t43p - why all the complaints?

[kenr]

After reading this forum for about a month I was just about convinced not to buy a t43p with all the complaints about heat, fans, keyboards, Intel 2915 802.11, etc. Despite all this, a co-worker convinced me to purchase one and I did, a 2668-Q2U. I just received it a few days ago and I have the following comments to make concerning other posts I have read.

fan - sure, it's on a lot and you can hear it, but unless you're super-sensitive of the noise or in an ultra-quiet room, you'll never have any problems with it. Perhaps a lot of the complaints are due to it being noiser than previous thinkpad models.

heat - what heat? Runs coolers than my my t23.

disk (2010 error) - Not an issue when you buy a laptop with a 100GB drive in it.

Intel 2915 802.11 a/b/g - works great, no slowdowns, no problems with a Linksys WRT54G. Also works great in Fedora Core 4 once I downloaded the proper drivers and support software.

keyboard- I have the Alps keyboard. Don't know why people are unhappy with it. I find the keys feel good when typing and it doesn't make a lot of noise.

display - this model has the 1600x1200 display. It's very clear, sharp and bright with no pixel defects. Older posts talked about the inability to use the DVI at 1600x1200. If that was an issue, it isn't any longer. It works find with my Dell 2001FP monitor.

linux - Fedora Core 4 works almost 100% out of the box. The Wi-Fi drivers needed extra work by me. I had to add a program to update the screen when the volume control is used. Other than that, no issues! I have not yet tried to see if I can get ACPI to work though.

In closing, I realize in a lot of public forums, the postings dwell on the problems and the negatives. In my case I wanted to balance some of that to indicate that there are satisfied owners of the t43p too.

[christopher_wolf]

Well said Kenr, I own a T43, not a p Model though, and I think it compares very well to the T42 as is; the 2010 Error may be important if you want to swap up for an even more spacious drive; but I think with all the storage options available, including the Ultrabay Slim, 80GB-100GB is most likely enough for most applications (I actually work in a Lab where we have to deal with several machines full of data around 2.5TB; I find no issues when using my Laptop with large amounts of data..I generally keep it at about 65% Free Space when I am done). The Fan, for me at least, does not seem to be a problem. The Wirelesss card performs great and I haven't had a problem with it at all.

[nrj45]

When you read given posts, it seems that guys are unhappy with their machine... I agree with you

My t43p after undervolting, modifying the cooling system will not fan during the 10 first minutes.

Then it will fan in its "1st" speed. Which is completely acceptable, even in the quietest room.

But after about 30minutes it will enter its "2nd" speed. This speed is ennoying when you are in a quiet environment. I mean when you are in a library (i never work in a library). But when you are in a classroom with windows closed, when the teacher will make a pause in his speaking, you and your neighboors will clearly notice the fanning background noise. And be sure that in this kind of situation, the t43/p owner is not very proud of its machine.

Once again my old travelmate 4500 was completely fanless after undervolting... Temps were reaching 50°C with a passive cooling and it was ok. Even after 24hours the fan was not "fanning".

My t43p cost twice the price of my old acer and power schemes are not able to make the thinkpad quiet.

Components are able to work at very high temperatures and acer understood this point. The fan began to fan when the cpu was reaching 65°C at was stopping at 53°C...

My t43p cpu is at 41°C as i'm writing this message and the fan is in its 2nd speed.

For a desktop use this machine shouldn't be as loud as it is

BTW the 2010 error msg is a shame.

Except these points i'm a satisfied user

[rocketman]

I don't know if it's the change from the T42 to the T43 or the change to lenovo, maybe it's both but I've found a big shift in this forum from people singing the praises of their T series Thinkpads to complaints. It's really a big change unfortunately, I hope Lenovo gets the next T series right.

[pae77]

All I can say is Lenovo didn't screw up my recently manufactured and acquired T42p. It's just great!

[JaneL]

I don't know if it's the change from the T42 to the T43 or the change to lenovo, maybe it's both but I've found a big shift in this forum from people singing the praises of their T series Thinkpads to complaints. It's really a big change unfortunately, I hope Lenovo gets the next T series right.

My personal opinion is that it's because more people are participating in the forums now, and many of them have unrealistic expectations.

[tfflivemb2]

I agree with Nonny.

And I don't just think that it is the T4X series laptops. I think that people in general are assuming that technology has come so far that everything electronic should work perfectly.

The truth is, no laptop/computer is perfect. It might be "seem" perfect for one person, but not another. (ie. fan noise, hard drive speed)

[Kyocera]

This forum is only a small cross section of the total t43 usership, and average users don't post in forums until they have a problem and they need to work it out. Bad experiences with tech support or returns fall into the same category of being a very small part of overall tech support service. I'm in tech support and know for a fact that you can't please all the people all the time and electronic equipment is not a perfect science. Software is buggy, power supplies fail, spyware, virus, malware, have to be kept in check, firmware needs to be kept up-to-date, software patches are buggy, etc, etc.

