T42 vs T43 - which should I buy???

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drewnyc · #1 Post by **drewnyc** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:20 am

I've read a million reviews, but am still no closer to deciding.

I have around $2000 to spend, and am a student...

can someone guide me in the right direction?

#2 Post by **BillMorrow** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 12:31 pm

NO one can advise without knowing your primary needs and only you know what you MIGHT want to do later after you discover the abilities of your thinkpad, once you get it..

so, for some better advice, tell us more..

drewnyc · #3 Post by **drewnyc** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 12:50 pm

ok -- here's the scoop -

I currently have a 2378EUU T42/1GB (w/ 6volt battery) which I love love love. But I'm leaving my job, and heading back to school.

so - I want (need) a thinkpad for school work etc - but I can see myself doing a little bit of programming and design work on the weekends (running Apache and MySql etc...)

I'm really worried about the fan noise issue on the T43 -- but since must of my work will be on low CPU apps (word/email), maybe the 1.86Ghz T43 will be quiet enough for library/class work? I dont want to piss of my fellow students in class with a loud fan.

I like the look of the 2687DRU -- and can get a good price through AMEX, but all this talk of hot/loud T43 problems is worrying me..

The T42's seem to be more expensive! maybe IBM is aware of the T43 issues???

so, there's my issue -- I need a laptop to last me 4+ years, and not break my student budget.

thanks for any help...!

#4 Post by **RonS** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 2:16 pm

If I were in the same situation, I would get the nicest T42 I could afford.

#5 Post by **K. Eng** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 5:08 pm

My general advice is T43 if you need every last bit of speed, T42 if you just need a basic office machine

Think carefully about what software you are going to run and then choose a machine.

Greg Gebhardt · #6 Post by **Greg Gebhardt** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 5:54 pm

drewnyc wrote:I've read a million reviews, but am still no closer to deciding.

I have around $2000 to spend, and am a student...

can someone guide me in the right direction?

Looks like Bill Morrow has a as new T42p, the KXU model which is the top of the line 42p. Read the "sticky" note in the top of this section and email Bill as he runs into some excellent trades and you should save some money!

mysbca · #7 Post by **mysbca** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 6:04 pm

drewnyc wrote:The T42's seem to be more expensive! maybe IBM is aware of the T43 issues???

If you really want to get a T42, here are a couple of possibilities:

2378fvu - should be around $1376, upgrade the warranty for $119, buy extra 512MB memory elsewhere for $45-$60 and you still have $100 from the price of the 2668dru to upgrade the harddrive, if needed. It will have a slightly slower processor, but you probably will not notice the difference. According to the tabook, this model is being withdrawn this month.

2373m3u - pay a little bit more and get similar specs to the 2668dru, but with the 7200rpm hard drive.

You'll need to call IBM/Lenovo to get these models or go through the education site to get the student discounts, similar to AMEX.
Or call Bill for the 2373m3u to see what kind of pricing he can get you.

Bill has the 2373m1u for $2049 (on his webpage: http://www.thinkpads.com/start.htm).

#8 Post by **RonS** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 6:19 pm

...the KXU model which is the top of the line 42p.

Actually, the KXU is close to the top-of-the-line T42 series, but it lacks the fingerprint reader and is a 2.0GHz P-M rather than 2.1 on the Q1U.

kaplanfx · #9 Post by **kaplanfx** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 6:28 pm

I have the 2373-M3U and I highly recommend it.

-kaplanfx

sugo · #10 Post by **sugo** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 8:19 pm

If you are sensitive to noise, t42 might be a safer bet.

asiafish · #11 Post by **asiafish** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:00 pm

I have the 2373-GVU T42p and can honestly say that it is the quietest laptop I've ever owned. My 12" PowerBook is VERY close, but has a noisier DVD drive so the ThinkPad gets the nod.

The fan comes on for a second when I first power on, but after that stays silent unless its under a very heavy CPU load, such as rendering video or playing high-end 3D games. For anything else, only the (very quiet) sounds of the hard drive intrude on total silence.

If you want a quiet laptop, even the high-end "P" model T42 won't dissappoint.

Andrew

By the way, got the T42p from Bill with a pixel check. I cannot recommend Bill's business highly enough, it was absolutely the best computer purchase experience I've ever had.

