

Enjoy...take good care of it and it will return the favour...

[dr_st]

Thanks for the nice review.

I am curious about the weight. How much does it really weigh? Did you / can you measure it with an accurate electronic scale? Lenovo's Tabook pages are not very accurate and post all kinds of weights from 2.4 (which I don't believe) to 2.7 kilos.

[underclocker]

Accurate, nice review, except for the fan part. Most ThinkPad fans will roar if you stay in the BIOS too long. I'm not sure why, but it's possible everything is up to full speed and the machine is just being safe. In use, fans in T42's like that one do not spool up to high very often at all, if ever. Check it out with Windows XP on there and a reasonable power profile. T40/T41/T42's are very quiet machines.

[Johan]

@ ssd_thinkpad:

First, whether the fan is "on" or "off" while in the BIOS really is unimportant... you don't work for hours and hours in the BIOS, do you? What's important, with respect to fan noise is - of course - how high or low it is under various working operations; idle, normal writing/surfing and CPU/GPU intensive work.

Second, please let us know what specific T42 your review is discussing; SXGA+ or UXGA (would probably be a T42p in such case, hence not a standard T42), and what CPU/GPU you have?

Third, kindly resist the temptation to judge your new T42 being "noisy" until you have become a bit more familiar with your options to reduce the fan noise, if there is actually any under normal (non-BIOS!) usage. In this respect, please make yourself acquainted with the free and highly recommended program Notebook Hardware Control (NHC); search this forum for more information about how to use it to reduce power consumption in e.g. ThinkPad's, and hence reduce heat and thus fan noise. See e.g. the threads T42 how-to Fan Control in NHC, POWERPLAY AC plugged, Cat 6.11 (more specificly this post and the links pointed to therein) and the very, very fine and useful guide by forum-member visionpiper --> GUIDE: How to max out your battery life *56K warning - Pics*.

Congratulations with your FlexView T42!. I am so satisfied with mine (I have several, for the same reason, and have been equipping many friends and family members with these FlexView T42's, too!), and I find it hard to think of ever replacing it; its beautiful aesthetically pleasing design, its performance for my needs, the outstanding display, the perfect keyboard... well, just anything!

Johan

[ssd_thinkpad]

Thank you so much for your replies. I reviewed the T42 Flexview model, which is not the T42p. As much as I know, all T42 models have 15 inch SXGA+ ATI 9600 GPU, as this reviewed model has. The shipped notebook was not able to do much more than going to bios so my review was some kind "short". I am aware of disabling the fan with software tools but I noticed that the air of the fan was quiet warm which would be a bad sign to completely cool it passive. As one more conclusion I feel this T42 Flexview is superior to the x301 even for mobile users.

As much as I am happy to tell you my first impressions about this nice notebook, I'd also greatly appreciated if you could help me with a buying decision. This notebook I will give back anyway and therefore am undecided whether choose a T42 Flexview again in better condition or for 300 $ more get a T60 Flexview x1300 GPU. Is the T42 cooler than the T60? To get around the same battery life you should compare a T60 with 6 cell battery to a T42 with 9 cell battery which neutralizes the small weight advantage of the T42. And for being mobile the T60 can offer more hours with the 9 cell battery. But having experiences with an outstanding battery with the x series I do not like this configuration. The biggest downside of the T4 series is the Port Replicator with just 1 USB 1.1 port, the Minidock II having 4 USB 1.1. ports is not for me as it uses a fan that can be manually turned of, but for security issues this is someting I do not want to do. So I would have to buy another usb device to plugin my mouse keyboard printer to the port replicator. The T60 with its Advanced Mini Dock having 4 USB 2 ports seems to be the easiser way. What would you suggest me, going to the T60 or the T42?

[sktn77a]

Lots of questions!

My T4x computers' fans kick in on high as soon as I turn the computer on. I think it's a BIOS test for a fan error. Then they slow down and stop until needed. So if you don't have an OS installed, that's probably the reason for your fan being on high. As far as the USB ports on the dock are concerned a T4x minidock is 1/4 price of a T60 essential port replicator! The T60 series run HOT - hotter than your T42 with a radeon 9600. They are both very nice computers. You have to balance the GPU failure risk of the T4x (a $50-$75 repair) vs the extra cost (substantial) of a T60 and dock.

[ssd_thinkpad]

You are sure a T60 x1300 is hotter than a T42 9600? I know that the T60 x1400 and higher gpus have some heat problems.

I compare without looking at prices as the difference between T4 and T6 flexview models including supplies is maybe 400 $ total which would be okay for me. Battery life is important. From reviews I read that T60 Flexview has 4 hours with 9 cell battery. T4 battery life is said to be inferior. The fewer utilities I have to buy the better.

[Troels]

I had a T42 2379-DXU, i.e. with MR 9600. The only thing i really remember is that under full load the GPU would increase in temperature to 95 degrees C. Everything still stable and fine. My T60p reaches the same temperatures, and not higher under the same conditions - still rock solid. From my little experience, there is zero heat problems with the T6x/p in comparison to the T42 - both run hot, but when they do, the T42 has a less noisy fan.
Lenovo's most phatetically* designed fan control might as well be found in the T60 series - the lowest fan level above "off" is about 3000 RPM.
I would assume that the x1300 would run cooler, but still much more than some sort of integrated graphics.

