Hi, expecting a T43 have some questions.

[uniwarp]

I'd like to begin by saying hello to fellow Thinkpad users. I have been reading this forum for a while and it's been quite helpful.
On to my questions, I have bought a T43 off ebay with the following configuration, since I live in Turkey a friend of mine in Germany has picked it up for me so it hasn't arrived yet. The laptop is declared as A-Ware and my friend who received it has confirmed this.

PM 1.73, 512 DDR2, X300, 40GB, DVD, 14" XGA, Wireless. It came with a Port Replicator 2 and one year warranty from the seller. (EU Code mandates this from companies selling used notebooks etc.)

in total it cost me around $350.

1. I am thinking of buying a single DIMM 2GB DDR2-5300 memory. I understand 2 GB is the limit of the chipset but 2 x 1 GB is more expensive and requires more work to install. I want to know if using 2.5 GB in single channel mode performance wise causes any bottlenecks, especially since the X300 also uses system memory. It's access to main RAM would be 64-bit in single channel and 128-bit in dual channel mode if I'm not mistaken.

2. I have no plans to upgrade hdd any time soon, since I keep most of my files on other means of storage. If I decide to upgrade the hdd, should I pay attention to the 2010 error ? I have read many reports that suggest that the error code does not necessarily mean data corruption or slow hdd performance. How about SSD when it becomes more affordable ?

3. Am I naive to think that I would generally be safe from loose GPU connections problems that occur in Tx series generally ? If somehow I encountered such a problem, can I follow some of the guides posted on this board ? I remember reading somewhere that T43 are more difficult to fix with the reflow method. Can I do something when I receive the T43 as a preventive measure to stop it from occuring ? More pressure on the GPU perhaps somehow ?

4. I did a bit of market research before buying but in your opinion is the price fair ?

Thanks.

[sjthinkpader]

Welcome to the forum.

...
2. ...How about SSD when it becomes more affordable ?

Yes, a 2.5 inch 32GB PATA SSD is about $90 in the U.S. They are pretty fast.

3. Am I naive to think that I would generally be safe from loose GPU connections problems that occur in Tx series generally ? If somehow I encountered such a problem, can I follow some of the guides posted on this board ? I remember reading somewhere that T43 are more difficult to fix with the reflow method. Can I do something when I receive the T43 as a preventive measure to stop it from occuring ? More pressure on the GPU perhaps somehow ?

Set the power manager CPU setting to "Adaptive" and never "Performance". Try to keep it from wide temperature swing as much as possible. Hold the computer with both hands by both sides.

[Xenomorph]

1) I am not positive on the RAM, however I think the "2 Gigs max" means you can put up to a 1 Gig chip in each slot.

I purchased a 2 Gig kit (two 1024 Meg sticks) for something like $17 shipped from Newegg.

You want to stick with a matched set for Dual Channel reasons and compatibility reasons.

2) With the latest BIOS, the 2010 is an annoying Beep and minor delay on boot. The Active Protection thing may not work. Other than that, I don't think there is any negative to using an "unsupported" drive. I'm kinda obsessive-compulsive, so something like that 2010 nag would really bother me. I purchased a second T43-compatible hard drive for my system shortly after getting my T43. Both for the extra space, and to make sure I don't get the 2010 error.

Now, while the system takes IDE drives, there is both an IDE and a SATA UltraBay adapter you can get. The 2010 error doesn't happen with those from what I've read. Of course, you lose access to your DVD drive while a hard drive is in the UltraBay adapter (so it makes it a little hard to install Windows to it). Something like an external DVD rom would be recommended for a setup like that.

3) I don't really know much about the GPU issues.

4) ~$300-$350 seems to be what the T43 goes for now. Considering they use to be $2000, $1200, $900 or whatever, it's an ok price for a system that runs Windows 7 well.

However, for $350-$450, you could have purchased a brand-new system with a 2.x GHz Dual Core CPU, faster 3D card, more hard drive space, DVD burner, etc. Newegg had a 2.16 GHz Dual Core Acer w/ 2 Gigs RAM for $350, and a 2.16 GHz Dual Core Toshiba w/ 3 Gigs RAM and a 250 Gig Hard Drive for $450.

[uniwarp]

Thanks for the quick replies guys.

@sjthinkpader

I don't think there will be a problem then. I bought this T43 because I wanted a notebook that could run linux and recently I gave away my Dell Inspiron 8200. It won't be put through much strain, some compiling, sketchup and multimedia apps... I have one year warranty just in case something goes wrong and if it does, I will kindly ask for a GMA900 replacement, in which case only compiling and multimedia apps will be run.

@Xenomorph

I have a friend who can lend me two 1 gig sticks, and I can compare the performance when I try the 2 gig stick in the store (that is, if it works). If there's no major difference, I will buy the 2 Gig stick. About the drive, good to hear that I have options, since I think it is nearly impossible for me to find a white-list compatible drive where I live. Even if I did, it would take a while to ship here. Anyway, like I said it is not an emergency and SSD should only go down in price.
Finally, I understand that many notebooks are generally cheap these days but to witness two acers and one dell belonging to friends slowly unhinge their displays from the body of the notebook after 15-16 months of use and warranty not covering the damage, I thought best settle with build quality over features or performance. I'll start my masters next year and most of those cheaper laptops might not stand the daily (and nightly) life of a grad student.

[sjthinkpader]

I have 2GB (16 chips) sticks plus 1GB or 512MB stick in the other slot in several T43s. I was never successful in running two 2GB sticks (16 chips each).

The left hinge on T4x 14 inch version is known to break more than other TPs.

[uniwarp]

2-2.5 gigs is fine by me. Any app that requires more memory should ultimately require more performance from other components of this system.

Also, I could never understand why the limit is 2 GB with 915 chipsets. if my computing knowledge serves me right, 32-bit memory controller means 4 gigs of memory - IO adresses. hence around 3.5 GB addressable memory. Just the logic of it bugs me.