Darth Avenus · #12 Post by **Darth Avenus** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:47 pm

Earlier today, I finally ordered my ThinkPad via IBM/Lenovo's EPP. It's a T42p (2373-GVU). I was told there were only 7 left in stock. I'm not sure though, whether they're still building this model. I assume not, as the Tabook indicates it dates from May 2004. Anyways, this choice was not an easy one, as I had to address issues of screen size, hard drive speed, Wi-Fi card, and, most importantly, how I'm going to use the machine. I hope the build quality meets my expectations of this "Performance" workstation.

bitvector · #13 Post by **bitvector** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:27 pm

drewnyc wrote:I've read a million reviews, but am still no closer to deciding.

I have around $2000 to spend, and am a student...

can someone guide me in the right direction?

The T42 and T43 are significantly similar, but there are a few key differences. The motherboard chipset on the T42 is the Intel i855PM, which supports 400Mhz FSB Pentium M processors and 333Mhz (PC2700) DDR RAM. The T43, on the other hand, uses the Intel i915PM (Sonoma) chipset with a faster 533Mhz front side bus and 533Mhz (PC2-4200) DDR2 memory, and also uses SATA hard drives. This should give a performance advantage at the expense of battery life (as well as extra heat and noise). Some of the T43's use the Intel GMA for video, which uses part of your main memory instead of having dedicated video ram. The performance of the Intel GMA is not good compared to the dedicated ATI solutions.

Personally, I chose a T42 (23739ZU) because I'm not a fan of the Sonoma chipset and related issues (battery life, more expensive / higher latency DDR2 RAM, less ubiquitous SATA notebook hard drives). Also, I didn't like the fact that IBM replaced the T42's integrated Intel e1000 Gigabit ethernet card with a Broadcom gigabit ethernet card. However, by default most of the T43's come with slightly more up-to-date wireless options (the Intel 2915ABG instead of the 2200BG or the IBM a/b/g II vs. the IBM a/b/g), and if you really need a lot of performace, the top T43 CPU offerings are slightly faster as are the non-GMA video options. The T43's come with one PCMCIA and one ExpressCard slot, rather than the two PCMCIA slots of the T42. In addition, the T42's that come with a DVD burners are listed as burning DVD-R/-RW/-RAM and not +R/+RW (but the T42 I recieved ended up coming with the UJ-822 +/- R burner anyway).

Ultimately I think it comes down to performance vs. the related trade-offs (heat, noise, battery, possibly cost).

Scorpiontico · #14 Post by **Scorpiontico** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:34 pm

whatttt, you mean you got a t43 optical drive for a t42, thats luck... regards.

bitvector wrote:
drewnyc wrote:I've read a million reviews, but am still no closer to deciding.

I have around $2000 to spend, and am a student...

can someone guide me in the right direction?
The T42 and T43 are significantly similar, but there are a few key differences. The motherboard chipset on the T42 is the Intel i855PM, which supports 400Mhz FSB Pentium M processors and 333Mhz (PC2700) DDR RAM. The T43, on the other hand, uses the Intel i915PM (Sonoma) chipset with a faster 533Mhz front side bus and 533Mhz (PC2-4200) DDR2 memory, and also uses SATA hard drives. This should give a performance advantage at the expense of battery life (as well as extra heat and noise). Some of the T43's use the Intel GMA for video, which uses part of your main memory instead of having dedicated video ram. The performance of the Intel GMA is not good compared to the dedicated ATI solutions.

Personally, I chose a T42 (23739ZU) because I'm not a fan of the Sonoma chipset and related issues (battery life, more expensive / higher latency DDR2 RAM, less ubiquitous SATA notebook hard drives). Also, I didn't like the fact that IBM replaced the T42's integrated Intel e1000 Gigabit ethernet card with a Broadcom gigabit ethernet card. However, by default most of the T43's come with slightly more up-to-date wireless options (the Intel 2915ABG instead of the 2200BG or the IBM a/b/g II vs. the IBM a/b/g), and if you really need a lot of performace, the top T43 CPU offerings are slightly faster as are the non-GMA video options. The T43's come with one PCMCIA and one ExpressCard slot, rather than the two PCMCIA slots of the T42. In addition, the T42's that come with a DVD burners are listed as burning DVD-R/-RW/-RAM and not +R/+RW (but the T42 I recieved ended up coming with the UJ-822 +/- R burner anyway).

Ultimately I think it comes down to performance vs. the related trade-offs (heat, noise, battery, possibly cost).

JHaislet · #15 Post by **JHaislet** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 1:15 am

bitvector wrote: and also uses SATA hard drives.

