Thinkpads Forum

I am interested in how you old timers (folks who have had several thinkpad models) would rank the various A series and T series for reliability (especially heat related issues)

which of these are the gold standard, and which were the relative stinkers?

I am especially interested in how the 15" non-widescreen models stack up and especially the ones that had UXGA available:

so I guess that means these models specifically: T60, T60p, T43p, T42p, A31p, A30p, A22p, A21p

I've had one T60, many A31p, many A22p and all of 'em have held up well; no heat issues. Used in an office space mainly, with some light road warrior usage. Main thing that crapped out for me on the A31p & A22p were the screens; eventually, they give up the ghost.

I also had to move on to more modern cpus and technology, so hanging on to the old stuff wasn't that much of an issue.

Now days, I use external monitors, so I'd guess the laptop displays should last quite a while, with such light usage.

I have found the T42p and T43p machines to be the least reliable. I thought the A30 had power problems frequently. I have found the T60 reliable. The most common problem I've seen was cracked screens, as if the case flexed too much. That makes sense because the T61 added a magnesium frame around the screen.

A21p and A22p suffer from "blink of death" but are sweet machines apart from that. However, 512MB RAM limit does limit their usability nowadays.

A30p had a lot of GPU problems with VRAM corruption which are not treatable by re-balling or re-flowing. Tends to run hot. Otherwise a nice machine.

A31p suffers from GPU detachment, and occasionally from VRAM corruption. Still hard to beat in certain respects, but not the most reliable unit on Earth.

T42p suffers from GPU detachment and Southbridge problems. Proceed with caution.

T43p suffers from occasional Southbridge problems, and very rarely GPU problems. IBM's swan song was a pretty sweet one.

T60p is likely the sturdiest of the bunch, but will encounter an occasional issue with VRAM corruption. An extremely usable machine nowadays when maxed out.

My opinion on what the best trade-offs are is in my signature...

Hope this helps.

I like the T22 1Ghz a lot and they held up even with a lot of heat from the CPU. I think the T2x series set the tone for the later modern Thinkpads.

My T42p 15 inch held up much more so than my T41 14 inch. This T42p work so well that I kept holding off on upgrading. Eventually it gave way to a T43p 15 inch with Windows7. I think T4x 15 inch are much better machines than 14 inch. The sibling R52 15 inch are very rugged too.

My T60 for work traveled on average 100K miles for 3 years and it held up. It just got replaced with a T61.

I have been using t42 2373-F2G 15' 1024x768 for 5 years now (not sure if it makes me an "old IBM guy" though). It failed once, due to factory-malprogrammed EEPROM (after 1 year it started causing randomly CRC errors on boot, after reflashing of EEPROM (done at service, no chip soldering involved) - never failed; I had seen only 1 BSOD (after installing of AVG, right after the only full system reinstall 3 years ago - on HDD upgrade))

T42s had their isues, but these depended on particular unit. My proved "immortal". I most appreciated SILENCE - not much of it left at T60s: high -pitch sound drives me crazy... I loved my flawless screen, strangely - T60 XGA screen by CHI-MEI on my older T60 (2007-FE2) feels uncomfortable to my eyes, despite lowered backlight brightness. My 2nd T60 (2007-FHG) is still waiting for new LCD after I disassembled malfunctioning UXGA screen by BOE-Hydis (horizontal lines appearing on lid flexing, it was not cable issue). I was testing Samsung LTN150XG-L08 LCD for a while in it, but this also feels inferior to the LCD in T42. I cannot even explain that - just my eyes get tired faster. No stability issues on T60 so far.