I received my T42 today and..

[rocketman]

It's fantastic! IBM's service is really second to none, I had it shipped out of state due to being away and came home before it shipped. I forgot to call IBM to change my shipping address and it was shipped to the first address, I thought I was screwed. I called IBM and they had it rerouted to me, I even received two phone calls from an IBM rep, the first to tell me the change of address was taken care of and again this morning to make sure I received it, now that's service.
The model I got is the 2379R9U with the finger print reader. It's so sleek and thin, much slimmer than my A20p was. Luckily it came with no bad or stuck pixels, after reading so many stories about that I guess I lucked out. The display is so sharp I don't even have a problem reading the 1400x1050 resolution, I was afraid I might have a problem with that.
There really is a quality feeling with Thinkpads you don't get from too many laptops, I was at a Dell Kiosk and played with some of their laptops, the Thinkpad does feel so much nicer. Even compared to the Apple Powerbook which believe me is no slouch in the quality department at all this Thinkpad feels like it has something extra. The hard drive is practically silent, I barely hear any noise from it.
I have no idea if I have the Chinesse or Thai keyboard, this keyboard is great but it is noisier than my A20p's keyboard was, the A20p's keyboard was dead silent.
Now what do I have to ask IBM for again, a copy of the recovery discs?

[k3vb0t]

Now what do I have to ask IBM for again, a copy of the recovery discs?

They've changed their official stance on this as of a couple of months ago. You have to pay $45 if you want them. You may get lucky if you call tech support, but I was told I would have to pay.

[Plinkerton]

Take a flashlight, and peek under the arrow keys on the keyboard, in the front, where those little groove things are molded. If the bumpers are a light blue, it's Thai, if they are great, It's Chinese.

[lfeagan]

I might describe it more like a turquoise, though perhaps that is just a difference in the spectra of the flashlights you and I used.

[rocketman]

I just went to get my flashlight & the batteries are dead so I'll see tomorrow. Thanks for the info.
I'm having a lot of fun with this Thinkpad, it's so fast & the display is beautiful. It's nice to get something and for it to surpass your expectations.

[brewt]

They've changed their official stance on this as of a couple of months ago. You have to pay $45 if you want them. You may get lucky if you call tech support, but I was told I would have to pay.

I called IBM Canada this morning and asked them for them and they were willing to ship them out to me without any problems.

[CChoi83]

I got my T42 2379R9U today also! One word: AWESOME! It's so nice compared to my old Dell i8100. Such a nice change you know? I called IBM about the recovery disks and they said that it would indeed costs me $45.00. They told me that I could make my own recovery disks straight from the Access IBM folder which I'm doing right now. I'm probably going to reformat my whole drive to free up the space. If I go through with it, I'll let everyone know how it goes.

BTW, no dead pixels. Rocketman, hope you're as satisfied as I am. It's an amazing machine. The fingerprint scanner is amazing. Thing recognizes me everytime I boot the machine up.

[rocketman]

Hey CChoi83, glad your happy. I feel the same way. It's funny, I called IBM for the recovery discs yesterday also. At first the guy I spoke to said no problem, as long as you request them within 30 days of receiving your Thinkpad its free. He asked me to hold on, he then came back and asked me if my hard drive crashed. I said no and he goes, "oh I'm sorry I was mistaken we only send recovery dics now if your hard drive crashed". So I go "oh yeah, I forgot to tell you my hard drive crashed"!
He laughs and says "if only you told me right away but now I know it didn't"(lol) We actually got a chuckle out of it.
I'll make my own recovery discs, no big deal.

[eriqesque]

Call back and tell them you tried to install Linux and it didn't go well.

[CChoi83]

Lol. I'll tell them that I tried to install MacOS X and the case started to turn silver. On a more serious note, I discharged my battery and I'm in recharging it now while the TP is on. The power brick is HOT. I mean, not literally like burning but it's pretty darn warm. It's uncomfortable to hold in my hand. Is this normal??? I'm kind of getting worried. Anyone?

-Chris

[rocketman]

I leave my T42 plugged in while at home. I just felt my power brick and it is just very slightly warm, nothing to think about. I don't know if it would feel different if I discharged the battery and recharged it when depleted though.