14.1" or 15" screen

[monkeybagel]

I am looking to get a new T42p or T43p. I am trying to decide which screen to go with. I will be doing mostly office type work and also be running several VMs with VMware Workstation 5.0. I intend on upgrading the machine to 2GB of RAM. For those that have seen the 14.1" compared to the 15", is the 15" much better? Does it have better image quality or is it just slightly larger? I know it has higher resolution, but I am concerned more about quality. Also if I understand correctly, the 15" takes a hit on battery life compared to the 14.1". Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[daeojkim]

If mobility is not the main concern get the 15". And if you are young and have good eye sight UXGA is just plain awsome.

[fbrdphreak]

If mobility is not the main concern get the 15". And if you are young and have good eye sight UXGA is just plain awsome.

Right on the mark.
Also, unless you have to have the latest technology, I recommend staying away from the T43's. They get worse battery life, only perform 5-10% better AT BEST, and the fans run louder. I have a T43 14" in my possession and while I love the portability over my 15", the fans get annoying. I was sitting in class this morning browsing around and there was a guest lecturer; room was quiet and then the [censored] fans spun up
As to 14 or 15", its all up to portability. If it will be at a desk most of the time and you'd rather have more screen area/higher res, the 15" is awesome. But the 14" SXGA+ isn't a big loss compared to the 15" SXGA+ in terms of desktop real estate.

[IR0NMAN]

14.1 '... longer battery life and smaller form factor. I find the 15' to be bulky compared to a 14.1'.

the only disavantage is the lack of FlexView but ayou get faster response time.

Unless you need the UXGA (1600x1200) of the 15', get a 14.1 SXGA+ (1400x1050)

[monkeybagel]

I currently have a 21.3" LCD desktop monitor that runs 1600x1200. I like the resolution, but I can imagine the same resolution on a 15" would make everything tiny.

Do you think the T43p would have much better performance running 3-4 virtual machines at the same time over the T42p? I had a 2373-92U a while back and it ran really good, but I never ran multiple VMs on it at the same time. It had 1GB of RAM. It had the slow 80GB 4200rpm drive, but I was still very impressed with it's performance and battery life.

[danny_isr]

If mobility is not the main concern get the 15". And if you are young and have good eye sight UXGA is just plain awsome.

Right on the mark.
Also, unless you have to have the latest technology, I recommend staying away from the T43's. They get worse battery life, only perform 5-10% better AT BEST, and the fans run louder. I have a T43 14" in my possession and while I love the portability over my 15", the fans get annoying. I was sitting in class this morning browsing around and there was a guest lecturer; room was quiet and then the [censored] fans spun up
As to 14 or 15", its all up to portability. If it will be at a desk most of the time and you'd rather have more screen area/higher res, the 15" is awesome. But the 14" SXGA+ isn't a big loss compared to the 15" SXGA+ in terms of desktop real estate.

if that's the case and you can hear the fan in a class room then your fan is way way loader then mine. i cannot imagine that on my T43 not even wile playing games. the fan is on all the time , but i can hear it only at night when im browsing in bed. i need to be in super quiet room to hear it ...
maybe yours is defective . and if that's the case check it or send it to service before writing here on every post that T43 got a noise fan,
now when you gave this example i understand that your noise problem is not what i was talking about at all

[aamsel]

I have no idea what the true sales figures are, but...
The 14.1" T series has to far outsell any other Thinkpad that IBM sells.
The 14.1" T series is the "flagship" of the Thinkpad line, that made the Thinkpad what it is today.
Should you ever desire to sell your TP, my guess is that the 14.1" would have higher resale value as well, since more people buy and want them.

I saw the 14.1" and 15" side-by-side and the 15" looked HUGE compared to the 14.1". (in reality it is not that much bigger and heavier).

However, the 14.1" T series is a true compromise between an ultraportable such as the X series that has no optical drive and a larger desktop replacement. To me, the 15" is a desktop replacement, even though it is one of the lightest desktop replacements you will find.

Hope this helps!

Andrew
Austin, TX

[fbrdphreak]

I have no idea what the true sales figures are, but...
The 14.1" T series has to far outsell any other Thinkpad that IBM sells.
The 14.1" T series is the "flagship" of the Thinkpad line, that made the Thinkpad what it is today.
Should you ever desire to sell your TP, my guess is that the 14.1" would have higher resale value as well, since more people buy and want them.

