Thinking of buying a IBM Thinkpad T42p

[Argonaught]

I have been offered a IBM Thinkpad T42p at what I consider a very good price $500.00 CDN, its specs are as follows PentiumM 1.8GHz~1GB RAM~60GB Hard Drive~DVD-RW~Bluetooth~WIFI~15" UXGA Display

Now I hear these stories that the GPU (FireGL 128Mb T2) constantly needs to be re-soldered to the mobo, so what am I getting myself into, Is this why they are being sold off so cheap ?

Maybe I should stick to the A3x series or buy a brand new Acer Aspire with a 2 year warranty ??? They all seem to be roughly the same price Some thoughts and comments here for the newbie boys and girls, please

[kajencik]

Hello, I have almost the same configuration you describing (the only difference - I have 80 GB HDD and 1,7 banias compared to this T42p with 1,8 dothan) in my great R50p from ajkula66 from this forum, and AFAIK the R50p should be less involved by the GPU issue than an T42p, but this I don't know for sure. The point is that the price was $485, so, the R50p weights slighlty more, but if you are intersted, I strongly suggest to hold on a grab next R50p from ajkula66, as he said, he should be getting few more in the near future.

[Johan]

@ Argonaught:

The somewhat general question you ask has been discussed quite a bit here in the T4x forum recently, so I honestly believe that you will find more information (and also find it much faster!) by searching for "T42p" (in the T4x forum), in stead of expecting many members to post replies to your question... as some people (e..g I!) may be too lazy to repeat what they already have said in much detail very recently

As a starting point, I kindly suggest you have a look in the threads Concerning on buying a refurbished T42P and Would u say that a used T42P is reliable ? + Things To Check.... just to name a few which came up first in my "T42p" search here!

Best regards,

Johan

[sjthinkpader]

I have a T41 with 9000 GPU and two T40 with 7500 GPU waiting to be resoldered. So yes, this detaching problem is huge for the T4x series.

But the later models such as T42 and T43 should be better as the problem began to show up and IBM/ATi formulated solutions. But buying a working T40/T41 doesn't guarantee that it will not fail in the near future.

This solder balls breaking should be TEC (thermal expansion coefficient) related. So the hotter the GPU gets, the worse it will be and more likely to fail. Same goes for more on/off cycles. The heat is coming from the silicon but the MB material actually expands more as the heat rises inside the case. Silicon chip material has a relatively low TEC and MB material (FR4) has a high TEC.

The intel chips on the MB doesn't have this problem because they have no balls under the chip area and no chip over the balls area.

In the A3x case, the GPU cooling is actually from the MB side and not over the GPU. But those GPU has video RAMs on the MB in QFP packaging.

[ajkula66]

The only way to stay away from GPU problem is to buy a T43 with integrated graphics. Or a T60/p in any shape or form, but you're talking a lot more money there for a comparable machine.

To minimize the chances of having these issues if you don't like integrated graphics is to buy a standard (ATi-equipped) T43 or T43p, since they appear to be a lot less affected by the problem. Anything else, including R50p, is risky.

Take it from someone who has had all of them...in quantities.

A3 series is a whole different animal, and you must decide for yourself where your priorities are. As a desktop replacement, high-end A31 with IPS SXGA+ LCD and of course A31p are still hard to beat. If you're intent on dragging your laptop around a lot you should look for something else.

I've never owned anything but a ThinkPad and can't comment on Acer...

Just my $0.02, obviously.