Need help for returning--What to do?

[thinkweird]

This is a tough decision for me:
I got my T43P for $1500 (plus tax) from lenovo about 10 days ago. I like this machine but the fan noise and the spinning noise gave me headaches.
Here are my options, please help me to decide:

1. return the machine and get a full refund which lenovo has agreed.

***But I am afraid that I can't get a better deal than this one. Lenovo has stopped saling T43P.

2. change a brand new t43P.

***But I am afraid that the problems will remain because the noisy hard drive and fan are inherent problems of T43P, I guess.

3. get a replacement harddrive of another brand from the technical support and hopefully the hard drive noise will go away.

***But I don't like the hassle of changing the hard drive and what if the hard drive still have same problems. (The techie guys at Atlanta are great but I heard that sometimes the repaired machines still have problems).

what do I need to do? Please help me decide.

Yes, I used TP control and the fan noise is controlled indeed.

But the hard drive which is a Toshiba 80G spins on and on and on and it is louder than the fan level 3.

Hey T43P owners, does your hard drive (especially Toshiba 80G) make noises that is louder than fan noise at level 3? Or it is just that I happen to have a bad hard drive?

[christopher_wolf]

They still do sell T43ps, I would be suprised if they didn't. For fan noise, my T43 runs deep and silent.

I have a Hitachi 80GB 5400RPM as the primary that came with my system and it is very quiet, especially if you use the extra power-saving modes included with Hitachi's tool. Comparing this to the Thinkpads I have worked on that did have Toshiba 80GBs, I can certainly hear a difference with the Toshibas being louder. Unfortuanately, I wasn't able to find a tool to modulate the acoustic characteristics of the Toshiba drives whislt they were operating; unlike the utilities available for the Hitachi drives.

Your best bet would probably go along the lines of requesting a HDD replacement, I would try and ask for a Hitachi 80GB, and doing it yourself; it is fairly simple. It simply requires removal of the first bay screw, extraction of the HDD and caddy frame, removal of the frame and a re-lock onto the new HDD, then re-insertion. They are sometimes a little difficult to pull out at first, though, but that eases given time. This probably isn't something that you just want to send off for a few days for them to handle as it can be done with an HDD shipment, the HMM, and a little work.

[EOMtp]

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