Anyone here want to tell me about their G4x?

[iThinkiAmBen]

I may be buying a G41 soon but there are next to no reviews on the Internet, so I was wondering if some of you G40 and G41 owners would be so kind as to tell me what you think of them.

Thanks!

[bobstockler]

I'll tell you about the G41 I got new in November 2004. I use it as
my primary workstation. It sits on the corner of my family room coffee
table, with its power adapter plugged into an APC Back-UPS ES. I
run Windows XP Pro SP3 on it, and use Real VNC to do work on
my SCO OpenServer 6 UNIX system, my NetVista Windows XP Pro
SP3 system, and my Red Hat Linux system in my computer room
upstairs. Those systems are connected to each other by Ethernet,
and my ThinkPad connects via WiFi (using WEP) to that network.

My ThinkPad has been on the road only once, on a long weekend trip
to the mountains of East Tennessee, and it performed well there.

I replaced the original two 512 Mb memory sticks with two 1 Gb ones,
and replaced the original 40 Gb HDD with an 80 Gb one. I later
had to repartition that drive so the hidden service partition was 4 Gb
in size in order to be able to install Rescue and Recovery 4.2.

I'm still using the original battery, which shows green, and reports
Full Charge Capacity 34.09 Wh, Design Capacity 43.20 Wh, and
Cycle Count of 29.

I'm very happy with my G41, had no problems with it, and plan to
use it for several more years at least. If you have any specific
questions, feel free to ask.

[iThinkiAmBen]

Ah, thank you!

Two questions:
1) Assuming you felt like it, would it fry your lap when wearing shorts?
2) How long did the battery last when new?

[bobstockler]

Ah, thank you!

Two questions:
1) Assuming you felt like it, would it fry your lap when wearing shorts?
2) How long did the battery last when new?

1) I've never used my ThinkPad as a "laptop" computer, so I couldn't
guess, but my impression is that it's not a hottie. I'd lift it up right
now and put my hand under it for a hand-vs-lap test, but I try to
avoid moving it while the HDD is running.

2) I never ran it on battery, when new, to test the time it would last,
but it lasted long enough for me to play on the InterNet via the WiFi
in the hotel in East Tennessee as long as I cared to early last
summer.

[iThinkiAmBen]

1. That's probably pretty rare.
2. Excellent!

Oh, and would you happen to have any pictures of it in action? I've seen stock photos of them but I'm not sure if that accurately represents what they look like.

[ajkula66]

G40 and 41 never got the love or the respect they deserve IMHO. Personally, I like them a lot.

If you're going to go that route, find a high-end G41 with nVidia GPU and SXGA+ LCD. When properly set, these machines are powerhouses. P4 with HT is still a very serious CPU.

And, the best laptop keyboard I've ever typed on belonged to a G40 I had last year.

These are really "desktop replacements". I feel awkward with a machine of that size sitting in my lap, but that's just me...maybe.

One word of warning, though: test before you buy. These are not easy ThinkPads to sell if you change your mind.

Good luck.

[iThinkiAmBen]

The one I'd be getting:

- 3.33GHz P4HT
- 2GB RAM
- 80GB HDD
- SXGA+
- nVidia graphics
- battery in green
- good cosmetic condition...
- Warranty until 11-2009

I'd be paying $500 for it.
akjula66, this seems to meet all your criteria. Do you think it's overpriced?

[ajkula66]

iThinkiAmBen wrote:

Do you think it's overpriced?

Unfortunately, there's no easy answer to the above question, but let's try several different perspectives:

a) Top-of-the-line G41 with a price to match. Only if you're absolutely certain that you're going to keep it for at least two years should you consider this machine. With that price tag, you're getting married, and you don't want a painful divorce. Make sure that warranty is genuine IBM before proceeding.

b) If you're asking me whether I'd pay this amount, the answer is NO.

c) If you're asking me what I'd be looking for if that were my G41, the honest answer would be: no clue, but I probably wouldn't be selling it.

d) Consider that $500 these days buys you one of the following, give or take a few bucks:

1) Lower-end T60
2) High-end T43 with 15" IPS
3) Loaded R50p

In all honesty, any of the above machines would blow away any G41.

However, if these (G4x) are your true passion, by all means follow your heart. I'd never be able to get out the money I put in my "main" A31p, but I don't care because I simply adore it, and it has earned its keep and then some by being on 24/7 for months...

Hope this helps, and not confuses you...

Good luck and let us know.

[iThinkiAmBen]

Thanks a lot for such a well though.t-out response.

I've given it some thought myself, and I'm not so sure I'm ready to lose any more money than I have in the past few months.

With the gaming rig I recently built, I am in need of a laptop, however. I would buy the G41 in a heartbeat, actually, but my problem is that I try to buy, sell, and horse-trade too much, and would probably turn it over three weeks later at a $50 or $100 loss, if the opinions in this thread are any indication.

A slightly off-topic question: Why choose an R50p over a nice T43? Is it because of the workstation-class graphics?

Thanks!

[meh]

Even though I don't own the R50p or the T43, I'd say it's probably because of a few things:

- UXGA 15" FlexView on the R50p, where with the T43 the highest resolution you can get is SXGA+ 15" FlexView
- Possible heat problems with the T43
- No possibility for QXGA upgrade in the T43 (I think it was something about the LCD assembly being too thin/small?)
- Nice graphics card in the R50p

Personally though, I'd much rather get a newer machine than an old desktop replacement.