I saw the 14.1" and 15" side-by-side and the 15" looked HUGE compared to the 14.1". (in reality it is not that much bigger and heavier).

However, the 14.1" T series is a true compromise between an ultraportable such as the X series that has no optical drive and a larger desktop replacement. To me, the 15" is a desktop replacement, even though it is one of the lightest desktop replacements you will find.

Hope this helps!

Andrew
Austin, TX

Very well spoken

[fbrdphreak]

if that's the case and you can hear the fan in a class room then your fan is way way loader then mine. i cannot imagine that on my T43 not even wile playing games. the fan is on all the time , but i can hear it only at night when im browsing in bed. i need to be in super quiet room to hear it ...
maybe yours is defective . and if that's the case check it or send it to service before writing here on every post that T43 got a noise fan,
now when you gave this example i understand that your noise problem is not what i was talking about at all

Well, except that 3 or 4 OTHER threads have been started discussing the T43's noisy fan. Maybe you are the one who has a lucky fan and the rest of us the usual ones, who knows. Regardless, try being a little more respectful, thx

[sonoma]

True, I myself like 14" form factor better. However, there's one benefit of owning a 15" model.
I have seen and used both 14" and 15" T43's side by side. To me, 14" LCD cover (lid) is much weaker and can more easily be bent than 15" models. If you just try to open the LCD lid with just one hand, the top right hand corner of the LCD panel will be bent towards the back.
With 15" you don't get this problem. 15" LCD lid does not get bent and is really tough.
Generally speaking, 15" body is stronger and more durable than 14" counterparts. However, 14" is considerably lighter. So I guess there are tradeoffs as always.

[danny_isr]

if that's the case and you can hear the fan in a class room then your fan is way way loader then mine. i cannot imagine that on my T43 not even wile playing games. the fan is on all the time , but i can hear it only at night when im browsing in bed. i need to be in super quiet room to hear it ...
maybe yours is defective . and if that's the case check it or send it to service before writing here on every post that T43 got a noise fan,
now when you gave this example i understand that your noise problem is not what i was talking about at all

Well, except that 3 or 4 OTHER threads have been started discussing the T43's noisy fan. Maybe you are the one who has a lucky fan and the rest of us the usual ones, who knows. Regardless, try being a little more respectful, thx

maybe it's the other way around , and you got the noisy one ? how can you tell ? did you actuaclly heard abother T43 except yours ?
what exactly wasn't respectful in what i wrote ? i just saw you writing those things in multiple posts , about the "T43 noise problem" while there is a big chance it maybe be yours only (I’m talking about that kind of noise that you can hear in a class room)
all the others including me complained about the fact that the fan works continuously , nothing else.
.

[greg0815]

have a look on this thread for a comparison of 14.1" and 15": http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=8288

[awolfe63]

I currently have a 21.3" LCD desktop monitor that runs 1600x1200. I like the resolution, but I can imagine the same resolution on a 15" would make everything tiny.

Do you think the T43p would have much better performance running 3-4 virtual machines at the same time over the T42p? I had a 2373-92U a while back and it ran really good, but I never ran multiple VMs on it at the same time. It had 1GB of RAM. It had the slow 80GB 4200rpm drive, but I was still very impressed with it's performance and battery life.

I would be shocked if you could tell the difference between a T42p and T43p running them side by side. Get a 2GHz or 2.1GHz T42p. With 4 VMs you are better off spending the money on 2GB RAM.

[fbrdphreak]

[quote]maybe it's the other way around , and you got the noisy one ? how can you tell ? did you actuaclly heard abother T43 except yours ?
what exactly wasn't respectful in what i wrote ? i just saw you writing those things in multiple posts , about the "T43 noise problem" while there is a big chance it maybe be yours only (I’m talking about that kind of noise that you can hear in a class room)
all the others including me complained about the fact that the fan works continuously , nothing else.[/qoute]
Perhaps they are different problems then; the fan on this T43 does not run constantly. Instead, due to the higher operating temperature of the 533MHz Dothan, it has to spin up the fan on a regular basis while on battery. On average, it runs around 50 C while my 15" T42 1.7 runs about 40 C on battery. This is a pretty big difference if you ask me. I did not mean to imply that the fans on this notebook were defective, but that due to the excess heat generation the fans must run more frequently and thus the total operation of the notebook is louder.