
Some specs:
FHD mod with a B140HAN01.2
Classic T420 keyboard (this one was an NMB)
NVS 5400M
i7-3840QM with Delta fan (yes, it came with a Delta with discreet cooler, so I left it)
16 GB DDR3L 1866 (I would have liked 2133, but it's double the price)
Samsung Evo 860 512 GB
Intel Wireless AC 7260
Fully unlocked BIOS (this thing is absolutely insane, with 999+ options)
So, first I'll mention some build notes, and then I'll talk about why I built it with some benchmarking/comparing to what I'm replacing.
1) Display
So, for the display mod, I bought one of the standard 'behind-the-LCD' kits from e-qstore on eBay. These kits do work perfectly fine with no flickering, but they DO slightly press up against the screen and cause some back light bleed. I see that the newer kits are designed to be installed under the keyboard - I think this is a FAR better location, and I'd suggest if getting a newer kit you go for one of these. While the back light bleed isn't 'extreme' and isn't really noticeable under normal use, with a fully black screen it is quite noticeable. It doesn't really bother me though. I did try to space the screen a little, with tiny metal washers between the screen and the panel, though it had little effect. It also seems to 'push up' a little against the outer display frame this way as well. Also, I bought a B140HAN01.2 since they were available locally. From the data sheets, it seems that the B140HAN01.3 is VERY SLIGHTLY thinner - this may or may not have had an impact on the backlight bleed. Regardless, if I was doing it again (and had known about it), I would have insisted on an under the keyboard board.
2) BIOS mods
For this one, I followed "The Definitive T430 Modding Guide" published by a very nice person on the internet. I found someone to build the BIOS for me over at bios-mods, and I already had flash programmers from other things I've done, so this wasn't something too new for me. However, the BIOS is at the BOTTOM of the laptop, which means you need to completely remove the motherboard from the machine to get to the IC (though you can keep it in the 'skeleton', still takes a while). On top of unlocking AES and removing the whitelist for cards, it opens up the advanced BIOS menu which has MANY settings. Most of these, I hardly understand. I spent hours playing around with these, and this is what I 'came up with'.
- Enable most disabled ACPI features
- Enable most disabled sensors
- Enable DPTF (Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework - I had to read a lot about this one. Some people say it thermal limits their laptops too soon. Turning it on, seems to create some thermal 'lag' in some places, but seems to give Windows more control over how the CPU is clocking. At the end of the day I left it on, as it seems to run slightly cooler, and I threw a 45 watt CPU into a 35 watt machine)
- Turn the CPU/iGPU turbo current limits down SLIGHTLY and drop the max watt draw a little (I used 36 watt long term 43 watt short term)
- Drop the fan minimum point way down (to 31C) and the high point way up (to 63C). This unit has the delta fan, so until it gets >75% it's almost inaudible anyway.
I have no idea what most of these REALLY do, so it was mostly experimentation.
3) Thermals
This isn't really anything to do, but I think the system runs quite reasonably. With the settings above, I get around 39/40C at idle. During most tasks, CPU power is used in short burts - i.e. loading Visual Studio and two instances of WebStorm will temporarily peak the CPU ~70C and it will drop. Doing things like watching FHD YouTube video will keep it somewhere around ~58C. BEFORE my BIOS modifications, I decided to stress test it with a game (to stress both the NVIDIA and CPU), which was the X-Com remake at FULL settings, windowed at 1600x900. In this case, the CPU WILL get pretty close to max - it will go over 100, but I haven't seen it hit MAX (which is 105 for the 3840qm). It hovers somewhere between 98-103C. AFTER my BIOS modifications, it seems to throttle itself much earlier. It actually doesn't run much worse either - there is an occasional lag (that I didn't notice previously), but it won't exceed 100C. It sometimes peaks up to ~98C, and then drops back down to/hovers around ~91C. I think this is reasonable for what I put in it.
4) Battery
I almost forgot about this one. I wasted HOURS of my time trying to figure out what was wrong with the laptop. There were some random crashes, sometimes, when the Nvidia was loaded, and eventually with X-Com I caused the system to fully shut off. After measuring the draw from the CPU, and realizing it was only at ~28 watts when the system completely shut off, I suspected a different culprit.
As of yet, I'm not going to blame the knockoff. I bought a knockoff 6 cell T430 battery by accident - I bought it on eBay as it was in my city and priced reasonably, and didn't realize it wasn't real until after I got it. To be fair, the auction never said GENUINE, and if I had looked at the label more closely ... Anyway, it was the cause of the random crashing/shutdowns. After putting in the 9 cell battery that came with the machine, it has run fine ever since. At this point, I don't want to blame it being a knockoff, as it could be 6 cell vs 9 cell, BUT, considering the system was shutting off at <30 watt CPU draw, which is less than the laptop is actually spec'd for, I have a feeling the battery being a knockoff is the issue rather than it being a 6 cell. I will eventually confirm this ...
5) Keyboard
Well, I actually screwed this one up, TWICE. I ended up buying a new palmrest, since my first attempt cut/scratched it all up.
My second attempt, I didn't realize that the keyboard does NOT slide into the palmrest, there are actually latches on the magnesium frame that the keyboard notches slide into. Luckily, I was very careful this time with the dremel, and didn't produce much noticeable while sanding down the areas on the palmrest where I assumed the keyboard lached into. I was trying to avoid sanding down the tabs on the keyboard - this is unavoidable if you want the keyboard to slide in/be removed as designed.
Basically there are two challenges to get this keyboard mounting 'as designed'. The first being the tabs are too tall - they need to be sanded down. The second being that the 'beveled area' with the Think/power button has two notches at the left and right that extend to the back of the keyboard, while the T430 keyboard does not. These are required so that the keyboard can 'slide' into the back of the palmrest/casing so that the tabs can be pushed down into/slide into the slots. CAREFULLY dremelling out maybe half a CM where the keyboard is rasied there will permit sliding the keyboard back, and having it slide back into the notches when sanded down.
I didn't do a perfect job, but it looks pretty close (close enough) I think. The gap is 'reasonable', and this lets you service/treat the keyboard as one normally would. (Yes, it got a little scratched)

