T4 series suitable for gaming?

[fefrie]

I'm thinking of upgrading my t23 to the 4 series for some possiblie gaming ability. I'm wondering if the version with uxga and 128mb vid are enough to play some of the newer games out there?

[rhema83]

If you want a ThinkPad to play the new games, you should go straight to the top with a T61p 15" WUXGA. You won't be disappointed with the 256MB Quadro FX 570m.

[fefrie]

As much as I would like a new t6 series, I can't justify paying over 3k for what essentially to me would be a glorified xbox.

That's just too much for a computer for in all practicality that should be used for 'at most' video editing.

However, a t43 with the 128mb vid should suffice for me.

Also, not into the wide screen, and SXGA would be fine enough for me.

Did I mention it had to be in the 14" form factor too??

[pianowizard]

fefrie, I think you've answered your own question!

[fefrie]

Well yeah, I didn't want to play the LATEST games, just battlefied 2. That's probably my only addiciction to video games. I wanted to know if a t43 with 128 mb vid would suffice.

I really DON'T want to play the latest games. That would be awful for my social life!

[Miller88]

I don't know if the T4x would be up to that. I have a T60 with X1100 and 1gb of memory (or 1.5gb depending on whether or not it needs to go to the helpdesk) and I could play BF2 on high settings.

[Johan]

While I have never played anything on any T42 (and most likely also never will - as I have absolutely zero interest in computer games), I yet recall having seen a (somewhat short, but still) review of the gaming capabilities of T42's with the 64 MB ATI Radeon 9600 GPU versus the T42p's, the latter having 128MB ATI FireGL T2; read: IBM Thinkpad T42 Review -- T42 Good for Gaming?

T42's of the kind mentioned in that review these day go for ~ $400 and upwards +S/H on eBay (if you're lucky!); check e.g. those two auctions due to end in a couple of days: First eBay T42 15" SXGA+ w/FlexView and second eBay T42 15" SXGA+ w/FlexView. Also, there is a 15" FlexView T42 for sale in the Marketplace of this forum; check FS: T42, 1.7Ghz 1GB RAM 60GB 7200rpm.

Right now, there's a T42p (w/the 28MB ATI FireGL T2) nearing end-of-auction at eBay, being this one. The best T42p deal these days (unless you find some real bargain!) I believe is at the IBM Certified Used ThinkPad T42p (C96) at (only!) $806,- after rebate. The 3-month warranty on the latter can be extended, probably for another two years for around $160; read how in the thread re-extending warranty.

To find out more about T42s' gaming capabilities, either Search this forum, and perhaps see the thread The search for the ultimate Thinkpad T4x - The start and end - although a few years back, it still contain quite a bit of information on the gaming capabilities of T42p's - so you might be able to translate this into "modern performance" for yourself?

PS: To find details about whatever ThinkPad (e.g. GPU, VRAM etc.), the easiest is to go to www.ibm.com and enter the model number in the "Search" filed - and choose the first hit. You may most likely know this already...

Update: Ooops; I just see thet I completely overlooked the 14.1" requirement (which surfaced while typing the above)... then you won't be interested in any of the beautiful 15" FlexView's discussed above (maybe someone else will?). Sorry...

... additional update, FYI: Today a 14.1" T42p just went on eBay for $655 - being this one.

Best regards,

Johan

[JLoft]

Is that T42p-C96 on the IBM used site a far better deal than the T43-WP4? I'm not so much into gaming, but am looking at those two.

I also posted looking for some comments at http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=47648,
but I think that now I have probably narrowed it down to a T4x, maybe the experts are here instead of the General Questions forum.

[Johan]

Is that T42p-C96 on the IBM used site a far better deal than the T43-WP4? I'm not so much into gaming, but am looking at those two.

I also posted looking for some comments at http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=47648,
but I think that now I have probably narrowed it down to a T4x, maybe the experts are here instead of the General Questions forum.

I depends what you need and want... without stating that, it is a little hard to answer your (very brief) question. However, I am sure you would benefit from reading the above-mentioned thread: The search for the ultimate Thinkpad T4x - The start and end. The reason why I chose an used T42p is described in the thread Buying a 2nd hand T42p.

