Long term T40 series reliability

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unimorpheus · #1 Post by **unimorpheus** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 7:15 pm

Just out of curiosity how frequent are motherboard swaps. It appears to me the frequency of motherboard replacement is higher than what should be expected of the T40 series of notebooks. Is it my imagination or is the replacement rate higher than other models of Thinkpad or other brands of laptops in general. I have always worked with older Thinkpads and have come to expect years of trouble free service. I have a 380D that will power up and run to this day. I wonder if I can get that kind of reliability from a T series after tens years of use?

christopher_wolf · #2 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 8:57 pm

unimorpheus wrote:Just out of curiosity how frequent are motherboard swaps. It appears to me the frequency of motherboard replacement is higher than what should be expected of the T40 series of notebooks. Is it my imagination or is the replacement rate higher than other models of Thinkpad or other brands of laptops in general. I have always worked with older Thinkpads and have come to expect years of trouble free service. I have a 380D that will power up and run to this day. I wonder if I can get that kind of reliability from a T series after tens years of use?

Yes; we have several T Series systems in the labs that have gone through, not intentionally either, torture tests of getting dropped, banged, splashes of various liquids, bending...And they still run just fine since the day they were obtained.

One of my post-doc friends in the lab has had his T40 since he started doing work on his thesis and it still runs to this day with no operational deficiencies. On the outside, you can tell it has been used for a long time, but I haven't heard of a problem with it yet.
*knocks on wood*

#3 Post by **K. Eng** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 10:27 pm

There are never any gauarantees as far as whether a particular notebook will fail. Without any statistics, its hard to say whether the T40 breaks more than any other T4x. My own perception is that the T40 is only marginally reliable, based on the number of complaints here and my own experience.

Why are you so worried? You have a T43! As far as my perception goes, the T41, 42, and 43 don't seem to have an abnormal number of problems.

unimorpheus · #4 Post by **unimorpheus** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 11:23 am

K. Eng I do apologize about the wording of the original post. I misstated my question.

What I was referring to was the T4x series as a whole. I did not mean the T40 specifically. You are correct I own a T43, not to say I am not concerned about issues involving a T40 as that machine is part of the T4x series I was referring to. Please replace 'T40' with 'T4x' in my original post. Thanks.

asiafish · #5 Post by **asiafish** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 1:22 pm

Looking around the internet it would seem that the T4x series are not less, but more reliable than the average notebook. Don't forget that original T40 laptops are now approaching three and four years of age, so there will be component failures. That said. the machines themselves are the standard against which the rest of the industry, including the current T60 models are compared. You don't become the benchmark by being a mediocre product.

kstuart · #6 Post by **kstuart** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:30 pm

If you read the ____ Forum, where ____ represents any product - cars, DVD players, PDAs, whatever, you will get the impression that _____ is unreliable and riddled with problems.

This is because people who have problems with _____ , go to the trouble of finding the Forum and asking for help.

tim S · #7 Post by **tim S** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:40 pm

I use my T40 only rarely, but it does travel with me 2 or three time a year and I have no complaints at all. Now 3 years old, its in need of a battery and I have one dead pixel (14"XGA), which is over to one side so I don't really notice it. The laptop itself is still as new and works flawlessly. I've added internal bluetooth, 1Gig of memory and the long cooling fan (for no particular reason!). What I really love about the T40 is that it's small and light, so from a traveling standpoint it can't be beat. It's even lighter than the X series with the media slice attached!
Tim S

#8 Post by **K. Eng** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:50 pm

No need to appologize!

unimorpheus wrote:K. Eng I do apologize about the wording of the original post. I misstated my question.

asiafish · #9 Post by **asiafish** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:03 pm

Lighter than the X with the media slice, but much heavier than the X without the media slice.

#10 Post by **Kyocera** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:11 pm

Kstuart,

If you read the ____ Forum, where ____ represents any product - cars, DVD players, PDAs, whatever, you will get the impression that _____ is unreliable and riddled with problems.

This is because people who have problems with _____ , go to the trouble of finding the Forum and asking for help.