Now, lets do a little comparison!
The main reason I'm building this is that I'm a software developer and my company gave me a MacBook Pro. I cannot stand this thing. This thing is one of the worst designed computer I've ever used. Lets look at one of the primary reasons why, before I even get into some comparisons.

The keyboard on this MacBook Pro (including the touchbar), is IMO, completely unusable. The key travel is like 0.05mm. It feels like you're tapping on a sheet of plastic. They might as well have just made the entire surface a touch screen. The touch bar of course, is even worse. I need to be able to keep my fingers on the function keys while debugging/viewing to issue commands, HOW do you even do that on a touch bar?
Well, here was my temporary solution (next to the T430F!)

For anyone forced to use one of these, SK-8845 fits AMAZINGLY well on a 15 inch MacBook Pro. The back feet actually 'lock' into the touchbar area (and can't trigger the touchbar) and the front feet just clear the keys. Anyway ...
Issue #1: This thing gets HOT. You'd think sticking a 3840QM into a T430 would be hotter. NOPE! With its i7-7700HQ, this MacBook Pro IDLES at around 55C. Imagine when it's working. Lets also include the fact that this thing is an all aluminum body - giving it a workout, and the rear of the laptop (around the touchbar) can heat up to nearly 50C! It almost HURTS to touch it. The CPU will max out at less heat than the T430 (though it will start to accumulate across the body and increase), but at least the T430 doesn't have direct-to-hand transfer.
Issue #2: It doesn't sleep properly. I don't even know what to say here. About 1/2 the time I close it and throw it in my bag without checking, when I take it out, the laptop (BODY) is at about 80C and is completely shut down and in a thermal shutdown state. I give up.
Issue #3: Under Windows, the GPU is always corrupting the display, and displaying things corrupted.
Issue #4: It only has USB-C. 4 ports of USB-C. I don't mind USB-C - I think it's a good idea, but is NOT a replacement for normal USB. Therefore, one USB to USB-C dongle has completely cracked off, and one actually cracked the aluminum on the side of the mac where the port is. This is with normal office use. Plus, everyone who runs multiple monitors (not me) has issues with the USB-C connecting reliably. Again, power/data over the same plug sounds like a good idea, being able to share with a phone, sounds like a good idea, but what am I supposed to do with my mice and portable HDD and flash drives?
Admittedly, it does have a nicer screen and better sound than any laptop I've seen before. If only I really cared about that ... or if only Lenovo would copy the only good thing about this laptop, a 16:10 display.
Well, now lets see how close T430F that I built for <$700USD compares with MacBook Pro that sells for $2,399 USD
T430 benchmark

MacBook Pro benchmark

Not too bad, actually
In terms of CPU speed, the MacBook pro isn't even 1% faster. The RAM is within 5%. Considering it's almost 4 times the price ...
Admittedly yes, the graphics are 3 times faster in the MacBook - but I expected that being almost 5 years newer. Unless you're playing games, I'm not sure this matters so much. What did surprise me however, is that the SSD in the MacBook Pro is actually 3 times! faster than the Evo 860 in the T430. I didn't think that would be nearly as extreme. My guess is, the Evo 860 is being limited by the SATA3 speeds in the T430, and that the Mac is using a high speed NVMe interface.
At the end of the day, I'm pretty happy how my T430F turned out! I would benchmark it against the T25, but I'm assuming it would win in CPU/RAM speed and lose in everything else. Now if I can convince someone to let me throw this MacBook out a window for having been forced to use it so long ...