The T43 you refer to, I believe, is IBM Certified Used Notebook T43 (W4P) and in my opinion the T42p is far, far, far better (except if you really want a 14.1").The T42p has UXGA resolution compared to only XGA of the T43 and most important the T42p has the wonderful FlexView/IPS display... hey; do youself a favour and search the archieves of this forum for FlexView and see if that's not what you really want! What's more, the T43 is slower (CPU), has smaller (and no doubt also slower) harddisk etc., so if you can possible raise the T42-money, there's no doubt in my mind! Check out this forum.

... and also read the recent thread: T42p Flexview looks amazing! - need I say more?

Good luck with your - hopefully - new ThinkPad!

Best regards,

Johan

[agarza]

For the OP:

I'd say you will be delighted with the performance/looks on the 14.1" T42p. I have mine NEW since August last year and I'm very happy with the machine overall.

For your concerns on gaming capability, I wouldn't know if BF2 plays OK in the T42p, but the games I've played so far in my T42p are:
- NFS (from Porsche Unleashed at 1400x1050 pix) to (Carbon at 800x600 low/med settings)
- GTA: SA
- Mafia
- F1 Challenge 99-02
- Driver Parallel Lines (800x600 I think)
- Toca Race Driver 3
- Flight Simulator X (it runs at med settings ok)

Here you can see the video cards scores in 3DMark 05. The T2 scores 1250 points:


Good luck mate

[ulrich.von.lich]

If you can get a T42p with a Flexview screen at the same price of a T43, usually I would suggest to take the T42p without thinking. The screen itself is expansive, and its value will decline slower than other parts of the laptop. The graphic card in T42ps is also better than the one in T43s.

However from what I've heard, IPS screens have longer response time than TN screens, which is a downside for gaming, especially for FPS games. A 14" T42p would be nice.

IMO, ThinkPads are not designed for gaming. They sure can, but for the price you pay, they may not be worthy. Most of ThinkPads have relatively crappy graphic cards and features you don't need for pure gaming. (You might want to turn APS off while playing NFS)

T42ps are still expansive these days. About two months ago, I saw an ebay auctions ended at 800EUR for a mint T42p with UXGA Flexview and some warranty left. For that price, I can almost get a brand new Dell Vostro 1500 with a 256MB Geforce 8600 GT!! Talking about gaming...

[fefrie]

Everybody keeps talking about flexview, flexview.

Is there some sort of picture link so that I could see.

Unfortunately there really isn't such thing as an ibm store where I could take a look.

[ulrich.von.lich]

I just took a photo of my recently purchased A31p with a Flexview screen sitting next to my T43 with a non Flexview one.

Hope it helps

[ThinkPad]

I have a T42p and it run games great, even under the highest settings. But its the most recent games that require 256mb video card that the computer suffers with. If you dont mind playing games a few years old, then the t42 with 128mb video card would do great.

[dr_st]

I took lots of pics that compare Flexview (and IPS in general) to non-Flexview displays:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=49962

These should make the difference very clear.

[fefrie]

The pics of the flex view display look promising. However, I think that since I haven't been spoiled by the flexview display, I may not want to know the difference and complain if I don't get it.

Look what happened to me with touchpoints vs touchpads. I know can only use thinkpad laptops since I've been spoiled. I'm even trying to convince myself that mp3s sound great (which they don't)

I really still think that the 15" form factor is not for me. I remember having a 15' 390x and that was a large screen which I thought was great untill I went to the 14" form factor.

A good video card will be important of course, 64mb or 128 still undecided based on some comments here.

And now that I've discovered tabbed browsing using Opera, I'm debating which resolution I would need since with tabbed browsing, I view each page on a maximized screen.

Decisions, decisions.

[NimnuL]

Well I have T43 (as bellow in sygnature) and games run great. Half Life 2 in highest settings and 1024x768 res works well even with AAx2. But my X300 graphic card is a litte bit overclocked 300/230MHz @ 375/275Mhz. Episode One and Two also run verry smoothly in hiQ.