NOT CORRECT. While the 915 Series chipsets have silicon support for SATA, IBM did NOT implement that support at the motherboard level. Therefore, there are NO SATA PORTS and NO SATA HDD's in the current T43/T43p Series Thinkpads (As of June '05 tabook). All HDD's and optical drives are IDE.

The same goes for the built-in sound processor inside the 915 chipset. IBM for some reason decided against using it & stuck in the good 'ole SoundMax AD1981B AC97 codec chip.

drewnyc · #16 Post by **drewnyc** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 3:03 pm

well - I finally went with the T42.... I just didn't want to hassle with a hot noisy (but super quick) machine...

A very very very tough decision I must say, with no clear answer, but hey... that's what coin flips are for...

I also got an EPP discount!

2378RRU - 1.7Ghz - 512MB
60GB 72k
Multi-Burner
Office Basic Edition 2003
Bluetooth - WIFI - Finger
4 year Depot warranty
$1700 shipped

Thanks for all the feedback....

roast · #17 Post by **roast** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 3:12 pm

drewnyc wrote:... that's what coin flips are for...

I find that amusing.

#18 Post by **RonS** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 3:25 pm

I think you made a great choice. You will be happy.

bitvector · #19 Post by **bitvector** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:57 pm

JHaislet wrote:
bitvector wrote: and also uses SATA hard drives.
NOT CORRECT. While the 915 Series chipsets have silicon support for SATA, IBM did NOT implement that support at the motherboard level. Therefore, there are NO SATA PORTS and NO SATA HDD's in the current T43/T43p Series Thinkpads (As of June '05 tabook). All HDD's and optical drives are IDE.

Geeze, calm down. My mistake: it's physically PATA, fair enough. The ThinkWiki T43 specs page is incorrect in this regard.

roast · #20 Post by **roast** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 10:04 pm

bitvector wrote:Geeze, calm down. My mistake: it's physically PATA, fair enough. The ThinkWiki T43 specs page is incorrect in this regard.

Fixed.

On a side note, does the chipset support SATA natively?...

sugo · #21 Post by **sugo** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 10:19 pm

The sonoma chipset does support SATA. It also supports a lot of other features but most of them are optional.

roast · #22 Post by **roast** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 11:57 pm

Oh okay. Just wondering, since I think that the ThinkWiki page should probably mention somewhere that the chipset actually does support SATA manually, though I don't think there's any possible way to get access to it (short of replacing the IDE interface).

bitvector · #23 Post by **bitvector** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 8:17 pm

roast wrote:Oh okay. Just wondering, since I think that the ThinkWiki page should probably mention somewhere that the chipset actually does support SATA manually, though I don't think there's any possible way to get access to it (short of replacing the IDE interface).

It should probably say that, even though the drive isn't SATA, the drive is classified as SATA under linux (since support for the ICH6 is through the SATA driver) and will be using libata. This means that the drive will be labeled as a SCSI disk (/dev/sd?) and hdparm may not work with every drive setting.

Aramitz · #24 Post by **Aramitz** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 12:55 pm

sugo wrote:If you are sensitive to noise, t42 might be a safer bet.

Thanks a lot

That's what I want to hear

HamTard · #25 Post by **HamTard** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 5:45 pm

what's "Tabook"? how do I get access to it?

#26 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 6:13 pm

HamTard wrote:what's "Tabook"? how do I get access to it?

Tabook lists the ThinkPad models and their included options. You can get it here:

http://www5.pc.ibm.com/us/me.nsf/webdoc ... tabook.pdf

milesrbruce · #27 Post by **milesrbruce** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 7:25 pm

I to bought a T43 last week. When it arrive, I was very excited. The machines outside apprearance is no different than the T42 machine.

When I started the machine, I heard the fan and right away knew the machine was going back. VERY LOUD on start up and start stop. The machine gets very hot and the screen had a problem on the top of the screen. A pattern shows on the screen, that looks like a jig saw puzzle. The machine was sent back, and I ordered a T42 machine.

T42 vs T43 - which should I buy???

T42 vs T43 - which should I buy???

Re: T42 vs T43 - which should I buy???

Re: T42 vs T43 - which should I buy???

Re: T42 vs T43 - which should I buy???

Re: T42 vs T43 - which should I buy???

Re: T42 vs T43 - which should I buy???

Re: T42 vs T43 - which should I buy???

Re: T42 vs T43 - which should I buy???

good choice

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