*) Probably a bit harsh to use here.. or maybe wrong - there must be a reason for their decision.


Nicely done short review, it is very focused, so one doesn't have to read tons of objective stuff that could be found elsewhere.

[ssd_thinkpad]

What about battery life difference between the T42 and the T6x with dedicated graphics?

[Troels]

Hmm, i bought the T42 used, so i'm afraid i can't really give a totally honest oppinion on this. The T42 also had a 6 cell, while the T60p has a 9 cell - but based from this difference, i'd say they *feel* about equal in battery consumption - the 9 cells would of course last longer. Today i have been told that the battery of the T42 i sold holds a 45 min charge, due to the usage and age. That's the sad thing about these Li-Ions i guess.

[Johan]

@ ssd_thinkpad:

A suggestion for you to consider! I have been following (with interest!) your investigation here on the forum to get the best FlexView/IPS ThinkPad, and I understand that you have recently taken ownership of a 15" T42 SXGA+ FlexView/IPS ThinkPad... which (in my humble opinion!) is the nicest Thinkpad ever (note: I haven't seen all ThinkPad's!). Now, I understand that you are turning your interest towards a T60 with the said-to-be cool/low-noise X1300 GPU, and that's for sure interesting as well. My suggestion is this: Keep your T42 for now. Get the T60-X1300, and compare these two. Although I understand that you have some remarks about all this docking-stuff, I'd say: Keep the T42 until you have the T60... you can no doubt always "get rid" of one of these beautiful FlexView-T42's, but on the other hand it may most likely be DIFFICULT for you to find such one (again), if the T60-X1300 (which I hope you find!) does not meet your expectations. In the case you cannot afford to have both the T42 and the T60, the solution is very simple: Get a job! (of get one that pays better!).

Me? I couldn't dream of selling one of my FlexView-T42's... there's no better laptop/display around, to the best of my knowledge. Don't do it... you may very well regret it!

As about where to find the 15" SXGA+ T60/X1300, I'd say: Watch eBay in the USA primarily, but also eBay in Germany, Austria, England and Poland.. and of course Google around! Maybe the German ThinkPad's site as well?

Good luck, and please keep us posted - I'm very interested too in knowing about the fan noise of a T60/X1300 compared to a T42 w/ATI Radeon9600 GPU

Johan

[ssd_thinkpad]

The T42 is in no condition to even test more than its BIOS. I will get my T42 replaced with a T60 and will buy additionally an ultrabay pata adapter and a 9 cell battery. Having a T6 docking solution with 4 USB ports is also great. Finally battery life should be improved. I plan to put my melted but still working pata slc ssd into the pata hdd ultrabay connector and remove its primary sata drive. If the ssd finally fails I'll replace it with a then cheap sata ssd. Eventually I buy a second T61 14 inch integrated GPU model as an extreme road warrior with superior battery life, less footprint and smaller weight and finally more cool and therefore silent system when working at home via docking. I then just exchange the ultrabay hdd to it. Wonder if it is possible to use one primary os hdd on multiple machines.

[beeblebrox]

@ ssd_thinkpad:

A suggestion for you to consider! I have been following (with interest!) your investigation here on the forum to get the best FlexView/IPS ThinkPad, and I understand that you have recently taken ownership of a 15" T42 SXGA+ FlexView/IPS ThinkPad... which (in my humble opinion!) is the nicest Thinkpad ever (note: I haven't seen all ThinkPad's!). Now, I understand that you are turning your interest towards a T60 with the said-to-be cool/low-noise X1300 GPU, and that's for sure interesting as well. My suggestion is this: Keep your T42 for now. Get the T60-X1300, and compare these two. Although I understand that you have some remarks about all this docking-stuff, I'd say: Keep the T42 until you have the T60... you can no doubt always "get rid" of one of these beautiful FlexView-T42's, but on the other hand it may most likely be DIFFICULT for you to find such one (again), if the T60-X1300 (which I hope you find!) does not meet your expectations. In the case you cannot afford to have both the T42 and the T60, the solution is very simple: Get a job! (of get one that pays better!).

Me? I couldn't dream of selling one of my FlexView-T42's... there's no better laptop/display around, to the best of my knowledge. Don't do it... you may very well regret it!

As about where to find the 15" SXGA+ T60/X1300, I'd say: Watch eBay in the USA primarily, but also eBay in Germany, Austria, England and Poland.. and of course Google around! Maybe the German ThinkPad's site as well?

Good luck, and please keep us posted - I'm very interested too in knowing about the fan noise of a T60/X1300 compared to a T42 w/ATI Radeon9600 GPU

Johan

Johan,
maybe I'll write this comparison review in next 2 weeks.
I do own a T42p (Pentium M) UXGA and just bought a T60 (Core Duo) SXGA+ with ATI X1300.
As I do not need gaming power I thought about the most silent system. I do have a Core 2 Duo chip here. Is it true that the BIOS sets to 1900 rpm fan for the CoreDuo, but 2950 rpm for the Core2Duo?
This would mean I rather keep the older CoreDuo and sacrifice 5% speed, but have lower fan noise? Is this correct?

[dr_st]

The difference between 1900RPM and 2900RPM may not be audible. My experience showed that only 3500RPM+ makes a difference. In any case, the BIOS has various algorithms that determine when to spin the fan and at what speed. You can override everything by using TPFanControl.