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Thinkpad T430 or T430s?

Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 3:31 am
by PRAGUEGUY
Hi, what do you think about the relative portability/performance/price comparison of these two?

I need a PC for moderate-medium performance
(general Office Suite work, occasionally have to work with large Excel spreadsheets containing financial analysis, embedded in PowerPoint presentations).
They sometimes cause the current old Dell latitude E6400 (Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 @2.40 GHZ, 2M RAM) to freeze or become unresponsive.
How do these two laptops compare? My travel by air is occasional, but I carry the laptop to and from work, I have some back pain problems so every gram of weight saved is good.

Is the low weight and compactness of the s version paid for by some compromises, lower durability/toughness/resilience against occasional falls, hits to the laptop?

Does the s version lack any of the extendability options of the normal T430, like replacing the CD drive with a hard drive(will I be constrained by a smaller HDD in the Ultrabay, due to size/HDD height limitations, etc?)
- can I install an M Sata in the T430s, is the choice of the M Sata drives in any way restricted in comparison with the normal T430?
I must admit I am very much attracted to the s version, but I would like to know any drawbacks, except the extra price, that the S version has.

-There are many threads about decreasing worksmanship quality of the Thinkpads now…can I hope that the more funky , manager-oriented s version will have less corners cut, in the quality of plastics, etc?

will welcome any of your comments.
I know I should google these things up – but, on my E-shop’s website, the specs, mainly the expandability specs, are simply non-existent.
I have now way of checking out the M Sata and Ultrabay HDD expandability, for instance. The specs dont even mention these, as if they did not exist. I expected to find compatible Ultrabay drives/Msata discs, with prices, in the Recommended Accessories tab…there is no such thing. thanks.

Re: Thinkpad T430 or T430s?

Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 1:52 am
by Kaso
The T430s is slimmer and weighs less than the T430. (YouTube review comparing the two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLpMSEfPw4Y .)

Like the T430, the T430s can be upgraded to have up to 3 drives: mSATA SSD, 7mm HDD/SSD in the main bay, 7mm/9.5mm HDD/SSD in the UltraBay with a suitable caddy adapter. However, if you use the UltraBay to hold a drive, you lose the flexibilty of adding a second 3-cell battery there. And if you use WWAN, you cannot add mSATA SSD as only one of those cards may be inserted into the PCIe slot.

The T430 can accept a 6-cell or 9-cell battery in the battery bay at the back. The 9-cell battery protrudes about 2cm. (You can easily look up photos on this.)