Ditto to this. I'm not sure if this is obvious to some people. Average Joe/Jane computer/thinkpad user does not get online to espouse the wonderfullness of thier computer.

asiafish · #11 Post by **asiafish** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:12 pm

Nope, but when [censored] off that the whatever doesn't work, he or she can rant quite loudly.

unimorpheus · #12 Post by **unimorpheus** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:17 pm

kstuart I agree completely but what you also find in these forums are trends. I participate in the Xterra forum and have been able to extract the more problematic areas of those vehicles. This is good information if you happen to own the reported product as it can give you tips on thinks to look out for or issues to address before they become costly. As far as Thinkpads are concerned the above rule does not apply. When a planar dies well... it’s dead. Not much you can do to prevent that one.

What I am referring to are two things that I have noticed. One is the near elimination of the 3 year ‘free’ warranty. Two, is the ease at which Lenovo will replace a planar board. Now hear in lies the rub. If I have to purchase another laptop, which I will be shortly as a backup/desktop, I would by a Thinkpad no questions asked. I am not knocking the brand I just want to know if and how far Lenovo has deviated from what we all have come to expect from a Thinkpad.

#13 Post by **Kyocera** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:45 pm

unimorpheus,

I just want to know if and how far Lenovo has deviated from what we all have come to expect from a Thinkpad.

This puts your original question in a whole different perspective. You're assuming that quality is going down, you are asking for opinions based on speculation about Lenovo, I would say that Lenovo has not deviated at all, the only thing I don't like about my new Thinkpad T60 is the Intel wireless card and that is not made by Lenovo. Everything else is superior quality.

asiafish · #14 Post by **asiafish** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:56 pm

I agree. The build quality of my X41, made by Lenovo in April 06, is better than that of the IBM-manufactured T42p I had last year or even the T23 I had years before.

sugo · #15 Post by **sugo** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 6:10 pm

asiafish wrote:Lighter than the X with the media slice, but much heavier than the X without the media slice.

What is lighter? Which X? How come with the media slice it's lighter? What are you trying to say??

asiafish · #16 Post by **asiafish** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 6:12 pm

Simple. The X32 without the media slice weighs 3.6lbs. With the media slice it goes up to 5.1lbs.

The X41 wtih the 4-cell battery weighs 2.7lbs on its own, 4.3lbs with the media slice.

tim S · #17 Post by **tim S** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:40 pm

I bought up the media slice because I enjoy playing a CD or DVD to relieve the monotony of air travel. The X series is primarily marketed as portable laptop, and rightly so but the media slice idea just kills the whole deal for me.
I think my T40 with a 14.1" screen and built in DVD is the better of the two for traveling. The type of carry case could make up the 8oz difference in weight. The only downside happens to be that 14.1" screen. In coach, if the person in front reclines the seat then the larger screen becomes an impediment. As you can tell I don't fly business or first class much!
In any event, this is not a rant about T's vs X's. I simply feel the early T series were truly ground breaking machines, well worth $1,700 three years ago and certainly worth $500 to $600 on eBay today.
Tim S

sugo · #18 Post by **sugo** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:04 pm

Personally I would never take an X ultabase on the road. It's so big and heavy. T series is definitely a better choice in that case for thinkpads. But then there are many other ultraportables out there with optical drives.

asiafish · #19 Post by **asiafish** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:37 pm

I take the ultrabase with me only for longer trips, and even then I don't carry it on, but rather pack it away in my luggage.

The reason to bring it is for watching movies in the hotel, or ripping a few movies to the hard drive for the flight home.

I also sit in coach, and the small form factor makes a huge difference. I used to travel with a T23 and just got tired of having to either jam the forward edge into my chest or use the thing almost vertically. with the forward edge in my lap and the bottom balanced on the forward edge of the tray table.

The fact is that on a trans-pacific flight there is just not enough room in coach to work (or play) comfortably on a 14" ThinkPad. The 12" X series is a terrific fit on the tray table itself, and slid forward an inch or two even works when the rude degenerate in front of me has the nerve to recline his or her seat during the 12-14 hour flight.

Long term T40 series reliability

Long term T40 series reliability

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