[emorphien]

I agree with Nonny.

And I don't just think that it is the T4X series laptops. I think that people in general are assuming that technology has come so far that everything electronic should work perfectly.

The truth is, no laptop/computer is perfect. It might be "seem" perfect for one person, but not another. (ie. fan noise, hard drive speed)

I agree, but I do think that laptops like the T series and X series are about as close to whatever "perfect" is as you can get when you consider their build quality and performance for their given purposes. The only drawback has historically been price.

As far as fan noise, my T43p keeps the fan off for quite a while, then it will kick in and throttle down to barely audible which is where it will stay almost indefinately until it cools off enough to shut the fan off again. It depends on room temp and what the computer is doing but if it's completely idle it will usually shut off again. Not that it matters much because only when it's chugging at high processor usage for a while does the fan kick up to a level that's plainly audible.

[nrj45]

You're lucky

once my t43p's fan has reach its 2nd speed, it will never reduce/shut down. Even undervolted 800MHz@0.7vcore and powerplay set to minperf.

[floyyed]

You're lucky

once my t43p's fan has reach its 2nd speed, it will never reduce/shut down. Even undervolted 800MHz@0.7vcore and powerplay set to minperf.

Due to T43 series sucks, the NEW T-60 series are coming soon...

[Greg Gebhardt]

If you go back to when the other Thinkpads were introduced, you see the same complaints about fan, heat and keyboards. I guess it is just the nature of these forums.

I could not be more happy with my T43p and like it better than my T43p. I do not understand how people expect a high perfornace laptop to not have some kind of fan noise. Everything is envlosed and it does have to shed it's heat somehow. Under normal conditions I never hear my laptop fan except when booting, after than I have to listen quite closely to hear my fan.

[christopher_wolf]

I actually own a T43, I can say with absolute assurance that I got this upon deciding T43 vs. T42. For me, this is Perfectly suited to my Applications; I would suggest actually trying one out before you give baseless opinions on the T43. That post was not helpful to the overall goal of these Forums, neither is bashing another T Series. There is precious little information about the T60 as of yet, how do you know if it will be "Better" than the T43? Maybe it will be an "Upgraded" T43 model...what then? I think the T42 and T43 are *the* top of the line IBMPC Laptops...arguing between the two because a certain group of users like one and another group like another will get us nowhere.

[GomJabbar]

I could not be more happy with my T43p and like it better than my T43p.

[nrj45]

... I do not understand how people expect a high perfornace laptop to not have some kind of fan noise. Everything is envlosed and it does have to shed it's heat somehow...

If it was i p4 3.6Ghz HT, then i would agree with you.

When my t43p is used for desktop with an appropriated power scheme, it uses 13 Watts. Imagine 13 Watts dispatched between ram, cpu, hdd, display, graphic card. This heat doesn't require this crazy fanning.

My t43p is wonderfoul. But there is clearly engineering problems in the fanning concept.

[christopher_wolf]

Could be, but then again..it is the same fan as on the T42; now there can't be that much difference in the power consumption and heat production level of the T43 and T42 to explain it that way.

[nrj45]

....it is the same fan as on the T42...

Are you sure the t42 also have the long fan system ? (covering the graphig chip).

And in the case it's the same fan, it's perhaps not the case of the controller...

[christopher_wolf]

Well, I do think I asked somewhere here awhile back and I was told it was the same fan...correct me if I am wrong here

The Logic Controller would indeed have been changed..but that much? It isn't as if it is such a huge increase in Power Consumption and Heat Generation that you would need a radically redesigned controller and IBM has been known for obsessive-compulsive accuracy when it comes to the Engineering behind the Machines, especially Thinkpads. So I can't think that they wouldn't test it out under various loads; it could be more of a "Prototype" System perhaps.....

[christopher_wolf]

Sorry for the Double Post

I think today I managed to get my T43 even quiter than my Friend's T42; in class today, for one hour, it did not start the fan up untill five minutes from the end of class while my friend's T42 spooled up its fan and was at least slightly noticable along with some heat that I noticed on the side of my arm. We were both only using Word at the time, so the loads were the same. When I got home and resumed, I found that my CPU Temperature was around 38 degrees and climbed to 43 degrees and stopped for an hour; I could only hear the HDD at this time, then it spooled down and I could detect no sounds. After one hour, the fan slowly spooled up to a quiet level and is now staying there. I have experimented with quite a few power settings through the latest CHC/NHC Release, including the *.ini files, as well as with PowerPlay and the Power Manager. Right now, it is quietly blowing out lukewarm air and is staying around 42-43 Degrees..I will post the configurations that I think give me the most optimal configurations so others with T43s can try it out and see if it works for them. I only have a few more permutations to test though (although this is pretty close to how I had my T43 setup from when I got it; without the NHC though)...standby