Just bought my first Thinkpad !

[alexzabr]

Well, after long time of hunting and headaches searching for the deal that would allow me owing T4x machine for my study, I managed to win an Ebay auction for a brand new T43 in basic configuration
(1.8GHz 750, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB HDD, 14.1" XGA driven by ATI x300 and the rest of regular stuff). All that for 1050$ which sounds to be a fair price for that (not including S&H, of course).
Haven't yet had contact with the seller to discuss the details, hopefully will be resolved soon.
Since I'm not in US, secured (Fedex) shipping will certainly cost considerably (I guess around 150$) and then I'll have to pay our local VAT (16.5% on top of all that), yet the deal sounds very good to me (assuming everything will go smooth) since in my country, local purchase of similar system would cost one an arm and leg, literally around 1900-1950$ ! (and I supposedly will get away with around 1400-1450$, unless I'll figure somebody who will be flying to Israel from US anytime soon, actually very soon, in which case the deal would be a steal ...)

Well, this is my first Thinkpad and first laptop ever, need it for my study - finishin B.Sc.EE - lots of MATLAB, Office and similar...

[dreamYu]

congratz alexzabr for your first thinkpad - I think you will enjoy it

As you can see in my sig, I have probably the same model, and I _had_ to give an arm and a leg for it. Here in Austria, I had to pay € 1799,- EUR for the "basic" version (the upgrade to 2GB RAM was a bit later). Remember that the EUR is even higher than the USD

However, I'm very happy with my machine right now, so the amount of money spent on it doesn't hurt anymore

[Delmarco]

welcome!

It seems that alot of T4x's are sold with similar specs...regardless of price...

Always that 40GB HD & 512MB combo...

Hey,
is that B.Sc.EE as in Electrical Engineering or Environmental Engineering-like me?

[alexzabr]

Yeah thanks, we will wait until the deal is cleared and I get my laptop as expected.
Your model is actually more expesive because you've got SXGA display (high resolution) and larger HDD so that adds up to its estimate.
(The models similar to yours but with regular half gig RAM usually sell brand new on Ebay for about 1300-1400$, so you "pain" paying huge overhead buying locally in Austria can be lesser now.. )

As soon as hopefully my machine will arrive safely and everyting will be OK as auction promissed - I intend to upgrade my RAM to 1 gig which will turn it into my main working machine for study and project.
40 GB HDD is by no means well enough by today' standards, but I guess it will satisfy my needs for a time being....

[Delmarco]

Hey,
is that B.Sc.EE as in Electrical Engineering or Environmental Engineering-like me?


Also 2 GB Ram, and get the 100GB@7k!

[alexzabr]

welcome!

It seems that alot of T4x's are sold with similar specs...regardless of price...

Always that 40GB HD & 512MB combo...

Hey,
is that B.Sc.EE as in Electrical Engineering or Environmental Engineering-like me?

Thank you.
Yes, there are safficient amount of T43 appearing on Ebay sold with basic configuration (perhasp aside of ATI x300 at least). It seems such configuraiton was most frequency sold and produced, it seems the brand new of such as just releasing old stocks.
I know, many companies that equip their engineers (mainly hi-tech industry) with laptops instead of desktop PCs were (and still are) buying T4x in this basic configuration to save on price, hence large stock were produced by IBM and need to be sold out to make the room for new generations (T60 and similar).
This is actually good sign for many users like me, who need reliable workhorse of laptop for work/study and not being able to afford Thinkpad new models (at least for now).
Even in its basic configuration, T43 (or 41 or 42) are the answer for all, but most demanding work/study related applications with mobility and price point are an improtant factor.

[alexzabr]

welcome!

It seems that alot of T4x's are sold with similar specs...regardless of price...

Always that 40GB HD & 512MB combo...

Hey,
is that B.Sc.EE as in Electrical Engineering or Environmental Engineering-like me?

Sorry, I hit reply button priro to obtaining your response..
Anyway, yes, I'm finishing now B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering majoring in DSP, Control and an insights into VLSI
Have another 2 semesters (one of these I'm finishing now) and final project. All of our homework is now MATLAB-based and my final project will have lots of MATLAB workload. I also work in the industry and taking care of my family (two beautiful daughters, my other half,...) so I need the mobility with my PC to keep up with study load (so can work on that in the campus or at work).
This is why the call for a good and reliable laptop came up...

[christopher_wolf]

Sorry, I hit reply button priro to obtaining your response..
Anyway, yes, I'm finishing now B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering majoring in DSP, Control and an insights into VLSI
Have another 2 semesters (one of these I'm finishing now) and final project. All of our homework is now MATLAB-based and my final project will have lots of MATLAB workload. I also work in the industry and taking care of my family (two beautiful daughters, my other half,...) so I need the mobility with my PC to keep up with study load (so can work on that in the campus or at work).
This is why the call for a good and reliable laptop came up...

Excellent, I can be sure you will enjoy your new T43.

I have used my T43 for similar things, mainly controller design and attenuation in Simulink. Even with PyMol and various IDEs going, it still snapped through the simulation like nothing else.

Good luck with your Final Project and the B. Sc. EE

[ThinkPad]

Congrats!

[nirvana0001]

why don't you try t60? only $985 + free shipping

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?s ... adid=17662

I am thinking to get a new laptop for college too. Mac book pro seens quite attractive to me.

[alexzabr]

why don't you try t60? only $985 + free shipping

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?s ... adid=17662

I am thinking to get a new laptop for college too. Mac book pro seens quite attractive to me.

Well, I'm not sure you noticed, I'm not in US, I'm in Israel.
All of these didscounts for T43/60 people are talking about (on Lenovo site and some retailers) are for US purchasers only and in most cases for machine types that carry US-only warranty, not an international one.
Similar model sold for worldwide use (carry internaitonal warranty) are sold for much more (couldn't find T60 at any US retailer good for me cheaper then 1400-1500$), quite similar goes to T43.

[alexzabr]

Thank you all, guys.
Hopefully the deal will go smooth and the machine will turn to be all that I was looking for....(at at least all)

[dreamYu]

40 GB HDD is by no means well enough by today' standards, but I guess it will satisfy my needs for a time being....

Just try too keep your Thinkpad smooth and tidy without too much crap on it and get an USB HDD for the big data junks which you dont need _all_ the time (music, movies, backup, pics, ...)

[christopher_wolf]

40 GB HDD is by no means well enough by today' standards, but I guess it will satisfy my needs for a time being....

Just try too keep your Thinkpad smooth and tidy without too much crap on it and get an USB HDD for the big data junks which you dont need _all_ the time (music, movies, backup, pics, ...)

Recommended Procedure ^

That is what I do on my T43 and it runs flawlessly.

[alexzabr]

Yes, cannot disagree with that.
I have USB 2.0 exteral HDD setup (though also only 40 GB so far) so it will serve me well.
I'm not a gamer at all, always strive to keep my PC as clean as possible from any of software that I do not actually use.
What I intend to keep on my T43 is study-related stuff such as docs, labs, MATLAB with all related software, perhaps will need to borrow Visual C++ if I'll need some modest software design for project, web serfing and emailing. This is pretty much all I need.
No games, movies or any other bloatware.
I think 40 GB (actually around 35 MB bearing IBM recovery hidden partition) will serve me well as long as I use it for study, however after a year (or year and half), once my degree will be behind me, I'll consider expanding my HDD capabilities.

Right now, the only immediate upgrade I consider is adding additional half gig RAM to 1 gig total which sounds well rounded for my kind of expected work.