So after testing out and tweaking my T41p..

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..I am very satisfied with it. Not only was the price awesome, compared to my T20 it is way better built and feels alot more rugged. I have some reservations about taking the keyboard off to add more RAM (looks difficult) and maybe down the road once the warranty expires, swapping out procs for a high end Dothan (maybe they'll be cheaper then). I did find one stuck pixel, but it doesn't bother me too much. After testing and benching some games, I am very pleased with the quality of the graphics chipset.

Anyone here taken a KB off their T4x series? My machine is screaming for 2GB of RAM. Also, do the Omega drivers make much of a difference?

TIA

[Conmee]

Interesting, I thought my T21 was more of a rugged brick than the T40/1/2 series (and I've owned them all).

First, this is a forum with serious geek quotient, so asking "Has anybody done X?" is generally answered in the affirmative. Keyborads, bezels, fans, drives, are usually the first things folks dissect around here. lol

Don't be intimidated by keyboard removal, it's 4 simple screws. Nothing to it. Download the Hardware Maintenance Manual for exploded views of all the Thinkpad parts/screws/locations. I think the link to the HMM is somewhere in this forum under FAQs.

As for the Omega drivers... depending on what you're looking for (gaming speed and in certain circumstances, driving 1600x1200 out the Dock II DVI port are two main reasons to use the Omegas), it may or may not be worth your while. The IBM drivers are quite stable, and unless you're going to combine Omegas with overclocking, you're really only looking at 10%-12% benchmark improvements and 2-5fps in games, depending upon the game, etc. But for hardcore folks, every fps or % point counts.

Welcome to the forum, btw.

Daniel.

[simms]

Interesting, I thought my T21 was more of a rugged brick than the T40/1/2 series (and I've owned them all).

First, this is a forum with serious geek quotient, so asking "Has anybody done X?" is generally answered in the affirmative. Keyborads, bezels, fans, drives, are usually the first things folks dissect around here. lol

Don't be intimidated by keyboard removal, it's 4 simple screws. Nothing to it. Download the Hardware Maintenance Manual for exploded views of all the Thinkpad parts/screws/locations. I think the link to the HMM is somewhere in this forum under FAQs.

As for the Omega drivers... depending on what you're looking for (gaming speed and in certain circumstances, driving 1600x1200 out the Dock II DVI port are two main reasons to use the Omegas), it may or may not be worth your while. The IBM drivers are quite stable, and unless you're going to combine Omegas with overclocking, you're really only looking at 10%-12% benchmark improvements and 2-5fps in games, depending upon the game, etc. But for hardcore folks, every fps or % point counts.

Welcome to the forum, btw.

Daniel.

I use the Omega drivers for their supposedly better Powerplay functionality. I used to use ATI tool until I realized that using the Omega drivers gave me another 30minutes-1 hour extra battery.

[Conmee]

Thanks Simms... I knew I forgot to mention one of the advantages, perhaps, the most important one, to mobile users.

Daniel.